DLD - Digital, Life, Design Conference in Munich

The future is already here

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:25:35 +0100

At the end of the month, Microsoft will launch its Windows Azure platform. Like Amazon and Google have done before, Microsoft will offer a computing model by which users can gain access to their applications from anywhere.

"Within hours, startups or young entrepreneneurs are able to build an IT-infrastructure - and within minutes, they can sign off," explains Werner Vogels in an article of the German newspaper Handelsblatt. Vogels is Chief Technology Officer at Amazon.com where he is responsible for driving the company's technology vision, which is to continuously enhance the innovation on behalf of Amazon's customers at a global scale.

Read the whole article here.

Zeitz Foundation and DLD presenting "THE LONG RUN" first time to the public

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:06:57 +0100

"Every big change starts by people taking action". Yesterday DLD supported the Jochen Zeitz-Foundation in presenting its first key project "THE LONG RUN" to the German public.

THE LONG RUN builds a platform and community for sustainable change. The starting point is a network of nine retreats in Africa and around the world which commits to eco-safety operations and by this creates a spark for their local communities. Jochen Zeitz who in his professional career as CEO of PUMA has made the company a global leader in sports lifestyle, started THE LONG RUN with his own farm in Kenya. He is supported by ambassadors and specialists in various fields. For the launch yesterday in Munich, world champion and 100 meter world record holder Usain Bolt, the world's fastest man, explained why he is engaging in the LONG RUN together with former world champion Colin Jackson. With his age of 23 years and being a global celebrity, Usain Bolt knows that he is a role model for the younger generation. For Zeitz THE LONG RUN is a journey and a project that can grow by ever more people engaging also via the website and by watching the documentary HOME which shows why we all should engage for our planet.

The ArtReview Power 100: Hans Ulrich Obrist No.1

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:02:34 +0100

The Art Review Magazine published the 2009 edition of the Power 100 today and highlighted a new No.1: our long time best DLD friend Hans Ulrich Obrist. At last, Obrist attended DLD09 with the panel "A black mountain college for the 21st century", Congratulations!

The Swiss-born art-critic and co-director of Exhibitons at the Serpentine Gallery take over the top slot one year after Damien Hirst topped the Power 100 list issued annually by Art Review magazine. "The people who are the top are people who are kind of flexible and are able to cope with a world that is rapidly changing," said Mark Rappolt, editor of Art Review.

"People can nip to Berlin, or go to New York for a weekend, whereas before they had to rely on somebody else's report from those places. This has made the list less dominated by London and New York, with a lot more Germans and others coming in. Hans Ulrich Obrist has all these different hats on a curator and a critic," he added.

The Power 100 is not just a who's who to contemporary but also a guide to general trends and forces that shape the artworld. We also congratulate our DLD friends Julieta Aranda and Ai Weiwei who are ranked in the list as well.

Women's Forum in Deauville: "Think again, think ahead!"

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:09:54 +0100

Under the theme "Think again, think ahead! It is time for action, change and hope", the fifth edition of the Women's Forum Global Meeting starts today. The forum is held in Deauville, France where 1000 participants from 70 countries are expected.

"The ground has shifted beneath the feet of our business models and social and economic policies", explains Aude de Zieseniss de Thuin, founder and CEO of the Women's Forum. As a speaker at DLD09, she talked about "Women Power" and the beginning of her conference. In 2000, she wanted to join the World Economic Forum in Davos, but didn't even get an answer. Therefore she decided to found her own forum considering women's vision on the economic and social issues of our time.

In the meantime, it is one of the leading forums worldwide: Rated among the top five global forums by the Financial Times, the Women's Forum has become a major event bringing together key political, economic, artistic and media figures. Here you can find an overview of this year's speakers.

"With their male counterparts, women have a key role to play in the process of creating a more resilient future", she adds. And she has one goal for the next year: "I want to go to Davos!"

"Ai Weiwei - So Sorry" exhibition opening

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:11:45 +0100

Ai Weiwei (former DLD speaker and one of the most important and controversial Chinese artists) is presenting the opening of his largest ever solo exhibition in Munich's "Haus der Kunst" today. The show is entitled "Ai Weiwei - So Sorry" and will be open to the public until January 17, 2010.

The exhibition will be accompanied by an appropriate blog. There you can find posts by the artist, the team of the "Haus der Kunst" as well as other artists and cultural workers.

