The opening message of the session was that the CIO AI Summit at Bits and Pretzels is designed to connect corporate decision makers with startup innovation, turning the festival’s founder-and-investor network into a demand-driven opportunity for customers and startups. Bernd Storm welcomed attendees to the third CIO AI Summit, introduced himself as co-founder and managing director of Bits and Pretzels, and explained that after twelve years focused on bringing “the best founders and the best investors” together, the event now also aims to provide customers for founders. He framed customers as “the best investors for all the startups” and pointed to the benefit of placing CIOs in the same venue as 7,500 founders and investors, where they can exchange best practices and visit the startup exhibition to find companies that may help improve their businesses, processes, and products.

Storm thanked co-host Niels Doerje, Yassine, Minister Mehring, and the sponsors led by SAP, then encouraged the audience to engage with colleagues in the room and founders outside. Niels Doerje then introduced the day’s format: more than 35 speakers, eight handpicked moderators, and a mix of fireside chats, panels, keynotes, and best-practice sessions. He emphasized making the program more interactive than the previous year by involving the audience through questions and conversation, before introducing Bavarian State Minister of Digital Affairs Fabian Mehring as the first speaker.

Mehring welcomed the CIOs, decision makers, fellow ministers, and partners, presenting Bavaria as “the height of high-tech,” “the heart of our tech ecosystem,” and “one of the digital powerhouses of Europe.” He thanked the Bits and Pretzels team for “rolling out the red carpet for the future” and for bringing bright minds from around the world to Munich. He then thanked the decision makers in the audience, saying Bavaria’s progress toward becoming a leading hub for future technologies was not the result of political speeches but of their daily work and decisions. He cited the tech ecosystem index worldwide, investment in future technologies and startups in Bavaria, the Financial Times’ evaluation of leading European tech ecosystems, and investments by companies including Microsoft, AWS, Apple, SAP, and Schwarz Group as signs that Bavaria’s vision is becoming reality.

Mehring closed by stressing that success creates responsibility and named issues requiring joint discussion: deregulation, venture capital, digital sovereignty, and answers to warnings from AI developers about technology risks. Christina Sinemus, Minister for Digitalization and Innovation in Hesse, then announced a next-year initiative tied to Bits and Pretzels: roundtables, potentially as a roadshow across Germany and Europe, bringing digitalization ministers, startups, techies, and others together. The goal is to discuss how Europe can increase innovation and venture capital and reduce administrative processes, with European values and technical innovation positioned as assets for digital transformation.