Connecting Minds. Building Trust. Powering Federated Ecosystems.
June 9–10, 2026 · Berlin
St. Elisabeth & Villa Elisabeth, Invalidenstr. 3, 10115 Berlin
Join around 200 experts, innovators, and decision-makers from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), research, and politics as we explore how to build trust and collaboration in Europe’s digital ecosystems.
FACIS, part of the EU-funded 8ra initiative, contributes to the vision of a trusted, open, and interoperable cloud and edge ecosystem for Europe – where organizations can confidently share, access, and use data and services across providers and borders. Over two inspiring days in Berlin, the event will explore the 8ra vision from different perspectives – through panel discussions and strategic dialogues that make the initiative’s goals tangible and relatable.
At the same time, FACIS project results will be presented and discussed, inviting participants to exchange ideas on how these outcomes can be further adopted and applied in practice. You’ll connect with peers, exchange experiences, and shape ideas together – through interactive sessions, strategic panels, live demos, and a creative hackathon – all designed to strengthen the European cloud and edge community and foster meaningful collaboration across sectors.
More information on the program schedule can be found in the agenda.
Insights & Results
Learn about FACIS results, tools, and demonstrators.
Adoption
Explore how the results of 8ra and FACIS can be translated into practice
Hackathon
Gain hands-on experience through panels & an interactive hackathon
Networking
Connect with key stakeholders at regional, national, and European levels.
Who should join?
Members of the 8ra community
Cloud-/Edge-Providers
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
Open-source communities & IT developers
Policy makers
Representatives of coordination bodies (e.g., 8ra, CISERO)
Stakeholders from strategic partner initiatives (e.g., dataspaces, AI)
Key Topics
- Strategic discussions: federations, digital ecosystems, infrastructure
- Use cases & proof of concepts from real-world practice
- Presentation of FACIS tools & demonstrators:
- Hackathon: working with FACIS components & tools
Agenda (preliminary)
Day 1 – June 9, 2026 (from 12:00)
Registration & Networking
Opening & Welcome
Speaker:
- Andreas Weiss, Managing Director, eco – Association of the Internet Industry
- Emma Wehrwein, Project Lead, FACIS (eco – Association of the Internet Industry)
Moderated by:
- Alexa von Busse
Andreas Weiss
Managing Director , eco - Association of the Internet Industry- Emma Wehrwein
Project Lead , FACIS
Germany’s Role in Shaping Federated Digital Infrastructure for Europe’s Industry
Keynote
- Ernst Stöckl-Pukall, Head of Division for Digitalisation and Industry 4.0, German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy
- Ernst Stöckl-Pukall
Head of Division for Digitalisation and Industry 4.0, German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy
A Federated Europe: Building a Connected Digital Single Market Across Borders
Keynote
- Ron de Jonge, Sopra Steria
Connecting Minds. Building Trust. Powering Federated Ecosystems
This panel explores the strategic relevance of federation as a foundation for Europe’s digital future. Speakers will discuss why trust, interoperability, and open architectures are essential to enable cross-border collaboration and digital innovation. The conversation will address what is needed – politically, economically, and technologically – to turn the 8ra vision into reality, and how Europe can build digital infrastructure that strengthens resilience and reduces dependency on non-European providers.
Speaker:
- Ernst Stöckl-Pukall, Head of Division for Digitalisation and Industry 4.0, German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy
- Frank Kohler, Senior Advisor Open Source, Field CTO Office, STACKIT – Schwarz Digits Cloud
- Ernst Stöckl-Pukall
Head of Division for Digitalisation and Industry 4.0, German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy - Frank Kohler
Senior Advisor Open Source, Field CTO Office, STACKIT - Schwarz Digits Cloud
Networking Coffee Break
Connecting Europe’s Flagship Initiatives
This panel examines how major European initiatives can work together to avoid fragmentation and ensure coherence across cloud, edge, and data ecosystems. Panelists will explain how their initiatives complement each other, where cooperation is already taking place, and which gaps must be closed to achieve true interoperability. The discussion will highlight the importance of shared standards, governance models, and trust frameworks to unleash Europe’s full digital innovation potential.
