International CeMAT Conference 2008 'Future of Logistics' makes its debut at CeMAT 2008 on 26 May

Meeting of international opinion-leaders and decision-makers from business, science and politics. Program based on a study of the future of logistics in 2025. After its flying start, CeMAT 2008 - the world’s leading fair for intralogistics with over 50,000 trade professionals and more than 1,000 exhibitors - has another innovation up its sleeve: On the eve of the show, the first international CeMAT conference Future of Logistics will be staged in the Conference Center in Hannover, located at the heart of the exhibition grounds. The one-day conference will bring together 200-300 hand-picked senior executives, researchers and politicians to discuss the issues that will affect logistics in the future. This is a completely new concept.

There is no other format like this anywhere else in the world. It looks at visionary topics ranging from intralogistics to global supply chain management through the eyes of a futurologist, explains project manager Prof. Stefan Walter from the Supply Management Institute (SMI) of the European Business School (EBS) in Wiesbaden, Germany, who is responsible for developing the conference. We are particularly intrigued by the opportunity to work with international opinion-leaders to develop scenarios for logistics in 2025, which will put us in a position to present some hypothetical solutions for a number of pressing global issues. For this reason, the conference topics will be developed not only by concept groups made up of international experts from all areas of business and science, but also for the first time through a specially designed study on the future of logistics. The topic focus will range from climate protection and resource conservation to health care and disaster recovery logistics, and from future market trends and the global division of labor in 2025 to cluster management and cluster behavior in the logistics sector.
The SMI is currently working together with FutureManagementGroup AG to conduct a unique study into the future of the logistics services sector in Germany in 2025. At the core of this study is an empirical survey of selected senior executives from leading logistics services companies. Several workshops have been held to formulate a set of theses covering a wide range of topics. These include political, legal and economic issues, technological developments, sociocultural aspects and developments in related sectors. The participating experts are evaluating these theses in terms of their relevance for and impact on logistics. The first results of the study will be available in summer 2007 and will flow into the design of the conference program. The findings will be presented during the conference, discussed with participants, and bundled into recommendations.
The international nature of the show will be reflected in the international make-up of the conference participants. The aim is to have 20% German and 80% international participants who represent top-level business, politics, and research. The main focus is on universal and international topics that consider the show´s central theme of intralogistics in its overall context.