Are You Ready for The Quickening? Data Natives Conference 2018 Explores the Acceleration of Data Technologies – and What Comes Next

Berlin, October 11th, 2018 – The 22nd and 23rd November will see data science enthusiasts from across the globe descend on Berlin for the highly anticipated fourth edition of the Data Natives conference. Data Natives focuses on the cutting edge of data-driven technologies (AI/ Machine Learning, Healthtech, Blockchain, Big Data), and aims to fuel further innovation through its focus on community and collaboration.

The theme of Data Natives 2018 is “The Quickening”. Technology is developing at an unprecedented rate- the most powerful supercomputer in the world, IBM’s Summit, is capable of processing 200 quadrillion calculations per second. But what does this accelerated pace mean for businesses, for scientists, and for each and every human? How can we best use the influx of data to fuel the breakthroughs that will shape our scientific landscape?

More than 1,600 attendees and 110 speakers from 30 countries will explore these questions across a range of industries at DN18. Even the formats of the presentations reflect the theme of acceleration; the schedule is loaded with lightning talks, 10-minute presentations on use cases, and quick changes between the two stages, focused on tech applications and “The Business of Tech” respectively.

Suggestions for the talk topics and speakers were drawn from Data Natives’ network of over 65,000 community members, located in 50 key tech capitals where Data Natives organise satellite events throughout the year. The “Open Call” approach attracts a particularly diverse crowd of speakers. “We are especially pleased with the amount of female data scientists who have reached out to us this year. Many of them have not yet spoken publicly on large platforms such as Data Natives,” states Elena Poughia, the Founder and Head Curator of Data Natives. The new speakers are complemented by well-known international data experts. This year’s speaker highlights include:

• Cassie Kozyrkov, Chief Decision Scientist, Google
• Susan Wegner, VP Data, Artificial Intelligence and Governance, Deutsche Telekom
• Annina Neumann, VP Data Technology, ProSiebenSat1
• Bart de Witte, Director Digital Health, IBM DACH & Chair Faculty of Digital Health, Futur/io Institute
• Stewart Rogers, Director of Marketing Technology, VentureBeat
• Iveta Lohovska, Principal Data Scientist, HPE Center of Excellence
• Karin Patenge, Principal Sales Consultant, Oracle
• Johannes Starlinger, Health Data Research, Charité- Universitätsmedizin Berlin
• Daniel Molnar, Data Engineer, Shopify
• Weifeng Zhong, Research Fellow, American Institute Enterprise

“We’re proud to welcome our most impressive and diverse roster yet for DN18,” says Poughia. “This year, we’re particularly excited about our focus on health and sustainability applications. Beyond our initial aim of bridging the gap between business and tech, we’ve now extended our purview to explore how data impacts the ways we live, heal, and think about the future of our planet”.

Data Natives is supported by companies and universities such as IBM, ORACLE, Deutsche Telekom, OLX Group, Dataiku, Structr, DCMN, Socialist, Arcadis, DataRoots, ZOI, Supper und Supper GmbH, Elastic.io, Antwerpes, WeFox, Swarm64AS, Omni:us, IE University as well as Opinary.

Data Natives 2018 takes place at Kühlhaus Berlin on the 22nd and 23rd November; tickets can be found at datanatives.io/tickets/.