Music Meets Digital – NEXT and the Reeperbahn Festival to turn Hamburg into Europe‘s musical and digital hotspot at the end of September

For the first time in six years, the acclaimed NEXT digital conference will take place in Hamburg in 2015, dovetailing with the city’s Reeperbahn Festival both in terms of space and content. With a top class programme, NEXT enhances the offering of Germany‘s largest club festival with exciting digital elements.

With over 10,000 visitors from 40 countries, NEXT has established itself in recent years as a premier conference in Germany for the digital economy. Founded in Hamburg in 2006, the event has taken place in Berlin since 2010. Now NEXT is returning to its roots, to merge with Germany‘s largest club festival, and to come up with a programme platform which will bring together representatives of the music and digital economy in a unique way.

The central thread of NEXT will take place on the 24th and 25th September in Schmidts Tivoli theatre on Spielbudenplatz, right in the heart of the Reeperbahn Festival. In addition, the many common elements of both programmes, centering around the theme of interactive, will bring together delegates attending both events. The long-term partnership agreed between NEXT and the Reeperbahn Festival extends to marketing and infrastructural aspects of the events as well.

“The Reeperbahn Festival provides us with a fantastic creative environment for new formats with which we will inspire and connect the digital movers and shakers,” explains Matthias Schrader, CEO of SinnerSchrader and founder of NEXT. „In partnership with FAKTOR 3 we are developing the NEXT brand into a platform, with which we position digital as a calling – and where work and passion come together.“

“We have been organising conferences in various sectors for over 10 years, and here we are developing something completely new. A business meeting place with lots of creative potential, a festival for digital decision-makers and a platform for cultural passion: NEXT15 at the Reeperbahn Festival is absolutely unique in Europe for its combination of digital themes, art and music,” adds Sabine Richter, Chairman of FAKTOR 3 AG.

The partnership is also supporting the efforts of the Reeperbahn Festival to unite the digital economy and the music sector in a single location. „Our goal is to further develop the Reeperbahn Festival as an all-round creative festival at the intersection of business innovation and popular culture. With NEXT from SinnerSchrader and FAKTOR 3 we have found the right partner to position the interactive programme in a new way, and to bring together representatives from both events with a common offering,” explains Detlef Schwarte, Director of the Reeperbahn Festival Conference.

With the expansion of the Reeperbahn Festival, Hamburg itself hones its positioning as an energy-filled location for the creative disciplines and digital expertise. This is a goal which, through the nextMedia.Hamburg initiative, is being pursued by Hamburg’s federal state government and the media-digital economy.

“The further development of the Reeperbahn Festival by the common scheduling with NEXT creates for us a unique positioning across Europe. It gets to the heart of Hamburg‘s appeal as an economic and cultural metropolis“, according to Dr. Carsten Brosda, media representative at the state government of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, and also representative of the nextMedia.Hamburg initiative.

More information on NEXT can be found at www.nextconf.eu, where you can also subscribe to our newsletter or book tickets to the event. Up until 10th February 2015, you may register for a voucher which enables you to purchase two tickets for the price of one. Regular ticket sales for NEXT commence on 17th February. In addition to the NEXT event, tickets include entry to all events on the Reeperbahn Festival programme.

Also starting 17th February, delegates of the Reeperbahn Festival can book access to the NEXT programme of events via a top-up function here. 

About NEXT
NEXT has established itself in recent years as an agenda-setting event for the digital economy in Europe. Its conferences and executive events target movers and shakers with responsibility for budgets, who drive and shape the digital transformation within their companies. Decision-makers and entrepreneurs meet at the annual NEXT conference to exchange technological and marketing trends with internationally recognised thought leaders and top executives. SinnerSchrader is presenting NEXT for the 10th time on the 24/ 25 September 2015 – this year in partnership with  FAKTOR 3, and for the first time in conjunction with the international Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg. Tickets are available from 17th February at www.nextconf.eu.