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AI Connect 2026
22 October 2026Löwenbräukeller · Munich
Thank you to every guest, speaker and partner.Join as a partner?
The reality check for AI in the Mittelstand.
Companies show how an idea from their own workforce becomes a running process. With numbers from live rollouts, questions of data sovereignty and the connection to core systems.
- About 400
- seats for decision-makers, sold out
- 14
- companies and institutes on stage
- 12
- masterclasses across three rounds
- 230+
- companies registered, as of 15 October
Recap
Thank you – that was AI Connect 2026.
A day at Munich's Löwenbräukeller with 400 guests from companies, researchers and technology partners. Press releases, photos and the press contact are in the press area.
The German-speaking Mittelstand stays world-class – in the age of AI, too.
The day in photos
The day in numbers · event app
What Buddy set in motion in a single day.
In the event app, Buddy was every guest's companion: it suggested contacts, planned the day and answered questions – by text, by voice and at five kiosks in the hall.
- guests
- 400guests
- companies
- 213companies
- day
- 1day
- kiosks
- 5kiosks
Hi! I was there for you all day.
The Buddy from the event app02 · Planned
730
session bookings
by 263 people, around 2.8 each
219 of 317 day plans were adopted
- day plans built by Buddy
- 317
- of them adopted
- 219
03 · Asked
1,138
questions to Buddy
by text, by voice and at the kiosk
- Text 756
- Kiosk 322
- Voice 60
- by text, from 200 people
- 756
- at the kiosk
- 322
- by voice
- 60
- voice conversations, 2.8 minutes on average
- 109
Plus 4,817 push notifications and 2,357 reminders. App figures from the event app, as of 23 October 2026.
- The Mittelstand keeps working with open-source models45%
- T-Systems hosts frontier AI models in Europe31%
- More independence from US providers16%
- AI replaces middle management in many communication tasks8%
Contributors and speakers
The stage belongs to the companies rolling out AI themselves.
The programme is built on companies, research and technology providers speaking for themselves. Pure product pitches do not make it onto the stage.
As of 20 October 2026.
“AI has been built around the core systems for far too long. Now it is about the use cases that actually reach into the company.”
About data, processes and getting things running in real operations.
What this is about
Four questions the Mittelstand is deciding on right now
Not a sweep across everything AI could do. Four questions many mid-sized companies are deciding this year.
Find
Where the right use cases come from
Not from a whitepaper, but from the people who know a process. How a company finds the cases that really matter to it, and how to spot the ones that only sound good. From an idea in the workforce to the decision about what gets built first.
Implement
From a single case to a running process
A use case only becomes valuable once it leaves the test account. What it needs in data, interfaces and permissions, how much effort it takes, and how to measure whether it holds up. With the maths a customer worked out themselves.
Use
AI that actually lands in daily operations
Not the chatbot nobody cares about after four weeks. AI at the systems the business runs on: ERP, databases, own servers. What that costs to operate, which cases were shut down again, and how to tell that a team is relieved rather than exhausted by AI.
Sovereignty
Does Europe's AI sovereignty depend on open-source models?
Sovereignty as a purchasing decision, not a slide. What running on own servers delivers today, where open models keep up and where they do not, and how much independence from non-European providers is realistic. The midday round table asks exactly this, with voices from research, cloud infrastructure and practice.
The programme
What this day offers.
Four reasons to be at the Löwenbräukeller on this day.
Main stage
Keynotes and round table
The keynote “Every workday hides an AI use case” by MeinGPT with LAUDA and BUHLMANN, plus keynotes from TensorX and T-Systems Switzerland. Then the round table with Fraunhofer IAIS, T-Systems Switzerland, TensorX and MeinGPT.
Across three rounds
Masterclasses and breakout sessions
Twelve sessions, four in parallel and deliberately small. With Siemens, ZEISS, PIABO, Deloitte, Sana Kliniken and others, each on a concrete case.
Exchange
Networking among equals
Honest conversations behind the scenes – over breakfast, at lunch, between sessions and through the evening.
Special
Evening programme included
A guest talk by Leo Martin, awards in five categories, dinner and live music in the Festsaal of the Löwenbräukeller.
Who is in the room
Everyone here faces the same tasks
The pilot is running, the board wants numbers, IT is slowing things down. That is the situation for almost everyone in the hall – just a few months ahead or behind.
