electronica: The Highlights in 2018

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In just a few days, the world’s leading trade fair and conference for electronics will begin in Munich. In addition to 17 halls and over 3,000 exhibitors, electronica, which runs from November 13–16, also has an extensive supporting program.

To kick off this year’s electronica, Jeremy Rifkin will introduce the new “electronica Experience” format in his keynote in Hall C6 at 09:30 on Tuesday, November 13. Rifkin will discuss a number of topics including his theory regarding the internet of things (IoT). In his opinion, it comprises three levels: energy, communications and logistics. With the “energy Internet” and smart grid technologies, private households become micro power plants that feed electricity into the grid.

CEO round table with Reinhard Ploss and Alibaba representative

On the first day of the trade fair, big names from industry will also discuss the latest issues in electronics. The title of this year’s CEO round table is “Funding AI and subjecting it to regulations: Paradox or necessity? Implications of the approaches of the EU, the USA and China. Participants in the discussion will be:

• Jean-Marc Chery, president & CEO, STMicroelectronics
• Rick Clemmer, president & CEO, NXP Semiconductors
• Dr. Dean Ding/Xianfeng Ding, CTO, IoT Unit, Alibaba
• Alexander Kocher, president automotive business segment and managing director, Elektrobit
• Dr. Reinhard Ploss, president & CEO, Infineon Technologies
• Dr. Walden C. Rhines, president and CEO, Mentor Graphics

The CEO Roundtable will take place on Tuesday, November 13 at 13:00 in the Seeblick restaurant with invited guests and international journalists.

Talk from The Top: “Semiconductors or the automotive industry—who is driving who?”

The Talk from the Top in partnership with the Automobilwoche magazine at 15:00 on the Discovery Stage in Hall C6 will be a further highlight on the first day of the trade fair. Those taking part in the discussion will include:

• Frank Cornelius, head of battery development, Daimler
• Jens Fabrowsky, divisional director automotive electronics—Bosch
• Thomas M. Müller, divisional director electronics CarIT Development, Audi
• Peter Schiefer, president of the Automotive Division, Infineon
• Stefan Steyerl, managing director, Analog Devices Deutschland
• Rupert Stuetzle, digital expert associate partner, McKinsey

Four conferences and 16 forums at electronica 2018

The four conferences and 16 forums at electronica offer further opportunities for knowledge transfer and networking.

The first event is the electronica Automotive Conference (eAC) on Monday, November 12. The conference will focus on “emissions-free driving,” “autonomous driving” and “last mile.” The keynote speakers will include Rainer Müller-Finkeldei (Daimler) and Jürgen Bortolazzi (Porsche).

For the first time, the conference program for this year’s electronica will include four events. In addition to the established electronica Automotive Conference, electronica Embedded Platforms Conference and Wireless Congress, the electronica Medical Electronics Conference (eMEC) will celebrate its premiere on Thursday, November 15. Prof. Dr. Martin Halle from TU Munich will open the conference with a talk on personalized prevention.

In addition, Patrick “Cyborg” Kramer will give a keynote speech in the afternoon of November 15th followed by a panel discussion on the possibilities of digital implants.

The eMEC serves as a platform for the exchange and discussion between doctors and representatives of the electronics industry about the medicine of the future.

Discovery Stage—electronica Experience (Hall C6)

Visitors will find a special offer at the Discovery Stage in Hall C6. The HR Evening Brief will take place there at 5 p.m. on the first three days of the fair. The presentations will focus, among other things, on the challenges of personnel recruitment in the electronics industry, optimisation of the recruiting process and social media for employers.

Other focal points at the Discovery Stage include both distributed ledger technology (blockchain/IOTA) and artificial intelligence. In this context, visitors can expect lectures and discussions with Mick Ebeling, Klaus Holthausen and Tobias Martin Zeitler.

Big Step Challenge—a lot of steps for a good cause

electronica is expecting visitors from over 80 countries. The aim of the “Big Step Challenge” is to cover the distance between the capital city of each of these countries to the trade fair in Munich.

The official electronica app, which visitors can download on their mobile phones or smart devices, serves as a pedometer for the competition. It records the total number of steps taken by every participant during the four-day event.

In order to achieve this ambitious target, 436,000,000 steps are needed. Each time that a milestone of 100,000,000 steps is reached, electronica and RS Components will make a donation to the FIRST LEGO League in the form of kits for community groups all over Germany. This will enable teams made up of 6 to 16-year-olds, who would not otherwise have had the necessary means, to take part in the league.

A second organization, ITQ GmbH, will also receive support through the Big Step Challenge. For over ten years, ITQ GmbH has worked together with universities on interdisciplinary projects in order to ensure practical apprenticeships.