Speaker:
-
- Felix Beckmann, R&T Manager, Airbus Operations GmbH
- Klaus Ottradovetz, Distinguished Expert Digital Ecosystems, Atos
- Felix Beckmann
Research & Technology Manager , Airbus Operations GmbH - Klaus Ottradovetz
Distinguished Expert Digital Ecosystems , Atos
Exploring Federation Hands-On: Working with Eclipse XFSC Components
Presentation on what will be worked on in the Hackathon
Speaker:
- Christian Schmitz , Technical Lead, FACIS
AI Panel
Panel-Speaker:
-
- Jörg Bienert, Managing Director, Center for Sovereing AI
- Nicolas Flores-Herr, Team Lead Foundation Models, Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems IAIS
- Marco Schuldt, Division for Digitalisation and Industry 4.0, German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy
- Elena Simon, General Manager, GCore
- Jörg Bienert
Managing Director, Center for Sovereing AI - Nicolas Flores-Herr
Team Lead Foundation Models , Fraunhofer IAIS - Marco Schuldt
Division for Digitalisation and Industry 4.0, German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy - Elena Simon
General Manager , GCore
Closing Day One
Networking Event (Sponsored)
Hackathon Day 1 - June 9,2026
Hackathon Kick-off & Team Formation
Introduction to challenges, tools, and objectives lead by Hossein Rafieekhah, CTO & Co-founder, LEANEA and Lead of FACIS’ Work Package FAPs
- Hossein Rafieekhah
CTO & Co-founder of LEANEA & Lead of FACIS' Work Package FAPs
Networking Coffee Break
Hackathon Working Session I
Hands-on experimentation with FACIS tools (FAP workflows, credential automation, catalogue integration, ICAM, etc.)
Wrap-up Day 1
Networking Event (Sponsored)
Day 2 – June 10, 2026 (full day)
Registration & Networking
Welcome
Speaker:
- Alexa von Busse
Turning Vision into Practice: Delivering Federated Services at Scale
- Emma Wehrwein
Project Lead , FACIS
From Service Quality to Automation
Speaker:
- Prof. Dr. Sebastian Lins
Head of the Department of Business Informatics, specializing in Enterprise Systems and Platforms , University Kassel - Thomas Niessen
Head - SLA Governance, FACIS
Networking Coffee Break
From Pilot to Practice: What Industry Needs to Adopt Federation at Scale
Panel-Speaker:
-
- Dipl. -Ing. Wolfgang Fischer, Senior Project Manager, CUBE-C – Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) Cloud Continuum/ Robert Bosch GmbH
- Dr. Patrick Marsch, Head of Technical System Architecture, Technology Foundations and IT Platforms | V.ITL 12, DB InfraGO AG
- Axel Stahlhut, Senior Lead – Project Management,Amadeus GmbH>
- Dipl. -Ing.Wolfgang Fischer
Senior Project Manager, CUBE-C – Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) Cloud Continuum / Robert Bosch GmbH - Dr. Patrick Marsch
Head of Technical System Architecture, Technology Foundations and IT Platforms | V.ITL 12, DB InfraGO AG - Axel Stahlhut
Senior Lead – Project Management, Amadeus GmbH
FACIS in Action: “Orchestrating Federated Ecosystems
Showcasing FACIS’ tools such as Federation Architecture Pattern (FAP) for IoT & AI, for Decentralized Catalogue Management, and Credential Issuance as well as Easystack Builder, Orchestration Engine and others.
Speaker:
- Hossein Rafieekhah, CTO & Co-founder, LEANEA and Lead of FACIS’ Work Package FAPs
- Christian Schmitz,Project Technical Lead, FACIS
- Hossein Rafieekhah
CTO & Co-founder of LEANEA & Lead of FACIS' Work Package FAPs
Lunch Break
Aviation Federation in Practice
Showcasing the proof-of-concept between FACIS and Airbus, exploring how federated digital infrastructure can be applied in a highly regulated and safety-critical domain like aviation. The session highlights how the aircraft was treated as a “flying edge device” and integrated into a federated cloud–edge ecosystem to enable secure, trusted data exchange across airlines, manufacturers, airports, and service providers.
Speaker:
- Andreas Weiss, Managing Director, eco – Association of the Internet Industry
- Stéphane Poulaine, Airbus R&T Project Manager, Airbus Operation GmbH/AXIS
- Andreas Weiss
Managing Director , eco - Association of the Internet Industry - Stéphane Poulain
Airbus R&T Project Manager, Airbus Operations GmbH/ AXIS
What We Learned: Practitioner Insights from the Hackathon Floor
Presentation of outcome and learnings by Hackathon Participants
Event Wrap-Up
End
Hackathon Day 2 - June 10, 2026 (full day)
Hackathon Working Session II
Networking Coffee Break
Hackathon Working Session III
Lunch Break
Hackathon Working Session IV & Wrap-up
Lead by Hossein Rafieekhah, CTO & Co-founder, LEANEA and Lead of FACIS’ Work Package FAPs
- Hossein Rafieekhah
CTO & Co-founder of LEANEA & Lead of FACIS' Work Package FAPs
End
Casual Networking & Light Snacks (Grab-and-Go available)
Event Details at a Glance
Date: June 9–10, 2026
Location: St. Elisabeth & Villa Elisabeth, Berlin
Language: English
Cost: Free of charge