CIO Summit
The Rise of Agentic Systems
Modernize. Secure. Innovate. Lead with the power of Agentic-AI
Germany is entering a pivotal stage in its digital transformation, where innovation, sovereignty, and trust are becoming central to economic competitiveness and industrial leadership. As organizations across the public and private sectors advance modernization efforts, CIOs are accelerating investments in AI, cloud, and cybersecurity to build more efficient, resilient, and sustainable enterprises.
By 2026, German CIOs will be managing transformation on multiple fronts: modernizing complex IT infrastructures, ensuring compliance with the EU AI Act and NIS2 Directive, and driving AI-enabled productivity while maintaining data protection, ethics, and governance. The rise of Agentic AI, represents a defining opportunity to enhance decision-making and operational efficiency, but also demands stronger oversight, transparency, and security frameworks.
Agenda
IDC analysts and industry experts will share guidance on building secure, sovereign, and sustainable IT architectures, reducing technical debt, and scaling AI, including Agentic AI, responsibly and effectively. Through keynotes, panels, and collaborative discussions, the Summit equips Germany’s CIO community with the research, frameworks, and leadership tools to drive trusted innovation, strengthen resilience, and advance the nation’s digital leadership through 2026 and beyond.
2026 Prediction
By 2027, 55% of G1000 CIOs will be tasked to create enterprise AI value playbooks, featuring expanded ROI models to define, measure, and showcase AI impact across efficiency, growth, and innovation.
Main Themes
The CIO as Business Strategist
CIOs have evolved from operational leaders to enterprise strategists. As digital transformation reshapes every business model, technology leadership now defines competitiveness. Today’s CIO must align IT priorities with business outcomes, influence the boardroom agenda, and drive innovation that delivers measurable value.
Modernization, Legacy and Technical Debt
Managing technical debt is no longer just a maintenance concern, it’s a strategic priority. Modernizing legacy systems, simplifying architectures, and optimizing cost structures allow organizations to shift resources from upkeep to innovation. Streamlined technology portfolios create the agility needed to compete in a digital economy.
The Agentic AI Revolution
Agentic AI marks a shift from automation to autonomy. How CIOs can govern, scale, and integrate autonomous AI systems responsibly (balancing opportunity with oversight to create intelligent, self-directed enterprises.
Resilience by Design
Resilience is emerging as the defining capability of modern enterprises. Adaptive architectures, secure infrastructure, and integrated continuity planning enable organizations to withstand disruption (whether from economic uncertainty, regulatory shifts, or cyber threats) while sustaining growth and trust.
Cybersecurity, Trust, and Digital Sovereignty
As digital ecosystems expand, trust becomes a critical currency. CIOs must address cybersecurity, data sovereignty, and compliance in tandem, ensuring that cloud strategies and cross-border operations align with evolving regulations. Building digital trust creates both protection and competitive advantage.
Building the Intelligent Enterprise
Data is the foundation of every intelligent organization. Reliable, governed, and accessible data architectures enable AI, automation, and analytics to operate at scale. Enterprises that invest in strong data foundations are better positioned to extract insight, anticipate change, and deliver smarter, faster business outcomes.
2026 Prediction
By 2027, G1000 organizations will face an up to 30% rise in underestimated AI infrastructure costs, driving CIOs to expand the scope of FinOps teams to optimize expenses and enhance business value.
Speaker
Anja Lange
Moderator
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Anja Lange
Thomas Meyer
SVP, IDC WW Research
IDC
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Thomas Meyer
Lina Eddisi
Senior Vice President Digitalization & IT
Schaeffler Vehicle Life Time Solutions
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Lina Eddisi
Stephan Drautz
Leiter Konzern-IT (CIO) & Digitalisierung
SHS – Stahl-Holding-Saar
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Stephan Drautz
Stephan Drautz ist seit 2020 CIO der SHS – Staal Holding Saar. Seine Schwerpunktthemen sind aktuell die Begleitung der Konzerntransformation zum „Grünen Stahl“, die ganzheitliche Transformation der digitalen Konzernlandschaft sowie der großflächige Ausbau der KI-Landschaft.
Andreas Reisenauer
CIO
50Hertz Transmission
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Andreas Reisenauer
Andreas Reisenauer ist seit 30 Jahren in den Bereichen Internet- und Cloud-Infrastruktur in Europa und den USA tätig. Derzeit arbeitet er als CIO bei 50Hertz, einem Übertragungsnetzbetreiber, daran, die Energiewende durch Digitalisierung voranzutreiben.
Thorsten Obert
Director IT
fischer group
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Thorsten Obert
Thorsten Obert ist seit Juli 2022 Leiter der IT des schwäbischen Produzenten von Edelstahlrohren sowie weiteren Industriekomponenten. Im Mittelpunkt seiner Tätigkeit stand bis dato die Modernisierung der IT-Landschaft des Unternehmens inklusive einer großen SAP-Transformation.
Patrick Grigat
Managing Director und CTO
DWS Group
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Patrick Grigat
Patrick Grigat ist Chief Technology Officer der DWS Group; in dieser Funktion leitet er den IT- und Technologiebereich und verantwortet die Technologiestrategie des Unternehmens. Er verfügt über Erfahrung aus der Tätigkeit bei globalen Technologieunternehmen wie Google und Dell EMC, wo er Führungspositionen in den Bereichen Architektur und Engineering innehatte.
