talKIT 2022: Innovative ideas for the Next Big Thing from Karlsruhe
In order to better understand future developments, students want to on 5. and May 6i together with representatives from business, science and politics to discuss the topic of Innovative Thinking and ask: What’s the Next Big Thing?
At talKIT 2022, everything revolves around current technological challenges, which are examined from an economic, political and philosophical perspective.
Under the title “Innovative Thinking – What’s the next Big Thing?”, the technology forum will focus on Germany’s innovative strength for two days. Because the challenges of our time also offer opportunities for future-oriented innovations, changes and creative solutions. Germany is regarded worldwide as a highly innovative country, especially in traditional industrial sectors. With talKIT, the students, together with representatives from business, science and politics, explore this innovative strength for the rapidly growing digital and service-oriented areas in search of “The Next Big Thing?”.
For the first time in the history of talKIT, the event will open with a double keynote. Together, Wolfgang Hoeffer, General Manager Customer Success Unit Germany and Member of the Board at Microsoft Germany and Martha Splitthoff, Digital & Application Innovation Customer Engineer Lead (Cloud Solution Architect Manager) talKIT 2022 will kick off the event with a presentation followed by a panel discussion with exciting insights into their projects and the innovations at Microsoft.
Intense Sessions – small round big effect
This will be followed by the Intense Sessions, where there will be plenty of time and contact with the speakers in small groups to delve deeper into a topic and clarify any questions. The Intense Session by Dr. Manuel Schaloske, Head of “Energy” at e-mobil BW GmbH, is entitled: “Baden-Württemberg on the way to the hydrogen economy”. After a presentation of the technology and motivation, Dr. Manuel Schaloske will talk about the goals of the state of Baden-Württemberg and give an insight into current projects.
In his session, Dr. Dirk Nuber, Managing Director of Climeworks Deutschland GmbH and Head of Project Development at Climeworks Deutschland GmbH, will offer the opportunity to engage in a direct exchange in smaller groups and learn more about his work on direct air separation and filtering of CO2 from the air.
Platform and laboratory at the same time
In the workshops, participants experience that talKIT is both a platform and a laboratory. Microsoft ‘s Cloud CyberSecurity Workshop, for example, explores current threats in greater depth and examines them in a hands-on lab. It will be moderated by Nancy Mustapic, Security Cloud Solution Architect, Annemarie Henn, Security Customer Engineer Aspire, Chenyang Zhai, Security Customer Engineer Intern and Tobias Martin, Security Cloud Solution Architect. After simulating an attack on the cloud infrastructure of a fictitious customer, teams try to identify and mitigate the attack and secure the environment against future threats. The participants act both as an incident response team (Security Operation Center) and as IT security architects.
The topic of sustainability also plays an important role, as complex problems require fast and creative solutions that are also socially and ecologically compatible. The workshop “Look at innovation through the lense of sustainability”, which will be led by SAP , is dedicated to the question of how innovations can be used for more sustainability. Using design thinking approaches, no less a goal than the creation of a greener and better future for generations to come will be considered, prototypes developed and tested.
In addition, Deutsche Bahn will provide an outlook on disruptive changes and forward-looking trends in rail transportation and Entrix GmbH will address the essential topic of batteries.
Inspiration please!
Participants find inspiration and new ideas off the beaten track during the Inspire Sessions. Claudiu Leverenz, founder & CEO of Munevo GmbH, is one such person who makes a deep impression with what he does. Munevo from Munich has set itself the goal of developing everyday assistants for wheelchair users with the help of new technologies. Munevo DRIVE is a new special control system for people who can no longer use their hands to control a wheelchair due to serious illnesses. In contrast to established controls, munevo DRIVE is the first to detect head movements and voice commands with the help of a smart glass.
Claudiu Leverenz graduated from the Technical University of Munich and in 2018 founded munevo, a company that enables more independent mobility and living.
He was nominated by Forbes as “30 under 30” in the Science & Healthcare category. In 2018, he joined Global Shapers Munich, an initiative of the World Economic Forum to support local social projects, and was invited to speak about disability and inclusion at the Davos 2020 Annual Meeting. He is on the board of hopelovescompany, an NGO supporting children of parents with ALS.
talKIT 2022: Two days at a glance
What has always characterized the technology forum at KIT are the different formats that talKIT combines: It starts on May 5 with a classic keynote speech, followed by Insense Sessions, i.e. presentations in small groups to enable direct contact with the speakers. Teamwork is required in the subsequent workshops.
And the highlight is the evening event on Thursday, which will take place in hybrid form. The hybrid dinner & tasting complements the online program and provides a touch of the talKIT experience on site.
All participants are invited to round off the first day of the event on site. Catering and drinks will be provided by tasting experts. Those who are unable to come to Karlsruhe for the evening or do not wish to attend in person for personal reasons need not worry. Because, as last year, all the important utensils for the tasting will be sent in advance and the events on site will be broadcast directly.
The second day starts and ends with an Inspire, i.e. an inspiring talk for all participants. In between, there will be further workshops and a networking part for personal one-on-one discussions.
Proven yet innovative since 2010
In 2010, the first talKIT took place on the campus of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) – which explains the name of the format: talk + KIT. The aim of the technology forum, which is organized purely by students, is to offer technology enthusiasts a platform for exchanging opinions and knowledge as well as networking. According to its own information, it is even the largest student-organized technology forum for students in Europe.
talKIT 2010 kicked off with a two-hour panel discussion entitled “Economy 2.0 – collapse, upheaval, new beginnings?”. The two hours turned into a full three days and the format was opened up to participants from the entire DACH region. Every year, around 250 selected students from all over the world come together in Karlsruhe with renowned personalities from politics, business and society for workshops, discussions and lectures to discuss the challenges and solutions of our time.
In 2021, talKIT was then moved to the digital space due to the pandemic – and this concept will remain true in 2022. Further information is available at talkit.eu.