Digital X 2024 – Ready for impact

• Six stages - 250 speakers - 300 partners - 250 masterclasses: 50,000 visitors experience Cologne as a digitalization playground
• Big names from politics, business and sport on stage: Julian Nagelsmann, Dirk Nowitzki, Meredith Whittaker and Hendrik Wüst
• First Digital X Summit to kick off the event: over 350 decision-makers discuss Germany’s digital agenda 

With 300 partners and 250 speakers on six stages, Digital X once again transformed Cologne’s city centre into a digitalization playground. Around 50,000 visitors experienced innovations at first hand: be it in conversation with an AI avatar, with robots for city cleaning or health checks by artificial intelligence. The celebrity guests included sports stars Dirk Nowitzki, Julian Nagelsmann and Nico Rosberg, Signal President Meredith Whittaker, Smudo from the Fantastischen Vier band and NRW Minister President Hendrik Wüst.

This year’s Digital X kicked off with the newly designed Digital X Summit. For the first time, more than 350 selected decision-makers from business, politics and science came together for a congress day in the run-up to the trade fair. Along the three thematic areas of artificial intelligence, digital competence and digital sovereignty, there were concrete impulses for the participants: Collaboration and investment are essential for Germany’s digital transformation. In order to accelerate digital and AI development, it is crucial that industry, research and start-ups share their knowledge and pool their strengths. At the same time, digital education must be promoted for everyone in order to prevent fears and exploit the opportunities of the digital future. In addition, it is essential to strengthen cyber security, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises, by using security solutions with open standards and AI-based systems. Only through these measures can Europe’s technological sovereignty and innovative strength be secured in the long term.

Klaus Werner, patron of the Digital X Initiative and Managing Director Business Customers Telekom Deutschland, made it clear right at the start of the first day of the trade fair: “Only together we can win digital gold for Germany.” Every visitor is encouraged not only to talk about digitalization, but also to take action. For him, this is the core of the initiative: “With Digital X, we bring people together - we get them moving. If each guest reaches an average of 20 other people, then we already have two million hands for digitalization.”

In his speech, Tim Höttges, CEO of Deutsche Telekom, described what currently moves him beyond the topic of digitalization: “What is very close to my heart is the mood in our country - the discussions, the conflicts, the polarization of society.” At the same time, he analyzed: “We are not stuck in a traffic jam, sometimes we are the traffic jam ourselves.” He therefore urged people to shape change themselves with the right attitude and not wait for others.

250 speakers on a total of six stages spoke about the megatrends of sustainability, security, connected business and the future of work: 

NRW Minister President Hendrik Wüst emphasized: “In order to be able to use AI on a broad scale, digital expertise, infrastructure and security must be promoted.” In his view, formats such as Digital X are therefore needed, where the opportunities and fields of application of artificial intelligence are discussed in a stimulating way. 

Meredith Whittaker, President of the Signal Foundation, took a positive view of the current global situation: “We are living in a time of great technological progress, which makes the solutions to current challenges all the more exciting.” 

For national team coach Julian Nagelsmann, a focus on solutions was particularly important: “If you think about solutions instead of problems, you go through the day more positively.” When it comes to digitalization, many people have worries and fears, and he often experiences negative thoughts. However, it is crucial to identify the problem and then focus on finding a solution. 

Basketball legend Dirk Nowitzki promotes mentoring programs for young athletes with his foundations. These coaches are not only supposed to teach sporting skills, but also the right values: “I know from my own experience that you need a reliable mentor on the road to success.” 

In addition to the appearances on the big stages, over 250 masterclasses were held in smaller circles. Experts from the initiative’s partner companies, Fresenius University of Applied Sciences and Deutsche Telekom discussed specialist digitalization topics and how they can be put into practice: Whether AI prompts to join in, insights into the psychology of a cyber attack or osteopathy for digital overload.

In addition to the stage program, visitors to the trade fair had the opportunity to experience exciting innovations up close. For example, they got to know the AI avatar “Judy”, who had a suitable answer to every question about the event. Robot “Butty” autonomously collected cigarette stubs and provided impressions of smart city cleaning. The humanoid robot “NAO” presented itself dancing. The future of mobile work was presented by an AR laptop that uses glasses to project a 100-inch AR surface directly in front of the user’s eyes. The healthcare industry is also increasingly feeling the influence of artificial intelligence: at Digital X, visitors experienced how a health check can be carried out and analyzed automatically.  

About Deutsche Telekom: Deutsche Telekom at a glance