Your journey starts here. All participants are welcome to proceed with their individual arrival at the Hotel Colosseo.

Upon arrival, please complete your check-in at the hotel's front desk. We look forward to seeing you!

Enjoy your breakfast and get ready for an exciting day ahead!

AUREA Opening Ceremony: ‘Through the Looking Glass’

Following the opener, Gabriele Romagnoli will take the stage to give a warm welcome and introduce the Jury. This introduction officially kicks off the live pitch competition scheduled for the morning session taking place in the Globe Theater, a replica of the famous London Globe Theater from Elizabethan times.

Finalists will have 5 minutes to pitch their idea to our esteemed jury members, it will be followed by other 5 minutes of Q&A with the jury. The pitching competition is moderated by Gabriele Romagnoli.

Make sure to make the most of your time at Europa-Park by riding its top attractions, including Voltron Nevera, GRAND PRIX EDventure, and Flow Ryde!

Ready to mingle? Lunch will be served in the Arena of Football.

Don’t miss your chance to visit the finalists at their interactive stands—it’s the perfect opportunity to ask all the questions the jury didn’t.

As the sun sets on the first night of the AUREA Awards, join fellow guests for a lively networking dinner at the Silver Lake City Saloon—where great conversations begin over great food!

Enjoy your breakfast and get ready for an exciting day ahead!

Please enjoy your arrival and a cup of coffee in the Hotel Bar before the conference begins!

Playing in the Sandbox Alongside Replacement, Automation, and Enhancement

In this keynote, Peabody-nominated and Emmy Award-winning director Michaela Ternasky-Holland draws on her performance experience in theme parks and her pioneering work across the XR, AI, and storytelling industries. She will explore the critical role of the immersive experience industry within a rapidly expanding synthetic media landscape, and explore how to utilize technology to enhance, rather than replace, human connection.

During this keynote, there will be an interactive portion to discuss both concern and excitement for the future, and to collectively brainstorm how the industry can lead the charge in transparency, audience consent, and content verification.

The stage is now set for our panel discussion featuring Nils Wollny (Holoride), Bastian Schütz (Meta), which will be moderated by Camillo Stark (MSM Digital) and followed by a Q&A session.

As passengers spend hours in cars and planes, how can immersive technology transform dead time into engaging experiences? Join industry leaders from Holoride, Meta, Dolby, and major airlines as they unveil the next generation of in-flight and in-car entertainment. From VR headsets synced to vehicle motion to spatial audio that adapts to your journey, discover how special-purpose devices are redefining what it means to entertain passengers on the move. This panel features live demonstrations of cutting-edge prototypes and insights into the technical and creative challenges of bringing immersive content to mobility.

Step into the future with an inspiring keynote from Keiichi Matsuda, Director of Liquid City. A designer and filmmaker working at the intersection of Augmented Reality, AI, and architecture, Matsuda is known for envisioning hyper-connected worlds—from his groundbreaking film HYPER-REALITY to pioneering location-based XR experiences. He will share insights from his latest work using AI as a creative medium to build characterful, intelligent worlds.

Scaling Immersive Entertainment: Building Ecosystems for Market Success

The stage is now set for our panel discussion featuring Leif Petersen (Hologate) and Luca Forbes (Stickystone) which will be moderated by Sebastian Klöß (Bitkom) and followed by a Q&A session.

How ready is Germany for widespread XR adoption? Industry leaders from Hologate and Stickystone join Bitkom's Sebastian Klos to examine market data, the momentum AR glasses will generate, and the interconnections between entertainment, gamification, and business XR. This panel connects adoption metrics with ecosystem strategies, exploring how partnerships and standards drive the industry from experimental to essential.

We are entering a new era of interactive entertainment in which virtual characters will no longer simply move through our worlds, but will increasingly understand, react, and participate in them. This talk explores the near future of AI-driven characters in games, movies, and immersive experiences. It is rooted in what modern machine learning can already do today and in the building blocks that are emerging right now: body understanding, motion as a carrier of meaning, and character behavior models that turn animation into agency. Rather than a distant sci-fi vision, this is about the concrete steps from today’s tools to tomorrow’s intelligent characters.

Stay tuned for an inspiring talk from Anica Wilhelm (Meschapade)

The Zoo of The Future

Stay tuned for an inspiring and insightful keynote from Andy van der Broeck !

What happens when technology serves the story, not the other way around? At Zoo of the Future, we discovered something remarkable: visitors didn't want less screen time. They asked for more. More VR. More exploration. More time inside the experience.

This is what's possible when you stop treating technologies as competing attractions and start stacking them as amplifying layers. Each one building on the last, deepening engagement instead of fragmenting it. And here's the secret that made it all work: radical simplicity. One finger. That's all anyone needed to navigate an entire world of immersive wonder. No tutorials. No friction. Just pure, intuitive discovery. This is the future we're building. Experiences where the technology disappears and the magic stays.

Get ready to gather, unwind, and enjoy a shared lunch at Restaurant Antica Roma , a perfect pause in the rhythm of the AUREA Awards!

Don’t miss a live session of The World Beyond Podcast with Michael Mack, as he sits down with visionary designer and filmmaker Keiichi Matsuda. Together, they’ll dive deep into the future of AR, AI, and immersive storytelling—exploring how technology, creativity, and architecture collide to shape hyper-connected worlds. Sip, watch, and connect—enjoy the live streaming at Colosseo Bar with your favorite coffee in hand.

Frank Govaere takes the stage to reveal how AI is changing not just what we create, but how we think about creativity itself. He will unpack the evolving role of immersive media—traditionally a space for reflection and participation—when shaped by algorithmic intelligence. The talk will challenge us to see that the future of immersive experiences is less about exploring artificial worlds, and more about how these worlds transform our own creative minds.

Stay tune while we confirm the last details of this 1-hour hands-on workshop.

Stay tuned for an inspiring talk by Joern Schlimm and Antony Neale (ameliorate GmbH) as they step into a world where augmented reality (AR) is transforming the customer journey by creating innovative new touchpoints. In this session, Joern and Antony will guide you through how AR is enhancing the way customers experience brands, products, and events by blending the digital seamlessly with the physical. During the talk, you'll see how AR was used at a major sporting event to create these magical moments for fans, turning ordinary interactions into immersive experiences.

Enter the world “Through the Looking Glass” in our closing panel. Kathleen Cohen, AUREA’s Jury Chair, engages with exclusive guest speakers to uncover insights, challenge perspectives, and celebrate the ideas defining this year’s AUREA Awards.

Experience the magic of the AUREA Dinner Show and Awards Gala, the show-stopping highlight of the AUREA Awards in Ballroom Berlin. From the awards ceremony to thrilling performances, secret surprises, and more, it’s an evening designed to dazzle and inspire.

All journeys must come to an end. Participants are welcome to complete their check-out at Hotel Colosseo. We hope you carry the inspiration and memories of the AUREA Awards with you.