Digital Festival 2017 was a success

More than 2,800 visitors, movers and shakers, speakers, innovators and digital thought leaders from different generations have turned Zurich into the capital of technology and innovation over the past few days. The event kicked off with a keynote speech by Andrew Keen. The author led us through a digital minefield of surveillance capitalism and big data. After this exciting opening, the stage was set for the second Digital Festival in the city on the Limmat. Numerous other keynotes, labs and sessions provided interesting insights into the digital issues of tomorrow.please touch - but only virtuallyOf course, it wasn't all talk. There was something to touch at the Virtual Reality Cinema - but only virtually, of course. And at the first offline anti-virus program at Holmes Place Zurich City in Jelmoli, many cramped joints were stretched, stretched and relaxed. We experimented and even meditated! Fortunately, the numerous speakers and thought leaders from the tech world were 100 percent real. Contacts were exchanged and interesting conversations held on numerous occasions.Rescue app wins prizeIn the second year of the Digital Festival, the Hack Zurich one of the highlights. A new record was already set during the application phase: over 5000 applications from 65 countries in just two weeks. Of these, 550 specialists, programmers and developers were selected to develop around 150 innovative and creative prototypes. From self-driving vehicles to combat fake news, robotics to cyber security; the breadth and quality of the prototypes was remarkable. The winner was the Holo Brigade team from Karlsruhe. They have developed a mobile application that uses augmented reality to display data from sensors in houses to rescue teams, thus simplifying the rescue process.Classical music goes technoThere was also a premiere to celebrate. The Digitalsymphony took to the stage for the first time and immediately became one of the highlights of the festival. The musicians of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra joined forces with electro/techno composer Pantha du Prince and pianist Sebastian Knauer to create a completely new musical experience. There was also a cross-disciplinary choreography for the eyes with breathtaking 3D video mapping technology. The visitors were thrilled by this unique and impressive experience and celebrated and danced afterwards. Of course, after the festival is always before the festival. The organizers are already looking forward to the third edition in 2018 with great enthusiasm and zest for action and are looking forward to welcoming everyone back to Zurich and, for the first time, to French-speaking Switzerland.