Ms. Czerny, the DLD had to pause because of the pandemic, now it’s really back at the usual time – what is your most important lesson from the time when we all had to stay at home?

I always look to the future. That’s why I still enjoy DLD at 18. The lockdowns were a drastic experience that changed a lot. Now there are new challenges and opportunities that I want to respond to with DLD. This requires exchange, personal contact and the creative leap that results from this. In addition to the discussions on stage and the insights that our international speakers bring with them on topics such as frontier technologies, cyber security, health, mobility, energy, nutrition and education, this is an important part of DLD.

This year’s conference motto is “Beyond Now”, but before we get to that: How do you see the present – very worrying, disturbing, or rather hopeful and full of opportunities?

The current crises not only overlap, they also reinforce each other. We face economic challenges and geopolitical threats. Climate change is progressing and the political and social cohesion of our liberal societies is crumbling while authoritarian regimes are positioning themselves. At the same time, the mechanization of our world is accelerating. Each and every individual feels and experiences this change and this uncertainty, and in the worst case even feels left behind. This is of course worrying.

How do you deal with that?

We must not allow this constant crisis mode to paralyze us. That was and is the most important message from DLD: We cannot stop change – and I don’t want to – but we can actively shape it. Of course, the options for action are not distributed equally for everyone. As an individual, I can do little to combat climate change, but I can change my behavior, become active myself or support others. That is why we at DLD are discussing new ways of reducing CO2, technologies such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing that make processes more efficient, or the vision of a circular economy. But new forms of agriculture and food production, new construction and investment strategies that reward environmentally friendly entrepreneurship are also important drivers in the fight against global warming. It’s important to talk about and report on. This is the only way to create new ideas and connections, new business that moves us forward.

When you say “Beyond Now,” what time horizon do you have in mind?

The time horizon itself is not that important. More important is the realization that there is a future that we have to start thinking about today, that we can shape here and now. At DLD, we talk, for example, about artificial intelligence in healthcare and what opportunities this creates for new treatment methods and diagnostic tools tailored to patients or the discovery of new drugs. We will certainly see huge progress in the next five to ten years. The same is true in the energy sector: green hydrogen, renewable energy sources and nuclear fusion are fields in which there are rapid developments that could soon mean a paradigm shift for all of us. Other topics like astrobiology, the search for life in space, are unlikely to have a direct impact on our lives for the next decade, but they should be on our radar and I’m excited to see what the experts in this field come up with have to say to the conference.

And which technologies do you find particularly fascinating when you think so far into the future?