Thorsten Hallermeier
Chief Digital Officer
MHK Group
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Thorsten Hallermeier
Thorsten Hallermeier ist Vorstand für Digitalisierung, IT und Innovation bei der MHK Group, einer führenden europäischen Verbundgruppe für den Küchenhandel und den SHK-Markt. In dieser Funktion verantwortet er die digitale Transformation, treibt den Einsatz Künstlicher Intelligenz voran und entwickelt digitale Produkte sowie KI-Lösungen für Kunden und Partner.
David Toborek
Chief Digital Officer
Stabilus
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David Toborek
David Toborek verantwortet die Digitalisierung bei dem in Koblenz ansässigen Maschinen- und Anlagenbauer. Dabei kreierte er in den letzten Jahren einen radikal erneuerten IT-Bebauungsplan. Zuvor bekleidete David Toborek ähnliche Positionen bei der Eat Happy Group und Metro.digital.
Jens Minneker
CIO
Recipharm
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Jens Minneker
Jens Minneker ist seit 2023 CIO bei Recipharm, einem weltweit führenden Auftragsentwickler und -hersteller (CDMO) der Pharmaindustrie. Er verantwortet dort die gesamte IT und digitale Transformation. Zuvor war er CIO bei GEHE/AHD (Walgreens Boots Alliance) und DPD Deutschland sowie in leitenden IT-Rollen bei GLS, Deutsche Post DHL und IBM Business Consulting. In über 25 Jahren hat er sich auf großangelegte Transformationen spezialisiert – das Zusammenführen von IT-Organisationen, die Konsolidierung in hybride Cloud-Umgebungen und aktuell die verantwortungsvolle Einführung von AI in einem regulierten Umfeld.
Viola Meisterling
Head of Data & AI
Boehringer Ingelheim
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Viola Meisterling
Viola Meisterling ist Head of Data & AI der Sparte Human Pharma Operations bei Boehringer Ingelheim und treibt die Transformation hin zu einer daten- und KI-gestützten Organisation voran. Ihr besonderes Anliegen ist es, Daten in einen strategischen Vermögenswert zu verwandeln, der bessere Entscheidungen, operative Exzellenz und messbaren geschäftlichen Mehrwert ermöglicht.
Dr. Thomas Pöppe
Chief Digital Officer und CIO
AOK Bayern
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Dr. Thomas Pöppe
Dr. Thomas Pöppe ist seit Februar 2020 Geschäftsbereichsleiter in der AOK Bayern. Als CDO und CIO verantwortet er die Themen Digitalisierung, IT & Prozesse und treibt die Transformation der AOK Bayern zu einem lokal und digital aufgestellten Unternehmen voran. Zuvor war er u.a. als Director Digital Health & Innvovation beim Biotechnologie-Unternehmen Amgen und bei der Unternehmensberatung McKinsey & Company tätig. Sein Studium zum Diplom-Wirtschaftsinformatiker schloss er 2010 an der Technischen Universität Darmstadt ab, wo er 2015 auch promivierte.
Partner
AWS (DE)
Ping Identity
Tanium
BlueCat Networks
We’re helping organizations build the Intelligent Network of the Future!
The outside world is changing, fast: more users, devices, and regions; soaring customer expectations; exploding cloud complexity; and rapidly evolving threats.
But your network is standing still. The core services connecting data centers, cloud, and branch networks make that change feel painful—manual, error-prone, high-risk, and hard to fix.
The faster you can adapt core services to meet new requirements, the faster your business can accelerate.
BlueCat provides a unified Intelligent NetOps suite making discovery, provisioning, intelligence, observability, automation and security easier, faster, and more thorough, streamlining complexity for a resilient, performant network that gets ahead of change.
BlueCat is known for helping organizations unify their DNS, DHCP, and IP address management (DDI) for unparalleled visibility and control.
Knowledge Hub
The AI homework nobody asked for (but everyone’s getting anyway)
Artificial Intelligence has officially reached the “you can do anything with it” stage of technological hype. Judging just by AI vendor narratives, and by some of the media, it’s the golden key to productivity, efficiency, optimization and innovation.
The Agentic Business Future: Driving Resilience, Sovereignty, and Innovation in EMEA
As organizations navigate an era defined by economic uncertainty, geopolitical shifts, and relentless technological change, one truth stands out: the future belongs to those who can harness AI, automation, and sovereignty to build resilience, drive innovation, and unlock growth.
EMEA’s Tech Evolution – 7 Key Themes Transforming Business in 2025
The technology landscape across Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) is changing rapidly in 2025, with innovations actively reshaping industries and creating new business opportunities.
Terms and Conditions
The IDC CIO Summit is aimed at IT and specialist staff from IT user companies in GERMANY.
For the purposes of these terms and conditions of participation, IT user companies are defined as all companies that do not themselves provide consulting services and/or develop, manufacture, or distribute information and communication technology (ICT) products or services.
Employees of outsourced IT companies who work exclusively for the parent company and do not conduct any third-party business are also eligible to participate. Employees of IT service companies generally only have access to our events through sponsorship.
IT provider companies within the meaning of these conditions of participation are hardware, software, service, and telecommunications companies, as well as consulting firms and ICT service providers.
IDC expressly reserves the right to reject registrations from persons who do not belong to the above-mentioned target group, even if the invitation was issued by one of our partners, mistakenly by IDC itself, or through participation in an online survey.
After registering via the online registration form and successful verification by IDC, you will receive a binding confirmation of registration by email.
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