Next Conference Berlin : YourStory Exclusive

The next conference is one of the most important networking and trend conferences within the European web industry.On May 11 & 12 the next conference is taking place at STATION-Berlin. Jointly organised by SinnerSchrader and STATION-Berlin. YourStory is at the next conference meeting European startups of tomorrow and attending really interesting sessions about technology, social media, entrepreneurship and creativityThe event saw more than hundred international speakers and up to 1.500 participants. Amongst them were decision makers of the media, technology and advertising sector, agencies and service providers, investors and start-ups. It is the only conference that unites the Internet community with brands and leading companies.

Under the motto “Game Changers” the next conference 2010 will discuss over two days how the currently emerging economy of mobile applications (App Economy) is influencing companies’ digital strategies. The question of how companies will interact with consumers on mobile devices in future will have a greater impact on business models than PCs and the Internet. next10 will present the foremost Game Changers in STATION-BERLIN on May 11 & 12, 2010 and will highlight the booming App Economy.

The leading conference for the digital economy in Germany will be held in Berlin for the first time this year. SinnerSchrader and STATION-BERLIN are organising the next conference jointly for the first time. The aim of the long-term cooperation is to develop the next in Berlin into the leading European congress for the digital and creative economy. Two thousand participants and more than 100 speakers from all over Europe and the USA are expected at the fifth next conference.

The leading lights among the speakers include Dennis Crowley, the founder of the locative network Foursquare, and Louis Rossetto, who set up the tech magazine WIRED and is now revolutionising chocolate production with TCHO. Other highlights will be appearances by the futurist and hackerPablos Holman, who helped to develop the smallest PC in the world, and John Rogers, who is reshaping the automotive industry with Local Motors. University teacher, dance scientist and psychologist, Peter Lovatt alias Dr Dance –who at one time struggled with literacy –will get the conference hall dancing.

A separate conference track will be dedicated to the booming App Economy. Following on from the success of Apple with the iPhone App Store, other providers, such as Google (Android), Nokia (Ovi), Microsoft (Windows Phone 7), RiM (Blackberry) and Palm (Palm Pre), have launched their own Application Stores. Network operators, such as AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, NTT DoCoMo, Orange, Telefónica, Sprint and Vodafone, want to establish an open platform to put apps on every mobile phone. The experts from GetJar estimate the current market for mobile applications to be worth USD 6 billion and expect that it will grow to USD 17.5 billion by 2012. The number of downloads will thus explode from just over 7 billion this year to almost 50 billion in 2012.

The two-day trend and network event will bring creatives and engineers from the Internet, media and communications industries together with decision-makers. SinnerSchrader has been hosting the next conference since 2006. Among other things, STATION-BERLIN is the organiser of the international PREMIUM fashion fair in Berlin, which is also a Game Changer in its field.

Game Changers break rules and redefine business models. They are innovative and dare to challenge, unencumbered by mass marketing and the mainstream. Companies change the rules of the game by taking the risk to develop innovative new products and services instead of being satisfied with continuously improving what already exists. With its many keynote speeches and presentations, the next conference 2010 will give great insights into the thinking of the innovators currently most in demand and its workshops will provide practical suggestions for action. The focus will be on the fundamental changes triggered by the web, whose full extent we still cannot appreciate. After all, the Internet is not just replacing or supplementing existing media; it is redefining the influence of the individual on the economy, politics and society.

All that is needed to establish yourself in this field are talent and the will to do so; it has thus long been open to all. The Internet lets everyone change the game according to their own rules –if they find enough support. This is happening constantly, because even 15 years after the web entered the mass market, every day we encounter new applications and enhancements no one knew about yesterday that will dominate entire markets tomorrow. Current examples are Amazon, Zappos, Tesla, Google and the Apple iPhone.