Artificial intelligence (AI) is now a lever of the transition to a digital economy, Rühl said, adding: "We organised a series of events on AI and the creative industries in late 2023. Several bar camps were held this year. Plans are being laid for an event in February 2025 in co-operation with MOIN Film Funding and another AI event series with Hamburg Music." The Design Zentrum is also organising prompt battles to try out different programs for text, image or video generation, and the Cross Innovation Hub is launching an AI Sprint for SMEs to jointly develop customised solutions.
AI now lever of transformation - Egbert Rühl, Managing Director of Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft, tells Hamburg News about activities in future and innovative startups
"Our experiment has been a success," said a delighted Egbert Rühl, Managing Director of Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft. The German Creative Economy Summit (GCES) in early March was by no means a foregone conclusion. "For the first time, the entire German creative industry met and shared ideas in one place. We welcomed 850 delgeates from commerce, science and the political sphere." The next GCES gets underway on March 5-6, 2025 and will take on a whole new urgency in light of Germany’s early general election. "The aim is to raise the visibility of the industry as a key economic sector and to formulate politicians’ expectations on framework conditions needed for a successful transition to a digital economy."
AI decisive lever
Great response to "Space"
AI took centre stage during this year’s next.media theme festival. The week-long AI-themed festival of workshops, panels and prompt battles attracted 300 delegates to Space, which celebrated its anniversary in September and attracted nearly almost 7,000 visitors in its first year alone. An AI remake of the media industry was the focus of the Remake conference held with ARIC, brand eins, Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa and the pilot agency group. Now, plans are being laid for an AI conference next November to delve even deeper into the topic. The New Year holds more next.media themed festivals. Rühl noted: "The content will be based on the latest developments in the industry, but the events will last three instead of five days." Several week-long festivals a year, as originally planned by nextMedia.Hamburg, are simply too demanding for both organisers and delegates, he pointed out. The upcoming festivals in 2025 could focus on AR and VR, which have been somewhat lost in the wake of the AI hype - the creator economy or the huge audio sector.
Startups in media lift batch
Retell is among start-ups in the audio sector. The startup completed the 6th batch of Media Lift in October. This incubator provides innovative startups with professional expertise and up to EUR 15,000 per team. "The founders Marie Luise Nolte and Nina Elisabeth Glaser have developed a platform that uses AI to translate content into different languages, making it accessible worldwide. This gives podcasters a completely different reach and new sources of income. Users can experience perspectives in e.g., Peru or Japan," said Rühl. Meanwhile the Klima&so startup aims to raise awareness of resources in social media activities. "Jean-Paul Laue and Patrick Schnitzler focus on measuring and reducing the carbon footprint of digital content," said Rühl. The startup is aiming for social impact and has come up with a promising business model thanks to new EU regulations on corporate sustainability (CSRD).
Upcoming events in 2025
The new Portside Game Assembly (PSGA) conference will sail through the Port of Hamburg on June 27, 2025, bringing together decision-makers in international studios. Keynotes, roundtables and networking focusing on how to run games companies successfully will be held on three decks. "This is just one of the events in 2025 that we are really looking forward to, along with the second GCES in the spring and the AI conference in the autumn, preceded by Cross Innovation Day in June," said Rühl. The theme of the conference, "Changing Perspectives - Shaping the Economy Sustainably", will highlight new approaches to management. "In times of multiple crises, innovative work is more important than ever. Yet, the economy is in a state of shock in many places. We want to change that by showing first-hand the opportunities that lie in cross-industry collaboration with the creative industries," said Rühl.
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Sources and further information
Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft
Around 101,900 people work in around 31,000 creative companies across Hamburg that generate a turnover of EUR 11.4 billion in 2022. (Source: Goldmedia Standortmonitor 2024). The Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft is the main point of contact for career starters, founders, employees, the self-employed and companies in the eleven submarkets of the creative industries: music, film, literature, press, broadcasting, architecture, visual arts, design, software and games, theatre and dance as well as advertising. It offers workshops, talks and networking events, consultations, coaching as well as funding schemes and support accessing financing. It arranges and rents out space to creative professionals and is involved in various urban and neighbourhood development processes. Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft is Germany's biggest business development organisation for creative professionals.
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