IFA 2020 will take place as an in-person event from the 3rd to the 5th of September. The event will be held in an invite-only mode while following all the restrictions imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The organizers had previously announced that the event will be conducted in an “innovative concept designed for unprecedented times”. While everyone expected the event will be held online following the lead of many other tech conferences such as Microsoft Build 2020, IFA is notably one of the first events set to take place as a physical event ever since the pandemic changed our lives.
There will be a total of four independent events. The maximum number of attendees is capped to 1,000 per day. Below are the four events:
- Global Press Conference
- IFA NEXT meets IFA SHIFT Mobility
- Global Markets
- Business, Retail & Meeting Lounges
IFA has collaborated with public health authorities in Germany to decide the concept of this year’s event. This step is to ensure social distancing, crowd control, and public hygiene. The organizers say there will also be “virtual opportunities” to be part of IFA Berlin.
Announcing the new concept, Jens Heithecker, the Executive Director of IFA Berlin, said: “After all the event cancellations during the past months, our industry urgently needs a platform where it can showcase its innovation, so that it can recover and rebound. The recovery of our industry starts here at IFA Berlin.”
According to Heithecker, virtual events were missing the “immediacy, hands-on experience and human connections that make events like IFA Berlin so incredibly useful”.
