Darmstadt/Berlin, May 2025 – The prostep ivip Symposium took place this year for the first time in many years at the bcc Berlin Congress Center. With 650 participants, the two-day event was exceptionally well attended, particularly considering the travel restrictions imposed by many companies. A remarkable 90 participants came from abroad, primarily from Japan, South Korea, and the United States. The presence of many younger attendees demonstrates that this traditional "family gathering" of the PLM industry continues to attract the next generation.
"Revolutionising Industries With Digital Twins and AI" was this year's Symposium theme, with which the prostep ivip association simultaneously underscored its commitment to strategic realignment. "We must transform ourselves if we want to continue serving our role of supporting association members in their digital transformation," emphasised Board Speaker Henrik Weimer during the strategy update that opened the event. The extent to which the association has advanced its thematic realignment was evident in this year's agenda featuring four keynotes, over 60 parallel presentations, and numerous workshops: Topics such as Software Defined Vehicle and software in products, Virtual Homologation, Digital Twin, and particularly Artificial Intelligence (AI) now have an almost stronger presence than the traditional PLM and standardisation topics that established the association's reputation.
Premium sponsors of this year's Symposium were automotive manufacturer Volkswagen and PLM provider Dassault Systèmes. In his joint keynote with Antje von Specht, Head of Virtual Vehicle, Thomas Kamla, CTO ID.1, Cooperation Projects, MQB Classic, Digitalisation at VW, explained how the group is preparing for the future. The Wolfsburg-based company has initiated its departure from the world car concept and instead aims to develop more regional vehicles. They intend to achieve this significantly faster and more cost-effectively with the help of Dassault Systèmes' 3DEXPERIENCE (3DX) PLM platform and through increased simulation and virtual testing. "The goal is to shorten the product development process by up to six months and reduce costs by up to 200 million euros," stated Kamla.
"Virtual worlds will improve the real world," promised Sabine Scheunert, Managing Director Eurocentral at Dassault Systèmes in her keynote. Particularly AI, which Dassault has firmly integrated into the 3DX platform, is set to become a game-changer and help bring European manufacturers back to pole position. However, to power the digital twin with AI, the data silos between development and production must be dismantled.
In her keynote, Scheunert also emphasised the importance of digital sovereignty for Europe. Dr. Reinhold Achatz, Chairman of the International Data Spaces Association (IDSA), explained to participants the role that trustworthy data ecosystems play in data-driven value creation at the conclusion of the first day. Federated data storage in data spaces enables data sharing only for specific purposes.
The accompanying exhibition at the bcc, distributed across two floors, was completely sold out with 36 software providers and service companies. Guided tours focusing on the event's burning topics ensured that no exhibitor was overlooked and that stands experienced lively visitor traffic. The tours received positive feedback from both visitors and exhibitors alike.
This year, the association once again hosted a Start-up Pitch Award, for which four young companies competed. Applicants had just 180 seconds to present their business ideas to the audience. The prize, worth 2,500 euros, went to Dr. Michael Pfenning from Elevanting Patterns GmbH. The young company develops a federative backbone solution for the Digital Thread, based on a graph database and deployable in the cloud.
At the start of the relaxed evening event overlooking Berlin's Alexanderplatz, the prostep ivip association again presented Scientific Awards to emerging academic talent. The 1,000-euro prize for the best master's thesis went to Paul Göcker for developing an automatic calculation and evaluation method for strength analysis. The 4,000-euro prize for the best doctoral thesis was awarded to Dr.-Ing. Constantin Mandel. Mandel developed an MBSE-based methodology for continuous validation of product development under Prof. Albert Albers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. Following the award ceremony, the association appointed former Board Chairman Armin Hoffacker as an honorary member. Hoffacker distinguished himself particularly in deepening the association's relationships with the VDA, according to Board Speaker Dr. Henrik Weimer (AIRBUS).
Save the date: The next prostep ivip Symposium will take place on 14 and 15 April 2026 at Kap Europa, the congress centre of Messe Frankfurt – with CONTACT Software as one of the two premium sponsors. Patrick Müller, Chief Customer Officer at CONTACT, and Chief Product Officer Frank Patz-Brockmann provided a preview in their joint closing keynote of how the seven plagues of industry can be combated through digital transformation. However, companies must not confuse the necessary structural changes with digital cosmetics.