New technologies, innovative products, thrilling solutions. The GREENTECH FESTIVAL will be held again at the former Berlin Tegel Airport and open its doors on June 14. The event is now being organized for the fifth time in the German capital. It is regarded as a top international meeting place for progressive thinkers of the Greentech sector, as well as a showcase for innovative solutions in climate protection. Under the motto Act Now. Act Wow, the planning and consulting firm Drees & Sommer SE and eleven partner companies create the Urban Sustainability Hub. They present new technologies, innovative products and thrilling solutions for the ‘city of the future’ to the visitors. In addition, several changemakers will come together on the Urban Sustainability Stage, take part in panel talks and give inspiring lectures.
Pure inspiration – an exciting program of presentations, along with jaw-dropping innovations, that is the promise of the changemakers from eleven partner companies who are getting together at the Urban Sustainability Hub. ‘We do not only speak about sustainability, we show what is possible already today,’ says Steffen Szeidl, Spokesperson of the Executive Board of Drees & Sommer SE.
Renowned Partners for Inspiration and Innovation
Besides Drees & Sommer, there are renowned companies such as ABB, Busch-Jaeger, E.ON, EPEA, JF Group, HOLCIM, Madaster Germany, Schüco, SOLO Lighting, STRAMEN.TEC and Tarkett. ‘We firmly believe that we can only overcome the major challenges of our time by pulling together. At the GREENTECH FESTIVAL, side by side with our partners, we present innovative green technologies for a sustainable and smart future of buildings, neighborhoods and cities as a whole,’ emphasizes Steffen Szeidl. This is because a pioneering spirit is needed in order to meet climate targets and get closer to the goal of net zero.
Broad Range of Topics
How can cities and towns become depositories for raw materials by means of urban mining already today? How must a green heat transition be shaped in order to meet the net-zero target? What does future mobility in built environments look like? What is the contribution of greentech startups to sustainable transformation? These are the questions the Urban Sustainability Hub seeks to answer. Issues range from sustainable flooring, through smart homes, modular construction, circular economy and energy management solutions, decarbonization and photovoltaics to using straw as a high-tech fiber in drywall systems.
As the technology group ABB shows, digital transformation plays a major role in the transition of the building sector to becoming more sustainable.
The use of intelligent building technology makes a considerable contribution to reducing energy consumption and operating costs. Time, resources and costs can be saved in combination with the modular prefabrications for technical building services and the electrical installation solutions from ABB subsidiary Busch-Jaeger. Its manufactured products include pre-wired sockets and flexible wall-mounted radio transmitters. The two companies have impressively demonstrated how these solutions bring building management closer to mission to zero in a project of their own: Busch-Jaeger's production plant in the German city of Lüdenscheid is already almost carbon-neutral, due to its own photovoltaic system and technology from ABB.
SOLO Lighting, as well, applies smart technologies to achieve maximum sustainability – by using an intelligent, proprietary wireless network of sensors and actuators, this full-service specialist can digitize any analog building, thus reducing operating costs by 70 to 90 percent. This has been impressively demonstrated in projects such as cube berlin. This approach places the focus on existing buildings in particular, where digital changeover has so far been costly. SOLO Lighting uses the technologies to offer a number of applications for smart buildings, such as collecting energy data and analyzing building usage.
All these solutions can be experienced live by visitors and discussed with specialists. The first and foremost aims of the Urban Sustainability Hub is to bring people together, to provide a platform for the exchange of ideas and to jointly develop the design of future urban spaces.
Focus on Relevant Issues of the Future
The varied stage show will focus on relevant topics of the future. The green heat transition is a topic of interest at the panel discussions and lectures. But also the issues of plastic-free future, smart buildings, urban sustainability and e-fuels play a major role and will be dealt with. Moreover, the expansion of the public charging network, the use of sustainable building materials and the design of sustainable cities by means of green tech are important topics that will be discussed on the Urban Sustainability Stage. A special highlight of the GREENTECH FESTIVAL is the panel discussion on Urban sustainability: green design, planning and infrastructure that takes place on Friday, June 16. Steffen Szeidl (Drees & Sommer Executive Board Spokesperson) talks to urban planner Natasha Kozub (Ro3kvit - Urban Coalition for Ukraine), Eric Wahlforss (founder of Dance e-bikes & SoundCloud) and Raimund Paetzmann (Vice President of Logistics Network Expansion and Real Estate at Zalando) about ‘the city of the future’.
GREENTECH FESTIVAL – a Global Platform for Companies and Innovators
Guided by the motto Mission to Net Zero, more than 190 exhibitors and 120 speakers will participate in the GREENTECH FESTIVAL in Berlin. The organizers of the event expect 15,000 visitors during three conference days. The international program includes the GTF Exhibition, the GTF Conference and the Green Awards. Live music, workshops and bootcamps complete the offer.
Overview of Lectures and Panel Discussions on the Urban Sustainability Stage:
Thursday, June 15, 2023
11:00 hours: Raw material recovery: yesterday’s cities become tomorrow’s cities (in German)
12:00 hours: Green heat transition: the heat is on for climate-neutral solutions (in German)
13:00 hours: Together for a plastic-free future (in German)
15:00 hours: Urban sustainability (in German)
15:45 hours: Smart building meets modular construction: networked modularity for dynamic building concepts (in German)
16:30 hours: Fueling the future: e-fuels – a promising solution or a slippery slope?
(in English)
17:15 hours: Impact hub Berlin startup spotlight (in English)
Friday, June 16, 2023
11:30 hours: Trouble-free charging: the right way to roll out public charging infrastructure
(in German)
12:30 hours: Green Tech: enablers for the sustainable city of the future (in German)
13:30 hours: Building the future: from sustainable materials to efficient construction sites
(in German)
For more information on the festival, the program and the tickets, please visit: Greentech Festival Overview (dreso.com)