This year's DF² annual conference took place on September 30, 2025, at Fraunhofer IAO in Heilbronn. Under the theme “Towards service sovereignty with AI ecosystems,” researchers, company representatives, and political decision-makers discussed how AI-based digital ecosystems can be designed to strengthen economic independence, innovation, and resilience. After the opening by Prof. Dr. habil. Katharina Hölzle and Dr.-Ing. Jens Neuhüttler (Fraunhofer IAO), high-profile keynotes were given by Fred Schulze (AUDI AG), Dr. Andreas Kühne (AUDI AG), and Prof. Dr. Werner Kunz (University of Massachusetts Boston), providing insights into the opportunities and challenges of data-driven service ecosystems. In interactive workshops, participants explored different perspectives on service sovereignty, including the provider and user perspectives, as well as the ecosystem and policy perspectives. The Chair of Enterprise Architecture participated in the workshop “Service Sovereignty from an Ecosystem Perspective” and discussed how cooperation and governance structures in networked value-creation systems can be designed to reduce technological and organizational dependencies. The conference was rounded off by practical contributions from academia and industry, as well as a closing keynote speech by Rolf Schumann (Co-CEO Schwarz Digits & CDO Schwarz Group), who highlighted the transfer of AI innovations into corporate structures.
Annual Conference 2025 of the "Deutsches Forum Dienstleistungsforschung (DF)²"
Using AI Ecosystems to Achieve Service Sovereignty: How Can We Work Together to Shape Service Sovereignty in the Age of Artificial Intelligence?
September 30, 2025, Fraunhofer IAO, Heilbronn
