Reigniting an Open, Bold & Collaborative
European Digital Economy Amidst €200bn AI Ambitions
Innovation, investment and government leaders set to meet at GITEX EUROPE x Ai Everything,
21-23 May, Messe Berlin, the continent’s largest inaugural tech, startup and digital investment event
Berlin, Germany - 15 April 2025:
With
landmark initiatives announced to forge new frontiers in Europe’s digital sovereignty,
including the €200bn AI pledge and unprecedented emphasis on quantum, cloud,
semiconductors and data storage, a sense of urgency is sweeping across the
continent to reimagine the status quo and reshape critical tech infrastructures.
Perfectly timed to harness
Europe’s inherent innovation prowess and catapult its position among leading
digital economies is GITEX EUROPE x Ai Everything (21-23 May, Messe
Berlin). The world’s third largest economy and host nation for GITEX EUROPE
x Ai Everything, Germany’s role as the European economic and technology
chieftain comes into sharp focus, as transatlantic tensions ramp up in the race
for global digital and AI leadership. Germany’s ICT sector is projected to
reach €232.8bn in 2025 (Statista).
GITEX
EUROPE x Ai Everything, now emerging as Europe’s largest inaugural tech, startup and digital
investment event, is organised by KAOUN International and hosted in partnership
with the Berlin Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises,
Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Berlin
Partner for Business and Technology, and the European Innovation Council
(EIC).
Franziska
Giffey, Mayor of Berlin and Senator for Economic Affairs, Energy and Public
Enterprises said: “Partnering with one of
the largest tech and startup global events and hosting the debut of GITEX
EUROPE in Berlin strengthens our commitment to solidifying Germany’s position
as a global magnet for investment and frontier-pushing technologies,
spearheading Europe’s edge in the next digital decade.”
Global
Tech Openly Engages for Cross-Border, Cross-Industry Partnerships
The
momentous first edition brings together over 1,400 big tech enterprises,
startups and SMEs, including platinum sponsors AWS and IBM, alongside Cisco, Cloudflare,
Dell, Fortinet, Lenovo, NTT, Nutanix, Nvidia, Opswat, and SAP, to forge
consensus in new partnerships and business outcomes for more agile,
business-friendly, and responsible global digital systems. GITEX EUROPE x Ai
Everything shall present the most global tech and startup event with a
sterling lineup of tech companies from over 100 countries and 34 European
states, including tech pavilions from India, Italy, Morocco, Netherlands,
Poland, Serbia, South Korea, UK, UAE, and more.
Trixie
LohMirmand, CEO of KAOUN International, organiser of GITEX worldwide, shared: “Amid
the AI whirlwinds, there is a coordinated consensus and renewed urgency and
unity across Europe to assert its digital sovereignty and leadership as a
global innovation force. The region is paving its way as a centre-stage where
AI, quantum and deep tech supremacy will be debated, developed, and scaled, and
GITEX EUROPE strategically hosted in this vantage nexus and watershed
time in history shall define Europe’s technological future in an epoch where
leadership is earned through bold action and solidarity.”
Influential
Global Leaders Address EU’s Critical Tech Crossroads
Over 500 global speakers - nearly
half addressing the tech community for the first time on a German tech stage – debate
the new strategic priorities, from AI and quantum supremacy to cloud and data
sovereignty. Among the global headliners are Geoffrey
Hinton, Physics Nobel Laureate (2024), ‘Godfather of AI’, and the neural
network pioneer who sparked worldwide debate by questioning AI consequences; Kai
Wegner, Mayor of Berlin; H.E. Jelena Begović, Serbian Minister of Science,
Technological Development and Innovation; António Henriques, CEO, Bison Bank; Jager
McConnell, CEO, Crunchbase;
Mark Surman, President, Mozilla; and Sandro Gianella, Head of Europe &
Middle East Policy & Partnerships, OpenAI.
Europe’s
Boldest Moves in AI, Deep Tech & Quantum
Europe
is building its own AI frontier, focused on cross-sector use-cases, new
investments and international partnerships.
Ai Everything Europe, the event’s flagship AI showcase and conference, brings
together one of the biggest convergences of AI architects, startups and
investors presenting the full scale, depth and global influence of AI
ecosystems.
Influential
AI experts address the sector’s most urgent topics on-stage, from EuroStack
ambitions to tangible implications of agentic AI, with speakers including Martin
Kon, President and COO, Cohere, the $5.5bn Canadian AI unicorn; Daniel Verten,
Strategy Partner, Synthesia, $2.1bn UK-based unicorn backed by Nvidia; and Prof.
