The 20th anniversary of the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) was celebrated at the Griebnitzsee campus from 28 to 30 October in a way befitting the special occasion. For three days, HPI was in a celebratory state of mind. Besides a festive gala, a two-day conference took place with a diverse program dedicated to 50 years of the Internet and 20 years of excellence in teaching and research at HPI.

The event began with an anniversary gala on the evening of 28 October. Around 300 guests from the fields of science, business and politics enjoyed a festive evening in the specially constructed pavilion. The guests were warmly welcomed by HPI Director Prof. Christoph Meinel, who has led HPI for 15 years, and Head of the Federal Chancellery, Prof. Helge Braun, who extended his personal congratulations to HPI. In a noteworthy speech, HPI founder Prof. Hasso Plattner described the milestones of the institute, while at the same time speaking about the darker side of the Internet. HPI Fellow, Professor August-Wilhelm Scheer, who spent many years on the Board of Trustees of the Hasso Plattner Foundation, also delivered a speech. With wit and charm, television personality Günther Jauch emceed the evening, which was accompanied by music from the Potsdam Kammerakademie.

First Conference Day "50 years of the Internet"

The conference "Designing Digital Transformation" took place from 29 to 30 October. On 29 October - the day of the Internet’s 50th anniversary - more than 400 guests, including Internet pioneers, scientists, politicians and IT industry leaders, discussed the Internet’s development and its social and economic impact inside the festival pavilion, while sun and icy temperatures prevailed outside. Dr. Dietmar Woidke, Minister President of the State of Brandenburg, and Peter Altmaier, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy—who joined the event live from the Digital-Gipfel in Dortmund, emphasized the importance of digitization for Germany as a center of industry and business. Dr. Vinton Cerf, one of the fathers of the Internet, spoke in a video message sent especially for the occasion. Dr. Jürgen Müller, CTO and board member at SAP SE, Dr. Matthias Döpfner, CEO Axel Springer SE and Warren East, CEO Rolls Royce PLC, spoke about the extent to which the Internet has changed individual industries in recent years and the challenges they are currently facing. HPI alumni Dr. Frank Keller, Professor Matthias Weidlich, Dr. Gero Decker and Philipp Berger reported on their own projects in their companies and organizations and discussed what kind of additional qualifications are needed by managers in the digital world.

Second Conference Day "20 Years of HPI"

On October 30, the second day of the conference, the focus was on "20 years of excellent research and teaching at HPI." Fourteen IT research departments presented their groups and research fields to guests from science and industry. In addition, HPI alumni such as Dr. Jürgen Müller, board member at SAP, and Jonas Gebhard, co-founder of Objective-Loop, spoke about their careers and experiences in founding their own companies.

The design thinking experts from the HPI School of Design Thinking presented the innovation method on the first day of the conference in small sessions, as well as introducing various research projects at several stands in the pavilion.  The HPI Academy spoke with executives from various industries about the experiences and the challenges involved in introducing design thinking to companies, and presented their extensive range of workshops for companies and professionals.

In the evening, HPI students, speakers, researchers and guests joined the electropop band MIA in  bringing the anniversary celebration to a happy end.

Picture gallery: Conference “Designing Digital Transformation”