The Verband der Automobilindustrie (VDA), UnternehmerTUM Digital Hub Mobility and the Tech Founders invited attendees on 1 December and 2 December to the VDA Future Tech Days – and around 500 participants came, at least virtually, because the originally planned face-to-face event in Munich ended up taking place online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
With the “Future Tech Days”, the VDA wants to support the entire automotive industry – known and new players – in the transformation process, according to VDA President Hildegard Müller, who gave the welcoming speech: “The German automotive industry is in the midst of a fundamental transformation that is affecting all companies in our industry – manufacturers and suppliers as well as startups. As the VDA, we want to continue to open up to startups and thus map the entire mobility ecosystem.” While the first day of the event tended to discuss new forms of collaboration in the value chain, the second day focused on technology trends and new business models.
In the late afternoon of the second day, our CEO, Tom Korn, was part of a panel discussion moderated by Kirstin Hegner, Managing Director UnternehmerTUM Digital Hub Mobility. Other participants who spoke about technology trends in the automotive industry included Dr. Daniela Gerd tom Markotten – Founder and CEO, iuhhoo, Dirk Wollschläger, General Manager, Global Automotive, Aerospaceand Defense Industry, IBM, Henning Wiefelspütz, Director Otonomo and Prof. Dr. Achim Kampker, Professor Production Engineering of E-Mobility Components, RWTH Aachen University and one of the founders of Streetscooter. Together with Prof. Kampker, Tom Korn answered the questions of the numerous participants in the subsequent workshop “Hydrogen – the drive of tomorrow”.
Many thanks again to the organizers who, despite the pandemic, put on a more than interesting event!
