Ada Lovelace Festival

Ada offers a one-year extra occupational fellowship for digital further education. The highlight of the training is the Ada Lovelace Festival, which casts a spotlight on the latest developments in the tech scene. Apart from presentations and discussions, the fellows get together with other technology enthusiasts, experts and students both live and digitally in the interests of gleaning information and forging contacts.

The name giver is Ada Lovelace (1815-1852): She was the first software developer and is representative of the contents and variety of the Ada Lovelace Festival – orientated towards a diversity that is to be felt in every fibre of the event. It specifically seeks to open doors to a largely maledominated tech scene, to break down hurdles and establish a connection to our digital social responsibility.

At the Festival realised in 2022 with Stagg&Friends, the focus was on the topic of “The Future of the Internet”: What place does the metaverse have in our everyday lives? What is our social responsibility and what obstacles need to be broken down? Themes and questions were controversially illuminated on the main stage. The diverse selection of guests came from many walks of life: from brands such as Headspace and Meta to activists, performance artists and politicians such as the Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

The participants were incorporated via a livestream on site, as well as virtually through the platform Journee. They could discuss the future of the web at a recreated internet café. Expo areas invited them to try out technology. Breakouts in the rooms of the LGBTQ Centre SchwuZ converted into a club provided more in-depth content and discussion forums.

After the presentations, the guests networked at Secret Dinner Tables, spread right across Berlin. SchwuZ then offered the possibility to review the impressions of the day.