Steering, setting goals and the possibilities of FIWARE as focuses of the sessions
The European Conference on the Future Internet took place from 4 – 7 November 2015 in Hamburg. The city hosted the conference and was at the epicentre of European entrepreneurship. The international conference boasted a varied and informative programme ad brought the different stakeholders in the discussion of current topics related to Future Internet together.
The opening ceremony started with inspiring speakers: Dr. Rolf Bösinger (State Council – business and innovation), Dan O’Connor, President (Power Diversity, LLC), Richard Stevens, Research Director (IDC), and Jesus Villasante, Head of Unit (European Commission, DG Connect). With their differing points of view from politics and industry they sent the tone for the impressive conference, under the umbrella topic of FIWARE Accelerator Programme.
The FIWARE platform is an infrastructure solution for the cost-effective development of digital applications developed by companies and research institutes in the "Future Internet Public Private Partnership" (FIPPP) of the European Union. This cloud-based technology allows the simple development and launch of modern Internet apps. FIWARE Accelerator, a network of European organizations, supports and finances the most-talented teams and business ideas using FIWARE technology.
Around 700 international guests, 200 start-ups and delegations from Europe, USA, Mexico, Canada, Chile and Brazil met developers, the FIWARE community, academics, venture capitalists, business angels and exhibitors. They all contributed to an intensive and constructive exchange of confirmation and experience.
The sessions were very varied. The Capital Pitch chose an unusual format. Business angels and venture capitalists presented their portfolios and expertise on the stage: Robert Koening, VC Ventures GmbH, Thierry Baujard, founder and CEO of peacefulfish – consultancy for financing the creative industries, Mert Altindağ, Cloud Ararat, und Anastasios Stilianidis, Research, Development and Innovation Management, University Stuttgart.
The Future of IoT Plattforms is Open Source was the motto of the presentations of the Smart Orchestra consortium, which is supported by the German Ministry for Economic Affairs and the Environment. Dr. Walter Mattauch (Senior Consulting Scientist, German Aerospace Center) and Marco Maas (founder, OpenDataCity) spoke about the goal of Smart Orchestra: To establish a platform for administration and business-related services, modelled on trustworthy market places, which shapes, offers and markets the services.
Cities as motors for growth and prosperity for residents through innovation: A further session presented the Open and Agile Smart Cities-Initiative (OASC – Marketplace on Smart Metropolitan Solutions for cities with FIWARE). The initiative connects suppliers (web entrepreneurs) and potential customers (city mayors, architects, city planners etc.). The exchange of information should promote the development of Smart City applications and solutions and the implantation of pilot projects. 31 cities worldwide have already joined the OASC initiative.
In addition to the sessions, participants could also visit the exhibition on Stage II. The Award Ceremony in which the best ideas of young start-ups were honoured was a successful round-up for the conference. The start-up Look Local GmbH from Hamburg won the first prize of the EU’s SpeedUP Europe Accelerators, which was endowed with EUR 200,000. The young company stood out from 100 European start-ups and convinced the jury with a solid business model, which aims at accompanying the local fashion retailers into the Digital Age.