It’s time to cross borders, discover unknown territories and seize new opportunities there.

Peter Bihr (Programme Director, NEXT Berlin)

To do so, we need some new ideas, a clue to what’s out there and hints on where to go next. There is no simple plan or map to follow. But at the trend-centric conference NEXT Berlin, more than 100 speakers will show you which areas in digital business, design and technology are worth exploring.

Our huge two-day-programme is out now! We have already released some names, but today we are happy to announce the full programme for all three stages and our numerous workshops.

Here be dragons – The Dome Stage

Matthias Schrader (CEO of SinnerSchrader) will kick off day one from the Dome Stage and explain this year’s NEXT theme: Here be Dragons. He will be followed by author Bruce Sterling, best known for his science fiction novels and his great WIRED weblog ‘Beyond the Beyond’. At NEXT, he will paint a picture of future designs and technologies. Another speaker who is always one step ahead is Stephen Wolfram. The author of A New Kind of Science and Mathematica, creator of Wolfram Alpha, and founder of Wolfram Research, he has defined new dimensions of computation over the course of his career. We are looking forward to his keynote at NEXT13, and wonder where he sees dragons lurking…

During the ‘Dragonslayers‘ session, big players like Ulrich Hegge (comdirect bank), Stanton Sugarman (major European publisher Gruner+Jahr), Peter Rampling (Telefónica) and Matthias Schmidt-Pfitzner (Deutsche Telekom) will discuss how they are tackling the digital challenges faced by their industries.

In the Maker Session designer Anab Jain (Superflux) and founder Alice Taylor (MakieLab) will focus on the disruptive forces triggered off by crowdsourcing and 3D-printing for both design agencies and business models. As the theme of 3D-printing is becoming so widespread, we also examine it in our Interface Session, where RoboSavvy will showcase a 3D-printed dancing robot. Their company’s head Limor Schweitzer will explain the future of human-machine interfaces.

Our first day will be wrapped up by Big Data expert, Harper Reed, the digital head behind Barack Obama’s re-election campaign. With his data-driven campaign Reed helped the US president win the close election race.

In the first keynote of day two Thomas Kiessling, the Chief Innovation Officer of Deutsche, will share his predictions regarding trends like machine-to-machine, big data or mobile payment. Then Marina Gorbis, the Executive Director of the Institute for the Future (IFTF), will take a scientific approach on ‘What’s NEXT?’ by introducing ideas soon to be published in her new book The Nature of the Future.

In the Invisible Session Martin Spindler  will vividly demonstrate that things will only get weirder. The Internet of things includes a renaissance of hardware, with more and more sensors being integrated into our daily lives. The consequences of that will be the central subject of the session which is completed by Dan Hill (Managing Director of Fabrica, Benetton Group’s communication research centre) and David Bausola. Bausola developed weavrs, alter egos crafted from the threads of the social web.

Robert Scoble, author and tech blogger with a truly exceptional worldwide reputation, will introduce us to his ideas on the age of context that we are about to enter. He will explain how the increasing number of sensors, and the resulting data, will influence the behaviour and features of devices. In addition, Tal Dagan (Primesense) will be part of the Context Session and explain how 3D sensing devices are going to change the world, and their role in ‘What’s NEXT?’.

Hands on – The White Stage

While the Dome Stage programme will paint the bigger picture, the White Stage will have a more practical focus that promises, among other things, interesting case studies. In the Money Session, Barbara Karuth-Zelle (Allianz), Jörg Ziesche (ING-DiBa), Konstantin Wolff of the mobile payment service Payleven, and Mikko Teerenhovi of the Finnish finance start-up Holvi, will will explain smart banking services and the payment systems of the future.

In 2012 SinnerSchrader hosted the NEXT Service Design Conference, highlighting the topic as one of the most critical business trends today. So it comes as no surprise that NEXT13 dedicates a session to Service Design with the experts Birgit Mager (Service Design Network), Anne Pascual (IDEO), Louisa Heinrich (Superhuman) and Axel Averdung (SinnerSchrader) describing service design from scientific, strategic and practical perspectives.

The last session of the day will be moderated by creative evangelist Jeremy Abbett. Together with Hannes Koch, Franziska Hübler and Rachel Wingfield he will explore the connection of art and technology in the Creative Session.

Day two starts with ‘The Disruptors’. Caroline Drucker (Etsy) will share her experiences in the fields of media, publishing and business development. She will be joined on stage by Gunnar Froh (airbnb) and Daniel Michalczyk (Uber) who are currently disrupting hotel and taxi businesses respectively.

Laurent Burdin from SinnerSchrader Mobile and his guests will use their expert knowledge to give us an insight into mobile sales machines. Meanwhile, the Technology Session of Holger Blank (SinnerSchrader) will show us exciting new gadgets and art ranging from 3D-printed toys and internet-connected lamps to drones and robots.

So get ready for to cross borders and start exploring new territories. There might be dragons, but we provide you with all you need to be prepared. Take the opportunity to listen to great speakers, meet thought leaders, entrepreneurs and experts from a huge range of fields in the Digital Economy. Get your ticket now!