DLD Dinner in London

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:16:01 +0100

On Tueseday, October 6th, 2009 we hosted a DLD dinner in London. It was a pleasure to welcome more than 50 DLD friends at Konstam. One more time many ideas and insights were shared and new contacts established. On this occasion we took the chance to brainstorm a few ideas with regard to DLD10 in January: e. g. Hans Ulrich Obrist shared his thoughts on new projects and Niklas Zennström (Atomico Ventures) emphasized the importance of the European entrepreneurial spirit.

Among the guests: Nani-Beccalli-Falco (GE), Marko Ahtisaari (Dopplr), Brent Hoberman (MyDeco), Georg Knoth (GE), Mark Read (WPP), Gregor Vogelsang (Booz & Co.), Andrew Paulson (SUP), Slava Sinadski (CTC Media)

With plastic bottles to Sydney: David de Rothschild has a new project

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:56:30 +0100

David de Rothschild, founder of Adventure Ecology, will sail from San Francisco to Sydney in mid-November. But he won't get there by a conventional ship. Our DLD-friend and his skipper Jo Royle will travel on a catamaran made entirely out of recycled plastic bottles.

The so called Plastiki Expedition is a crew of adventurers, scientists and creatives sailing across the Pacific. Their mission is to beat waste by inspiring sustainable solutions and to highlight the ecological damage being done to the wolrd's oceans. "We're producing two hundred million tons of plastic a year, much of which is single-use, throw-away," says de Rothschild. "There's roughly 100 million tons of plastic in our oceans. The important point to convey is that it's huge concentrations of plastic across our entire oceans, not just in one area."

You want to follow this trip online? Here you can find a daily update. Also read more on Fashion Week Daily.

Have a good trip and always sail close to the wind!

DLD Talk with Ernst & Young: "The digital future gets real"

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:49:59 +0100

Yesterday, we welcomed our long-time DLD partner Ernst & Young to a round table talk in Munich. Gerhard Müller and Hanno Hepke (both partners with E&Y) presented their new study analyzing the mergers and acquisitions in Europe: "Der Online-Faktor: Von der Integration zur Transformation".

Over the past four years, Ernst & Young has been studied more than 4,500 European transactions relating to the media or entertainment industry. Whether internet portals, social networking or online communitys - as an expanding media house, the companies have to be part of the internet business.

That's one of the key facts, the Ernst & Young study showed on Monday. "The digital future gets real," outlined Hepke: Traditional publishing houses change into multimedia companies. Driving forces at this are technical development and a convergent offering of media and content.

"The online market drives the mergers and acquisitions in Europe. That's what the Ernst & Young study demonstrates today ," said Marcel Reichart, Managing Director DLD Media and DLD host.

Interested? Here you can read the complete study in German. The English version will follow as soon as possible.

Bild ansehen

Konstantin Grcic's Decisive Design at the Art Institute of Chicago

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 11:10:02 +0100

Konstantin Gricic, DLD speaker and one of the most influential designers working today, will be presenting his furniture and product designs at The Art Institute of Chicago. The first major exhibition of his work in a U. S. museum is entitled „Decisice Design" and is specifically devoted to the portfolio of Grcic and his firm, Konstantin Grcic Industrial Design. The exhibition will be shown from November 18, 2009 till January 24, 2010.

Morover Konstantin Grcic will also be curating an exhibition of contemporary design at London's Serpentine Gallery. „Design Real" will include a wide range of objects by leading international designers and manufacturers focusing on objects with practical functions. The show is opening November 26, 2009 and will run till February 7, 2010.

DLD Dinner in Palo Alto

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:20:30 +0100

Right after TechCrunch50's day 2 was over, about 180 people followed the invitation of DLD chairman Yossi Vardi and DLD founders and hosts Steffi Czerny & Marcel Reichart to attend our DLD Dinner at MacArthurPark Restaurant in Palo Alto.

The DLD team welcomed old and new friends from the Bay Area and looked for some more "hot topics" for the upcoming DLD conference (24-26 January 2010).
Just like last year, all attendees received the completely new "DLD Book for Friends 2009", which has extra been shipped in from from oversea a few hours before.

Guests included Mozilla's Mitchell Baker, Facebook's Randi Zuckerberg, Peter Hirshberg, Fortune Magazine's David Kirkpatrick, Google's Nikesh Arora, Hummer Winblad's Mark Gorenberg, Esther Dyson, Microsoft's Alain Rappaport or Proximic's Philipp Pieper.

Thanks again to our DLD Dinner sponsors Christoph Schuh and Tomorrow Focus AG as well as Bob Taylor and Mintz Levin for supporting this special evening.