gamescom congress 2024 presents programme

Koelnmesse :

Cologne, 7 August 2024: gamescom congress 2024 shows that games offer much more than just great entertainment. In a wide-ranging programme, more than 100 speakers from all over the world will present the social, economic and technological opportunities that games offer for our future in over 60 programme items. This year's programme will focus on the topics of 'Games and Artificial Intelligence' and 'Games and Democracy'. The gamescom congress will take place on 22 August 2024 in Cologne. The venue is the new Confex conference centre on the Koelnmesse exhibition grounds. Programme details and tickets for the gamescom congress are available here.

Using contemporary practical examples, the gamescom congress demonstrates how culture, business, science and society can benefit from the innovative power of games. This makes the gamescom congress unique worldwide and in demand far beyond the games industry. The congress will take place for the 16th time in 2024 as part of gamescom and is targeted at experts from a wide range of business sectors including culture, education, politics, science, journalism and game development.

For the first time, the gamescom congress is also integrated into the official gamescom biz app. In addition to the programme overview, the app offers in-depth information on the various sessions as well as quick and easy networking opportunities with the speakers and among the participants. The app is available free of charge for iOS and Android.

"In the diverse and exciting programme of the gamescom congress, this year's key topics are particularly noteworthy: 'Games and Artificial Intelligence' addresses the current technological innovation that will change all our lives. At the congress, some of the world's leading experts on the topic will explain the role games play in this and how AI will in turn change game development. 'Games and Democracy', the second focus, emphasises the extensive potential of computer and video games to effectively communicate socially relevant topics with their unique strengths. With these two important and highly topical focal themes, the gamescom congress once again impressively demonstrates its topicality and relevance as well as the enormous potential of games for all areas of life," says Felix Falk, Managing Director of game - Association of the German Games Industry, the co-organiser of gamescom.

This year's congress will start with the keynote speech "The Joys of AI" by Hillary Mason. The co-founder of the American AI start-up Hidden Door will shed light on the opportunities and risks of machine learning systems and present pragmatic approaches for the technical, product-related and business use of artificial intelligence.

Further highlights in the programme are:

The talk "The power of dystopias: How digital games shape our perception of democracy" by Prof Dr Dr Rudolf Thomas Inderst, Professor of Game Design at the IU International University in Munich, examines the depiction of dystopian worlds in digital games and their impact on our understanding of democracy.

In their presentation "Joystick & Journalism: The perfect combination for public service broadcasting", Daniel Stolz and Jasmin Käßer from german broadcast station SWR will demonstrate the unique synergy between gaming and journalism and how public service broadcasting not only enriches its programme offering through the integration of gaming content, but also appeals to new target groups - and can thus fulfil its mission.

In their presentation "Video games: A key enabler for democratic participation", Ahmet Murat KILIÇ and Bediz Büke İren Yıldızca from the Council of Europe and Alessandro Soriani from the University of Bologna explore the question of how video game culture can be used to turn people into digital citizens.

Louisa Keight from the environmental protection initiative "Playing for the Planet Alliance" of the United Nations and the games industry will discuss how games can inspire concrete environmental protection measures in the real world in the lecture "Turning Play into Environmental Action".

Shirin Kasraeian from the Bavarian State Centre for Political Education will address the topic of "Games and Democracy" with the presentation of the game "Deine Stimme" (Your Vote) for school lessons.  In the game, players take part in a fictitious election campaign and election process as well as experience a "post-election scenario".

Traditionally, the gamescom congress is also a popular meeting place for top politicians. In various programme items, they shed light on the potential of games from a political perspective and address the current challenges of games policy in Germany. The following have confirmed their participation so far:

The detailed programme is available at https://congress.gamescom.global/en/gamescom-congress and will be continously updated.

Attendance information:

Informationen für Journalistinnen und Journalisten:

About gamescom congress

The gamescom congress is Europe's leading conference on the potential of computer games in a digitalised world and offers interfaces far beyond the digital and media industry. International speakers present their topics in lectures, seminars and panel discussions. The gamescom congress takes place annually as part of gamescom in Cologne and is organised by Koelnmesse GmbH and game, the association of the German games industry. The gamescom congress is sponsored by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Press contact:

Achim Quinke

Quinke Networks GmbH

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22767 Hamburg, Germany

Fon: +49 40 4309 3949

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