- Managing directors, CTOs, IT leads, transformation
- Companies with 50 – 5,000 employees
- DACH region, focus on southern Germany
- In the middle of an AI rollout – not in theory
About
400
seats for decision-makers from the German-speaking Mittelstand, sold out
As of 15 October: 368 registrations, including 263 guests from more than 230 companies. 59 % hold decision-making responsibility, 50 of them at board or C-level. 74 % come from companies with 51 to 5,000 employees.
Already registered
A selection of registrations as of 30 September 2026. A registration is not a stage role.
The schedule
One day in three parts
Morning on the main stage, afternoon in small rounds, evening in the Festsaal. As of 20 October; individual times may shift by a few minutes.
Morning
09:00 – 13:00
Everyone in the same hall: keynotes with customers from practice and the round table.
- 09:00
- Doors open and breakfastExperience Area to try things out
- 10:00
- OpeningHost: Ellen Frauenknecht
- 10:15
- Keynote: Every workday hides an AI use caseFlorian Baader, MeinGPT, together with Dr. Felix Oberdorf, LAUDA, and Heiko Butz, BUHLMANN. The keynote starts from where the Mittelstand really stands with AI and shows how use cases emerge from people's everyday work. LAUDA and BUHLMANN report what has come of it in their companies.
- 11:30
- Keynote: What running AI really costsAlan McDonald, TensorX (English)
- 11:50
- Keynote: Sovereign AI in EuropeMartin Beyer, Head of Data & AI, T-Systems Switzerland
- 12:20
- Round table: Does Europe's AI sovereignty depend on open-source models?Fraunhofer IAIS · T-Systems Switzerland · TensorX · MeinGPT (English)
Afternoon
13:00 – 16:45
Four rooms in parallel, 30 minutes each. You choose your masterclasses in the event app, available at check-in.
- 13:00
- Lunch breakExperience Area, choose masterclasses in the event app
- 14:00
- Masterclasses: FindMeinGPT · PIABO · Boris Scharinger · Make
- 14:45
- Masterclasses: ImplementSana Kliniken · Kanzlei Lexa and Zukunftsbund · LAUDA · Deloitte
- 15:30
- Masterclasses: UseBUHLMANN · Siemens · ZEISS · Intuity
- 16:15
- Welcome address from Bavarian state politicsTo be announced shortly
- 16:22
- Closing: the chain through the examples of the dayFlorian Baader, MeinGPT
Evening
from 16:45
Networking upstairs, on the terrace and in the beer garden first, then the Festsaal.
- 16:45
- NetworkingNetworking area upstairs, terrace and beer garden
- 19:00
- Get-together in the Festsaal
- 19:30
- Guest talk: Leo MartinFormer intelligence officer and keynote speaker
- 20:00
- Award ceremonyFive categories for implemented AI projects
- from 20:45
- Dinner and live music
Speakers
Who speaks on 22 October
Keynotes, a round table and twelve masterclasses in three rounds. Click a card marked “View post” to open the LinkedIn post that introduces the speaker and previews the session.
Ellen Frauenknecht
Business and finance journalist, Host
- Hosts the day and the round table
Florian Baader
Founder and CEO, MeinGPT
- Keynote: Every workday hides an AI use case
- Round table
Dr. Felix Oberdorf
Director IT & Digitalization, LAUDA
- Talk: The view after three years
- Masterclass: The inherited AI landscape
Heiko Butz
Head of AI Strategy, BUHLMANN
- Talk: Scaling to more than 1,000 users
- Masterclass: Successful AI use cases in everyday business
Alan McDonald
GTM Lead, TensorX
- Keynote: What running AI really costs (English)
- Round table
Dr.-Ing. Joachim Köhler
Head of Department NetMedia, Fraunhofer IAIS
- Round table
Martin Beyer
Head of Data & AI, T-Systems Switzerland
- Keynote: Sovereign AI in Europe – what running on European infrastructure delivers today
- Round table
Michael Konrad
Director Siemens Xcelerator, Siemens
- Masterclass: AI for the Mittelstand – what is changing at Siemens
Alexandra Wander
Program Manager Responsible AI, ZEISS
- Masterclass: The EU AI Act in reality – turning slides into lived practice
Boris Scharinger
Book author, “Industrielle KI”
- Masterclass: What makes AI fit for industry?
Carina Goldschmid
Unit Director, PIABO Communications
- Masterclass: GEO: winning customers through visibility in ChatGPT & Co.
