Berlin, 27. February 2012 – The goal is ambitious: Berlin is to be developed to become the Europe’s Silicon Valley. This is what the Berlin SPD and CDU established in their coalition agreement on the 16th November last year. How far along Berlin is on its way and how much potential it has, will be presented in the end of May at the LinuxTag 2012. For the first time, LinuxTag offers a special platform with the new event format ‘open valley berlin’.
Petra Kuhfuß, Project Manager LinuxTag at the Berlin Trade Fair: “The LinuxTag takes the policy by its word and brings the vision of being the European Silicon Valley to life. The aim expressed in the coalition agreement is taken on with the concept ‘open valley berlin’. It was created for open IT from Berlin and Brandenburg and stands for more interoperability, more openness, cooperation and collaboration.”
The supporters of the new, location boosting format “open valley berlin” include CCI Berlin, init stock corporation, Amt24, the Open Source Business Alliance (OSB) and the ICT inter-trade organisation of Berlin-Brandenburg – SIBB registered association.
René Ebert, CEO SIBB registered association: „The clear denomination of the Berlin coalition, aiming to extend the region with broad political support to one of the leading ICT locations in Europe, found great approval from the local companies. To achieve this objective it is naturally also urgent to effectively present the ever-increasing performance of the sector. The SIBB sees fairs, conferences and other modern formats thereby as suitable stages to help the Berlin ICT scene to gain even more perception. On the 23. May the new format ‘open valley berlin’ is taking place on the Berlin fair grounds. The SIBB registered association will support ‘open valley berlin’ and centre the capability of the ICT from the capital region alongside member companies.
Sandra Lowin, Executive Director of the init stock corporation: “The IT innovations ‘Made in Berlin’ are in demand and need space to present, discuss and be exported. The new format ‘open valley berlin’ boosts this exchange. The ‘dash computer scientists’ thereby also obtain a new platform, which helps ‘open valley berlin’ to strengthen the IT location.
Dr Marion Haß, CEO of Innovation and Environment of the CCI Berlin: „The LinuxTag is the most important meeting point for Linux and Open Source in Europe. The stage is used even better with the new format ‘open valley berlin’, to present IT companies from Berlin and to make them better known. Developers and companies thereby get to know the strengths and competences of the IT location. ‘open valley berlin’ thus offers a great opportunity to both build a closer connection between the Open Source community and the economy of Berlin, as well as telling the success story of the city to an international specialist audience.”
At the premiere of ‘open valley berlin’ there will be both a community stand of companies from Berlin but also a special track in the congress. On the 23. May, everything in the Open Source Arena in hall 7.2 will be about ‘open valley berlin’. Concrete success stories of IT companies from Berlin shall be told and IT applications and solutions which have been developed in Berlin shall be presented to a broad audience.
If you are interested in the community stand ‘open valley berlin’ please contact Jan Bartholomae, Project Organiser LinuxTag 2012, phone: +49 30 3038 2015, bartholomae@messe-berlin.de. An expert committee decides about topics and lectures of the berlin track. The call for papers starts on the 1. March. Entries can be submitted until the 30. March.
Berlin – the creative IT-City
The ICT industry is one of the most important branches of the economy in Berlin and in the surrounding area. SIBB figures state that more than 5,000 companies in the capital alone with more than 50,000 employees generate an annual revenue of nearly eight billion Euros. According to a survey of the TSB Innovation Agency about 600 companies in Berlin and sole entrepreneurs with a total of 9,700 employees work in the field of open source. Apart from that, 20 out of 30 of the biggest German E-Business companies are located in Berlin. A location factor of enormous significance is the clustered science potential of seven universities, 21 colleges and universities of applied sciences, 250 research institutes and 42 technology centres.
About the LinuxTag
The LinuxTag is Europe’s leading trade fair and conference about themes around Linux and Open Source. The four-day event has been taking place since 1996 and is taking place at the Berlin Trade Fair since 2007. It offers current affairs for professional users, decision makers, developers, newcomers and the community. The registered association LinuxTag is the ideal host for the event and carries it out together with the Berlin Trade Fair PLC. For more information please visit our website http://www.linuxtag.org.