Preliminary Program 2026

Companies are investing heavily in artificial intelligence. And yet, many organizations are not seeing the expected leap in performance. Why is that?
While artificial intelligence does speed up processes, it also ruthlessly exposes where organizations are stuck in their own cultures and structures. Poor prioritization happens faster. Unclear decisions happen faster. Inefficient coordination happens faster.
Using typical transformation patterns as examples, Andrea Montua explains why many companies fail to become significantly more efficient despite AI—and how leadership, cultural change, and communication can help them truly turn the technology into a competitive advantage.

There’s only one Eckart von Hirschhausen. In real life. Online, there are a thousand versions of him: sometimes he’s selling erectile dysfunction medication, sometimes he’s a heart surgeon who can clean out calcified arteries from the inside with pills, or he knows how to lose 20 kilos in two weeks—but only if you order NOW! Because he has spent 30 years building trust as a medical and health correspondent on ARD, real people fall for the fake Hirschhausen every day—and lose their money, their health, and their faith in the good. In his keynote address, developed specifically for the BIG BANG AI FESTIVAL, the doctor and science journalist takes us along on his journey of discovery. He takes on the deepfake mafia, wins his case through multiple court appeals, films a documentary for ARD, and finds a whistleblower in Brazil who exposes the industry’s dirty secrets. True crime. But who are the real masterminds? And what does this mean for every person, every customer, every democrat, when AI catapults us into a world where it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish what is real and what is not? And this applies just as much to personal brands as it does to companies, institutions, and political parties. More and more people are getting no further than an AI summary in their search. Expensively developed websites, media libraries, and channels languish unseen. Are we amusing ourselves to death online? Just as the wrong medication can cause real harm. And while everyone’s talking about “resilience” right now—what does it mean for servers, services, and the human spirit to become crisis-proof? And since the real Hirschhausen is coming to see us, there’ll be background insights, shifts in perspective, surprising “aha” and “haha” moments, and a renewed belief in face-to-face encounters. Seriously!

Practical Tips and Lessons Learned from Three Years of AI Implementation

The potential of AI is vast, but according to recent studies, 95% of users have yet to achieve measurable success. The reason rarely lies in the technology itself, but rather in the implementation process: unclear guidelines, a proliferation of tools, and training that lacks relevance to everyday work. The result is frustration with innovation, uncertainty, and additional costs due to unused licenses.

Over the past three years, Sven Wiesner has successfully implemented AI in companies with up to 800 employees across various departments, developing more than 170 production-ready use cases in the process. In this masterclass, he will present the Neon-Gold Framework: a five-step, scalable process—ranging from audit and use-case development to impact measurement—that is both scalable and tailored to individual teams.

Specifically, this session addresses the following questions:
- Which training formats deliver measurable results, and which ones fall flat?
- How can you address issues like data protection, IT, and tool selection early on, rather than letting them hold you back for months?
- How can AI move beyond being a showcase and start driving daily value?

For decision-makers who want to do more than just purchase AI—they want to integrate it effectively into their operations.

Imagine having a team of experts at your disposal at all times—for research, creativity, analysis, and more. That’s exactly what’s possible today!

Many AI projects fail not because of technical issues, but due to a lack of strategy and poor preparation. But how does a strategic framework become a real, intelligent voice assistant? In this masterclass, we’ll show you how to use the VIER AI Strategy Canvas to pave the way for modern voice processes in a structured and practical way. We cover the entire process: from defining customer intents and identifying data sources to the ultimate challenge—crafting the perfect prompts for modern speech-to-speech systems. Experience, through a concrete real-world example, how a structured roadmap gives rise to a fascinating voice AI agent that understands context, responds instantly, and replaces traditional service bots with natural, human-like conversations. From the first Post-it note on the canvas to a captivating live demo!

By invitation only

Knowledge Graph, Customer Knowledge Graph—why they are so important for AI to deliver relevant and reliable results (possibly supplemented with the topic of Agent Harness—but that’s a topic for another time. The main focus would be on the Knowledge Graph and Customer Knowledge Graph.)

From pilot projects lacking practical applicability to robust, scalable automation through integration, data quality, and governance.

