Powering the Future: Building Europe's AI Infrastructure
As artificial intelligence reshapes economies, industries, and public life, the infrastructure behind it becomes a decisive factor for Europe’s competitiveness and digital sovereignty. The Bitkom AI Infrastructure Day brings together leaders from politics, industry, and technology to define what is needed to build and scale robust, high-performance, and secure AI infrastructure in Europe.
Hosted in Munich, this one-day event offers strategic impulses, cross-sector dialogue, and high-level networking focused on key challenges and opportunities in the AI infrastructure landscape; from high-performance computing (HPC) and data center policy to chip innovation and cross-border collaboration.
Markus Blume, Staatsminister, Bayerisches Staatsministerium Wissenschaft und Kunst
09:55 - 10:15
Begrüßung [German]
Niklas Veltkamp, Mitglied der Geschäftsleitung, Bitkom e.V.
Christian Meister, Senior Managing Director, Hines / Tucherpark
Andreas Rauch, Global Head of Real Estate Development & Construction, Commerz Real AG
10:15 - 10:30
Weitere Informationen folgen / More information will follow shortly
10:30 - 11:30
Panel: Digitale Souveränität im KI-Zeitalter – Infrastruktur als strategischer Standortfaktor [German]
Robert Heinrich, Unterabteilungsleiter für Digitalwirtschaft, Künstliche Intelligenz und Daten, Bundesministerium für Digitales und Staatsmodernisierung
Holger Schultheiß, Chief Product Owner, T-Systems
Maximilian Negele, Lead European Frontier AI Policy, RAND Center for AI, Security, and Technology
11:30 - 11:45
Impulse statement: Rahmen schaffen für Innovation – Der Beitrag des BMFTR zur KI-Infrastruktur | Online [German]
Dr. Roland Krüppel, Stellv. Leiter des Referats Mikroelektronik, Supercomputing und Robotik im Bundesministerium für Forschung, Technologie und Raumfahrt
11:45 - 12:50
Lunch & Networking
12:50 - 13:45
Keynote: KI-Infrastruktur Wie Deutschland im globalen KI-Rennen aufholen kann [German]
Dr. Johannes Brauer, Manager, Deloitte
Panel: Business Case oder Bottleneck? Perspektiven zum KI-Infrastrukturmarkt [German]
Boris Hecker, Managing Director Atos/Eviden Germany + Head of Growth Germany, Austria & Eastern Europe, Bitkom Landessprecher Bayern
Dr. Michael P. Unger, Lead Sovereign AI Initiatives & Lead Financial Services Clients, CE, NVIDIA
Dr. Susanne Beckers, AI Strategy Director, SAP
Dr. Andreas Wierse, Geschäftsführer, SICOS BW GmbH
Dr. Johannes Brauer, Manager, Deloitte
13:45 - 14:35
Keynote: Von der Theorie zu Praxis: Wie Infrastruktur den Weg zu produktiver KI in Agenten ebnet [German]
Dr. Wolfgang Lippert, Senior Director, Industry Lead Chemicals & Energy, Microsoft
Keynote: Souveräne KI in der Verteidigung: KI-Infrastruktur für den Luftkampf [German]
Simon Pfeiffer, Associate Director Programmes, Helsing
14:35 - 14:50
Coffee & Networking
14:50 - 15:40
Impulse statement: China's pursuit of AI self-reliance: from chips to LLMs | Online [English]
Wendy Chang, Analyst, Mercator Institute for China Studies
Keynote: Driving AI infrastructure – the UK's roadmap for economic growth [English]
Dr. Mark Dittmer-Odell, HM Consul-General Munich, Director of Future Mobility and Tech Germany
Panel: Global Insights for Future AI Infrastructure [English]
Dr. Mark Dittmer-Odell, HM Consul-General Munich, Director of Future Mobility and Tech Germany
Axelle Cheney-Grünberger, Senior International Expert for Technological Innovation at the French Embassy
Dr. Philip Fox, Policy Specialist, KIRA Center
15:40 - 16:30
Panel: Enabling Europe’s AI Infrastructure – From Compute to Connectivity [English]
Nils Kleemann, CTO Central Europe, Nokia
Christian Schulze, Head of AI Compute Center, Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz (DFKI)
Birgit Schwarz, Director Hardware Development, IBM Deutschland
Matthias Lohrmann, CTO, SpiNNcloud Systems
16:30 - 16:50
Keynote: Nachhaltigkeit von KI-Infrastruktur [German]
Dr. Ralph Hintemann, Gesellschafter & Senior Researcher, Borderstep Institut
16:50 - 17:10
Keynote von Polarise [Deutsch]
Nicolas Kremer, CTO und Co-Founder, Polarise
ab 17:10
Abschluss & Networking / End of conference & Networking
Digital sovereignty, infrastructure & regulation
Germany on its way to becoming the No. 1 digital location. We advocate the best political and legal framework conditions for the digital economy.