CityLAB Sommerkonferenz 2024: Everything you need to know

It’s a special summer conference for us this year – because CityLAB Berlin is five years old! All the more reason to put on our usual diverse programme with inspiring guests on 27 June and get talking about the topics that move us all: The sustainable digitalisation of Berlin for the common good, innovative ideas for and from the public sector, open data and prototypes that are driving our city forward.

Time to share insights with you into the mix of panels, talks and hands-on workshops that await you at Haus Ungarn from 09:00 to 00:00 in the centre of Berlin.

National and international experts talk about their favourite topics

We learn something new every day – be it at trade fairs, events or in dialogue with our network and partners. This mutual learning from one another is also emphasised at our summer conference. That is why we are delighted to welcome these experts, among others, to our stage:

• Martina Klement, State Secretary for Digitalisation and Modernisation of Public Administration and Chief Digital Officer Berlin in dialogue with the Chairman of the Board of the Technology Foundation Berlin, Nicolas Zimmer

• Marco te Brömmelstroet, professor at the University of Amsterdam, an expert on urban mobility concepts of the future and cyclist by conviction, who is known for his charismatic lectures – with a bit of luck, you could win one of 150 copies of his book “Society on the Move“, which will be published at the end of September
• Deputy Managing Director and Head of Resilient Democracy at “Das Progressive Zentrum”, Paulina Fröhlich, who will talk about the relevance of finding solutions in democracy and what role the administration can play in this.
• Jonas Dageförde, Chief Digital Officer of the state capital Kiel, who will show us the opportunities of digital tools for a proactive, forward-looking administration

• Theresa Züger, head of the junior research group Public Interest AI (AI & Society Lab) funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)
• Mira Pape, who, as a funding consultant, will use specific examples in a seminar to show how artificial intelligence can provide useful support when writing funding applications
• The experts for building communities – Adam Cochrane, Senior Strategic Designer at Lufthansa Innovation Hub, & Caroline Pippel, Community Manager at Holi – who will share their tried-and-tested tips & tricks with us in an interactive session

Of course, that’s by no means all the guests we’ll be welcoming on 27 June – you can see who else you can expect in the current programme.

Programme: Focus on administrative content

Even more insights from the administration: We followed up on your feedback from last year and collected programme ideas from the administration in advance via an open call. One topic in particular stood out from the proposals submitted: Courage for change! With this and other content, we look forward to insights from the administration, for the administration:

• Just do it – shaping administration with the courage to change: Innovators from various municipal administrations in Germany use their own success stories to show how courageous action can bring about change
• Authority with a face: Employees of the Berlin State Office for Refugee Affairs (LAF) demonstrate how they have made the waiting situation at the asylum reception centre more approachable with personally recorded information videos and thus given the authority “a face”
• Bringing paper to life – How strategies don’t disappear in a drawer: What do the federal government’s digital strategy and Berlin’s smart city strategy have in common? The aim of this workshop is to make common hurdles and success factors for the successful development of a cross-departmental strategy tangible.

Highlight: Kiezlabor

After inaugurating the Kiezlabor – our container for digital transformation – at last year’s conference, we are delighted to bring it back again this year! Located directly opposite Haus Ungarn, the Kiezlabor will once again be open for discovery – and is looking forward to a visit from Governing Mayor Kai Wegner!

In addition, the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg education office will be a guest this time and offer selected services – without an appointment! In addition, an exhibition will provide information about the previous stations of the Kiezlabor on tour through Berlin and Grün Berlin will present the redesign plans up close.

Bingo and card game fun: Meet-ups with a difference

You often get good ideas while playing – and what better way to do that than with a themed round of cards!

In the “AI Compass” card game from the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG) and the non-profit organisation neuland & gestalten gGmbH, you take on the role of AI experts and negotiate which tasks would be better performed by an AI or by humans. The second meet-up in the series of card games takes us to the Berlin administration under the motto “Bin nicht zuständig”, which was developed by the agency aufsiemitgebrüll – that probably needs no further explanation!

If you want to test your knowledge, you’ll get your money’s worth at administration bingo: With a good mood, a lot of creativity and a bit of luck, you can not only playfully develop new solutions to problems relating to the digitisation of Berlin’s administration, but also win a prize!

To cool down the smoking heads at the end of the content programme, we will of course bring the fifth CityLAB Summer Conference to a fitting close. We will start the evening with music from our summer conference veteran and favourite DJ Femalemacho. The programme will continue with the Berlin dance and DJ collective Tanzen 3000, who will invite you to a dance session with rhythmic dance moves! In addition to other exciting programme items, we’ll be pulling one or two surprises out of the hat for you – you can look forward to it!

The most important information at a glance

• Date: 27.06.2024 
• Location: Haus Ungarn, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 9, 10178 Berlin  
• Time: 9:00-00:00, Admission from 8:30 am, evening programme from 6:00 pm
• S-/U-Bahn Alexanderplatz & U Rotes Rathaus 
• There is a cloakroom on site

So there’s only one thing left to do: Register and be there! We look forward to seeing you there!