Leaders' Dialogue 2026

Empowering Industrial AI

21 April 2026

10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Hannover Messe

Hall 25, Center Stage

Schedule

Opening

Keynote: Between Bits and Behavior – How to make Industrial AI real

  • Cedrik Neike, Member of the Managing Board and CEO Digital Industries, Siemens AG

Accelerating the AI Ecosystem – Public-Private-Partnerships for Next-Generation Industrial AI

  • Katherina Reiche, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy

  • Dr. Rolf-Dieter Jungk, State Secretary Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space

  • Cedrik Neike, Member of the Managing Board and CEO Digital Industries, Siemens AG

Leveraging Industrial AI Application Potentials

The Advantage of Openness: AI-Driven Engineering and Production: Use Cases, Further Potentials and Need for Collaboration

  • Dr. Sabine Klauke, Executive Vice President - Head of Digital Design, Manufacturing & Services, Airbus SAS

  • Christian Klettner, Senior Vice President - Digitalization of Operations, BASF

  • Dr. Tanja Rückert, Member of the Board and Chief Digital Officer, Robert Bosch GmbH

Cooperating Towards Level 4: A Federated AI Ecosystem for Autonomous Driving

  • Dr. Michael Darms, Senior Manager Perception & Function, MB.OS Autonomous Driving Functions, Mercedes Benz AG

  • Aria Etemad, Senior Project Manager, Volkswagen Group Innovation

  • Dr. Jörg Reichardt, Senior Expert General Machine Learning, Aumovio

Mission‑Critical AI: Balancing Openness and Security in Defence and Critical Infrastructure

  • Dr. Eva M. Grochowski, Vice President Innovation & Digitalization, Rheinmetall IT Solutions GmbH

  • Kathrin Günther, Chief Transformation Officer, TenneT Germany

Building the Federated Industrial AI Ecosystem

Building the Backbone: Foundation Models, Agentic AI and Digital Infrastructure for a Federated Industrial AI Ecosystem

  • Elke Anderl, Chief Commercial Officer, T-Systems

  • Dr. Johannes Hoffart, CTO AI, SAP SE

  • Stephan Ilaender, Field CTO, STACKIT

Achieving Data Readiness for Industrial AI

From Pilots to Productivity: Achieving Data Readiness for Industrial AI with Data Ecosystems

  • Dr. Gunther Kegel, President of ZVEI e. V., Chief Representative of the Pepperl+Fuchs Group

  • Christina Raab, Vice President of Bitkom e. V., Market Unit Lead Accenture Central and Eastern Europe, Accenture

  • Henrik Schunk, Chairman of the Board, SCHUNK SE & Co KG, CEO, Next Level Mittelstand GmbH

Networking-Lunch

Speakers

Katherina Reiche

Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy

Dr. Rolf-Dieter Jungk

State Secretary, Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space

Cedrik Neike

Member of the Managing Board and CEO Digital Industries, Siemens AG

Dr. Sabine Klauke

Executive Vice President - Head of Digital Design, Manufacturing & Services, Airbus SAS

Christian Klettner

Senior Vice President - Digitalization of Operations, BASF

Dr. Tanja Rückert

Member of the Board and Chief Digital Officer, Robert Bosch GmbH

Dr. Michael Darms

Senior Manager Perception & Function, MB.OS Autonomous Driving Functions, Mercedes Benz AG

Aria Etemad

Senior Project Manager, Volkswagen Group Innovation

Dr. Jörg Reichardt

Senior Expert General Machine Learning, Aumovio

Dr. Eva M. Grochowski

Rheinmetall IT Solutions GmbH

Kathrin Günther

Chief Transformation Officer, TenneT Germany

Elke Anderl

Chief Commercial Officer, T-Systems

Dr. Johannes Hoffart

CTO AI, SAP SE

Stephan Ilaender

Field CTO, STACKIT

Dr. Gunther Kegel

President of ZVEI e. V., Chief Representative of the Pepperl+Fuchs Group

Christina Raab

Vice President of Bitkom e. V., Market Unit Lead Accenture Central and Eastern Europe, Accenture

Henrik Schunk

Chairman of the Board SCHUNK SE & Co KG, CEO Next Level Mittelstand GmbH

Astrid Frohloff

Moderator of the Leaders' Dialogue 2026

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We look forward to welcoming you to this year’s Leaders’ Dialogue!

If you are interested in attending the event, please contact: geschaeftsstelle@plattform-i40.de

Plattform Industrie 4.0, Bülowstraße 78, 10783 Berlin