Photo Courtesy: Tobias Sommer
The Yoonaverse Conference series combines high quality innovative and technological content with direct digital application in both a virtual Berlin Fashion Week and the entire digital fashion value chain. The event series ‘Yoonaverse’, awarded by the Senate as ‘Innovative Format 2023’, took place for the 4th time and carried out the second virtual edition of Berlin Fashion Week.
The conference series created in cooperation with PREMIUM took place in the lofts of Station Berlin, an exchange of experiences between fashion, technology and innovation and at the same time the second virtual Berlin Fashion Week was held online, which was broadcast to a worldwide audience.
Technology in Station Berlin
When entering the lofts, one looked directly at a hologram with animated digital 3D products like different outfits by Felder & Felder or bags from Desigual. Next to it, one of the Felder & Felder’s digital dresses was presented as a physical garment. The white atmosphere and large monitors made it tangibly clear that one was at a technology conference.
The on-site stage program was divided into the topics Technology & Investment, Artificial Intelligence, Sustainability, Community and Web3. The program was opened by Jürgen Schepers, who is not only the key account manager for Creative and Digital Economy and Politics at the IHK Berlin, but also one of the jury members who selected yoonaverse for the Media Innovations Award. Followed by Alexander Gedat (Former CEO Marc O’Polo & Gerry Weber, Board Member yoona.ai), Tim Devlin (Experienced Technologist & Collaborative Digital Innovator – Unity), Dr. Thomas Klugkist (Author of The Builder’s Guide to the Tech Galaxy), Roy Rao (Global Strategist SAP), Phillip Maasberg (IONOS) or Dr. Simon Walter (Chief Brand Officer Project A).
A panel discussion on Artificial Intelligence was exclusively filled with female CEOs of startups that are using AI technology to make a difference and drive fashion forward. These included Marita Sanchez de la Cerda (CEO Saiz), Anna Franziska Michel (CEO yoona.ai), Christine Nsubuga (CEO klem.app) and Annette Felder (F&F). They were able to illustrate that AI can be used to automate the entire value chain. The kick-off for the topic Community and Web3 was taken by Valeriia Borchsch (WTech), Alice Chan (Echox) and Mali M. Baum (CEO & Founder WLOUNGE). Followed by Chris Hortsch (Founder NFT Lab Berlin), Henning Daut (VP – Practice Lead Web3 – Hy), Omar Fergani (CEO & Co-Founder 1000 Kelvin).
Alongside the talks were presentations from cutting-edge technology companies such as Yoona AI, i-mmersive, XRBB (Extended Reality Berlin-Brandenburg), klima&so, styleprotocol, Behind Ventures, SENSIT!, The Id Factory, EchoX, SAIZ IO, Renoon, and Klem app.
An immersive Fashion Week experience attracts worldwide attention
The entire conference was broadcast live into the digital Berlin Fashion Week metaverse, which could be followed in parallel on the monitors in the room. With several virtual reality headsets available, it was possible to enter the Berlin metaverse and experience the yoonaverse conference as well as excerpts of the Berlin Fashion Week in parallel. Here you walk past the world time clock to Pariser Platz and from the high windows you can look at various Berlin sights. In between futuristic booths, video boards and stages.
The highlights of the Berlin Fashion Week were updated daily in the digital version. Thus, visitors from all over the world could be part of the fashion week. In the conference room, a live program continued to take place every day. The following speakers are worth mentioning here: Brian Mac Mahon of Expert Dojo, the most active startup accelerator in Southern California. Dominique Tu of EchoX; will address the Web2 + Web3 CRM management NFT. Hannes Bend; CEO of Breathing AI from New York, and Ahmed Refaie, the brains behind Creating Gravity & Singularity in Dubai. The closing remarks here were given by Anna Franziska Michel (yoona.ai & yoonaverse) and Dudi Cohen (Innovation Lab Kornit) on the topic “From Design to Innovation”.
Shopping in the digital space was offered in the futuristic booths. With one click, it was possible to shop at fashion brands such as Marc Cain, Thaely and Felder & Felder. The live catwalk of the Berlin Fashion Week was broadcast on large digital video walls. Designers such as Marcel Ostertag, IMPARI, DZHUS, Avenir, BOBKOVA, LITKOVSKA, and Natascha von Hirschhausen were streamed here.
Initial figures already show that resonance has been achieved beyond Europe. Chinese and Taiwanese press picked up yoonaverse as a topic. Attention was also attracted in the United States and the Arab Emirates.
Partners and Sponsors
The partners and sponsors for the The Yoonaverse Conference series is Berlin’s Senat Department for Economic Affairs, Energy, and Operations; co-funded by the European Union Energy, Berlin Fashion Week, Yoona AI, I-mmersive, Fashion Council Germany, Berlin Partner, Fashion Street Journal, XRBB, Vodka 145, Furn4Rent, EchoX, Chan Ventures, Behind Ventures.
