First virtual Smart Country Convention attracts 10,600 participants

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With 10,600 participants and over 150 speakers on three stages, the first 100 percent digital Smart Country Convention ends today. Highlights included keynotes by Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, EU Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton and Finnish Education Minister Li Andersson. Also present were NRW Prime Minister Armin Laschet, Federal Government Commissioner for Digitalization Dorothee Bär, Federal CIO Dr. Markus Richter, Hessian Minister for Digital Strategy and Development Prof. Dr. Kristina Sinemus and London CDO Theo Blackwell. "In the pandemic year, the Special Edition of the Smart Country Convention had to create new ways of acquiring knowledge and networking," says Jens Heithecker, Executive Vice President of Messe Berlin, after two days.

The event for the public sector was an instructive canada gambling data experience for the organizers: the technical service provider initially had difficulties keeping the streaming servers running smoothly due to unexpectedly high access numbers. The entire program was recorded and is available on demand. Registrations on the event platform are still possible. "Germany has a lot of catching up to do when it comes to digitization, as the past few days have shown us," says Bitkom CEO Dr. Bernhard Rohleder. "The digitization of the public sector is a joint task for politics, administration, business and science. The Smart Country Convention showed how the existing backlog can be quickly caught up, in large cities as well as in rural regions."

The aim of the Smart Country Convention is to accelerate the digitization of administrations and public spaces and to implement it in a way that is fair to citizens. In addition to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, the event is supported in particular by the three leading municipal associations - German Association of Towns and Municipalities, Association of Cities, Association of Districts - and the Association of Municipal Enterprises (VKU). Premium partners included Accenture, Bechtle, Bundesdruckerei, BWI, Deutsche Telekom, Google Cloud , Huawei, SAP and Smart City Berlin. The close collaboration between representatives of the public sector and the digital economy is unique. "Markets are not created alone, markets are created together. For this you need strong partners and we have these strong partners - whether Bitkom, municipal associations or industry - at the Smart Country Convention," says Heithecker.