Oliver Weimann
Managing Director Sana change it! GmbH, Sana Kliniken AG
- Masterclass: AI with patient data: how Sana enables more than 50 hospitals, and where the line is
Dr. Frederik Bauer and Jonelle Kourie
Deloitte
- Masterclass: From pilot to production: a framework for scaling AI in the enterprise
Markus Turber
Founder & Managing Partner, Intuity Media Lab
- Masterclass: Human + agent: how teams divide work anew when AI agents join in
Bertram Lutz
Head of GTM Innovation, Make
- Masterclass: What should we automate? Three perspectives on the same working day
Carsten Lexa and Luisa Meißner
Kanzlei Lexa and Zukunftsbund
- Masterclass: AI and the law in practice – what is supposedly forbidden and what really applies
Dr. Johanna Farnhammer and Tim Arnold
Adoption Program Lead and Product Engineer, MeinGPT
- Masterclass: AI use cases: whoever asks, finds. But how does that work for everyone, and what comes first?
Leo Martin
Former intelligence officer and keynote speaker
- Evening guest talk: Secret weapons of communication
From 19:00
An evening where conversations continue.
After the conference day, the Festsaal remains open for dinner, live music and the conversations that often have too little room in the daytime programme.
Guest talk: Leo Martin
Former intelligence officer and keynote speaker
Award ceremony
Five categories for implemented AI projects. We honour implementation, not the loudest announcement
Dinner and live music
A relaxed setting rather than a second lecture programme
Venue
Löwenbräukeller Munich
The Festsaal hosts the shared programme. The Bennosaal and balustrade rooms create smaller working spaces. The foyer remains open for meeting people.
Nymphenburger Str. 2, 80335 Munichopen in Google Maps- Festsaal
- Shared opening, closing and evening programme
- Bennosaal
- Larger practice rounds in the afternoon
- Balustrade rooms
- Small groups for concrete questions
- Foyer
- Arrival, conversation and meeting people
- Getting there
- U1 to Stiglmaierplatz — Just one underground stop (U1) from Munich Central Station, or a short walk. The Löwenbräukeller has no parking of its own, but there are several car parks nearby. As the evening runs late, do check their opening hours beforehand.
- Accommodation
- The day starts at 09:00 and the Bavarian evening runs well into the night. For a longer journey, two nights from Wednesday to Friday are the most relaxed option. Close to the venue: Ruby Lilly Elaya munich city Motel One Hauptbahnhof
Looking back at 2025
The first AI Connect was intentionally small.
More than 50 people met at the MeinGPT offices in 2025. Löwenbräukeller creates more space in 2026, while small discussion groups remain part of the format.
- 50+
- Participants at the first edition in 2025
- 1 day
- for contributions, practice and exchange
- Unterhaching
- venue of the first edition
Impressions from the first edition
Partners & sponsors
Not an ad slot – a place in the ecosystem
Partners hold their category exclusively and get a role in the programme, not just a logo slot.
Support AI Connect?
We send the deck with packages, reach and stage formats – and say openly which categories are still free.
Request sponsorship deck
AI Connect is organised by MeinGPT. For more than three years, MeinGPT has supported AI adoption in the Mittelstand, working on personal use cases, data, systems and ongoing operations.
MeinGPT's vision: “The German-speaking Mittelstand stays world-class – in the age of AI too.” Its mission: “We take AI in the Mittelstand from the playground into production – sovereign, step by step and with measurable impact.”
How MeinGPT works: MeinGPT builds the first use case in a use case sprint, companies and MeinGPT build the second one together, and from the third one on the company builds them itself.
AI Connect makes this experience open for discussion with customers, implementers and selected solution partners. The event remains valuable even when no purchase follows.
- 500+
- Companies reached since 2023
- Cumulative reach across platform, academy, workshops and projects. Not a count of active platform customers.
- 50,000+
- Users reached since 2023
- Cumulative reach. Not a statement about monthly active users.
PressFor journalistsPress releases, facts about MeinGPT, logos and the direct press contact in one place.Go to the press area
Announced at AI Connect: MeinGPT 3.0 – the platform where your use cases are found, built and run.To the announcement
Frequently asked questions
What matters before a request
More questions? Email us at ai-connect@meingpt.com
For people responsible for AI in Mittelstand companies or bringing it into real operations. This includes management, IT, data protection, information security, works councils, AI leads, process owners and implementers in operational departments.
Meet me at AI Connect
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Thank you – that was AI Connect 2026.
Thank you to everyone who joined us in Munich. The event team is happy to answer questions about the event.