Dr. Antonio Krueger, CEO of
German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI). Across the show-floor, diverse AI breakthroughs
come to life, from Brazil’s Ubivis presenting smart factories powered by IoT
and Digital Twins to Hexis’ AI-driven nutrition trusted by 500+ Olympic and
elite athletes.
With nearly €7 billion in quantum
investment, second only to China, Europe is accelerating its push for quantum leadership
by 2030. GITEX Quantum Expo (GQX), in
partnership with IBM and QuIC - Europe’s largest quantum industry association, dives
into advanced quantum research and cross-industry impact with exclusive
showcases and conferences. Speakers include Mira Wolf-Bauwens, Responsible Quantum Computing Lead, IBM Research, Switzerland; Joachim
Mnich, Director of Research & Computing, CERN, Switzerland; Neil Abroug,
Head of the French National Quantum Strategy, INRIA; and Jan Goetz, CEO &
Co-Founder, IQM Quantum Computers, Finland.
Alessandro
Curioni, IBM Fellow, Vice President Europe and Africa and Director IBM Research
Zurich said: “IBM’s investments in AI and
quantum computing directly reflect our commitment to Europe, and underscore the
key role of collaboration with industry, academia and policymakers for a
pan-European ecosystem. These state-of-the-art technologies and facilities will
foster innovation, creating new opportunities for talent attraction and
ensuring that Europe will always be at the forefront of global technological
advancements.”
Cyber Valley: Building A United Resilient Cyber
Frontline
With cloud breaches doubling and AI-driven
attacks complicating the equation, threat response and cyber resilience is a
core focus at the event. Fortinet, CrowdStrike, Kaspersky, Knowbe4, Proofpoint
join a host of leading cyber companies exhibiting at GITEX Cyber Valley,
alongside law enforcement leaders, global CISOs, and policymakers on-stage,
including Brig. Gen. Dr. Volker Pötzsch, Chief of
Division Cyber/IT & AI, Federal Ministry of Defence, Germany; H.E. Dr.
Mohamed Al-Kuwaiti, Head of Cybersecurity, UAE Government; Miguel De Bruycker,
Managing Director General, Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium; and Ugo Vignolo
Lutati, Group CISO, Prada Group.
GITEX Green Impact: Advancing Climate Imperatives
for a Sustainable Future
GITEX
Green Impact connects the real accelerators of the
green transition - innovators and investors - with over 100 startups and
investors exploring how green hydrogen, bioenergy, and next-gen energy storage
are moving from R&D to deployment. Key speakers are
Gavin Towler, Chief Scientist for Sustainability Technologies & CTO,
Honeywell; Julie Kitcher, Chief Sustainability Officer, Airbus; Lisa Reehten,
Managing Director, Bosch Climate Solutions; Massimo Falcioni, Chief
Competitiveness Officer, Abu Dhabi Investment Office; and Mounir Benaija, CTO -
EV & Charging Infrastructure, TotalEnergies.
Convening
the Largest and Best Global Startup Ecosystem Amongst 60+ Nations
GITEX EUROPE x Ai Everything launches
North Star Europe, the debut edition
of the world’s largest startup event (Expand North Star), gathering over 750
startups and 20 global unicorns - Qonto, Flutterwave, reMarkable, TransferMate,
Solarisbank AG, Bolt, Flix, and Glovo.
The
event features a curated international collection of early and growth-stage startups
from Belgium, France, Hungary, Italy, Morocco, Portugal, Netherlands,
Switzerland, Serbia, UK, UAE and more. Among the top startups, Neurocast.ai
(Netherlands) advancing AI-powered neurotech for Alzheimer’s research, CloudBees
(Switzerland) - the delivery unicorn backed by Goldman Sachs, HSBC, and
Lightspeed, and Semiqon (Finland), the world’s first CMOS transistor with the
ability to perform in cryogenic conditions.
Scouting
new funding opportunities will be over 600 investors with $1tn assets under
management (AUM), including Germany’s Earlybird VC, Austria’s SpeedInvest,
Switzerland’s B2Venture, Estonia’s Startup Wise Guys, and USA’s SOSV. GITEX ScaleX launches as a first-of-its-kind growth
platform for scale-ups and late-stage companies, in partnership with AWS.
With
SMEs making up 99% of European businesses, GITEX
SMEDEX connects SMEs with international trade networks and investors, for
funding, legal advisory and market access to scale innovations globally. Backed
by EISMEA and ICC Digital Standards Initiative, the event features key SME
ecosystem leaders advising on stage, including Milena
Stoycheva, Chairperson of Board of Innovation, Ministry of Innovation
and Growth, Bulgaria; and Oliver Grün, President, European Digital SME Alliance
and BITMi; among others.