Attend the masterclass “Why AI Projects Fail—and How to Really Make Them Work” and learn from real-world projects why many applications fail to deliver the expected results in production.

Many companies successfully launch their first AI use cases and see rapid progress during pilot phases. However, unexpected problems often arise in production: processes slow down, costs rise, and the hoped-for ROI fails to materialize. The cause rarely lies with the AI itself.

In this hands-on session, we’ll use a realistic use case and other examples to show why AI projects fail during implementation—and what successful projects do differently. You’ll learn to identify the key success factors and address them effectively.

The session will focus in particular on:

• the role of integration and stable end-to-end processes
• the importance of data quality during ongoing operations
• the need for clear governance and transparency

In addition, we’ll demonstrate concrete approaches for stabilizing and scaling existing solutions—through the right mix of AI, rules, and human interaction.

You will gain:

• a clear understanding of typical challenges in the productive use of AI
• transferable patterns from various use cases (e.g., ticket triage, IDP, knowledge management)
• concrete starting points for making your own AI projects more robust and cost-effective

The goal of the masterclass is to show you a realistic and actionable path from initial AI initiatives to sustainable business value.

Artificial intelligence promises speed, efficiency, and entirely new possibilities. In presentations, much of it already seems like the future within reach: a prompt, a result, a “wow” moment.

But in everyday life, it becomes clear that between AI’s potential and its actual impact lie data, processes, responsibility, culture, and people who need to be brought along for the ride. That is precisely where it is decided whether AI merely impresses or truly brings about change.

In his keynote address, Sergej Plovs offers an inspiring reality check that bridges the gap between AI euphoria and the reality of implementation. It’s not about the next demo, but about how AI makes a difference in the day-to-day operations of a real business. After all, the real question isn’t what AI can do today, but what we make of it.

Lessons learned from real-world AI projects in manufacturing, tourism, and banking—from internal implementation to rollout to partners and suppliers

AI pilot projects make a strong impression in demo mode but then get stuck when they move into production. The reason is rarely the model itself. The real problem is that corporate knowledge is scattered across ten or more systems and never reaches the model in a structured way.

In this masterclass, Daniel Claessen, Senior Manager of AI Solutions at OPEN, uses real-world projects from the manufacturing, tourism, and banking sectors to demonstrate how context engineering transforms scattered data into a reliable AI system that scales from internal use to secure deployment for external partners and service technicians. You’ll get concrete answers to the questions that cause projects to fail. Which data sources are the real problem? What Really Works in Production?

60 intensive minutes from which you’ll take away concrete methods and decision-making tools for
your own AI projects.

Here’s what you’ll be able to do after the masterclass:
- You understand why the reliability of AI systems depends on context rather than the model itself, and you can assess which of your data sources will support a project and how to prepare them for production use.
- You are familiar with the specific guardrails that can be used to reliably manage hallucinations and security risks, even in highly regulated and safety-critical environments.
- You can decide which architecture—from cloud to on-premises—is right for your project, weighing data protection and costs.
- You’ll learn about one of the most exciting strategies: making AI available to partners and suppliers beyond your company’s boundaries to optimize shared processes. This is demonstrated by an agent that scales from an internal system to an app for external service technicians, featuring voice input and image analysis right at the control panel.
- You'll gain practical insights from real-world projects in industry, tourism, and banking—including how long pilot phases, rollouts, and change management realistically take, and what steps you should take early on to save time and stay within budget.

Autonomous robotics sounds complex – but what does deployment actually look like in practice? In this masterclass, Henri Felsenstein walks through how Alfie, RobCo’s autonomous industrial robot, integrates into existing operations without upfront investment or infrastructure overhaul. Attendees will learn how AI-powered adaptation works in real warehouse environments and what it takes to go from first pilot to full production.

The top-rated providers in the healthcare industry—this award recognizes companies and service providers that particularly impress consumers with their quality, value, offerings, and service (award presented by ntv Nachrichtenfernsehen and the German Institute for Service Quality).

The Groundbreaking Innovations of the Year – this award recognizes outstanding projects, products, technologies, and business models in the fields of artificial intelligence, digitalization, and transformation that create real added value through new ideas and solutions (award presented by the German Institute for Service Quality and DUP UNTERNEHMER).