Automotive IT Events
Automotive is Kaphera’s beachhead. OEM mandate letters (BMW, VW, Mercedes-Benz) are the primary conversion trigger. These events concentrate the Mittelstand decision-makers receiving those letters.
Scoring Table
| Event | City | Date | Buyer | Urgency | Fit | Partner | Trust | Practical | Pipeline | Total | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| automotiveIT Kongress | Ingolstadt | Oct 14 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 33/35 | Attend/speak |
| VDA Mittelstandstag | Bonn | Jun 2026 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 30/35 | Attend/speak |
| ALSC Europe | Bonn | Mar 2026 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 29/35 | Attend |
| ALSC Digital Strategies | Munich | Nov 2026 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 28/35 | Attend |
| Zulieferertag BW | Esslingen | Oct 21 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 27/35 | Attend |
| Forum Automobillogistik | Dresden | Feb 2026 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 25/35 | Attend |
| AEK | Ludwigsburg | Jun 2026 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 24/35 | Attend |
| Automobilwoche Kongress | Berlin | Nov 2026 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 23/35 | Monitor |
| IAA Mobility | Munich | Sep 2027 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 21/35 | Monitor (2027) |
| IAA Transportation | Hannover | Sep 15-20 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 19/35 | Monitor |
automotiveIT Kongress (33/35)
What: Curated CIO/CDO exchange in Ingolstadt on Oct 14, 2026. “Kein Massen-Event” (not a mass event). OEMs attend free (EUR 0 special quota); vendors pay EUR 1,225-1,550. This creates buyer-pull economics that guarantee decision-maker density.
Why it matters: Kaphera’s GA on October 1 makes this the first commercial moment, thirteen days after launch. Confirmed 2026 speakers include BMW Group CIO Franz Decker, Audi AG CIO Frank Loydl, and Mercedes-Benz VP AI/Data Daniel Eitler. The “IT Infrastructure & Cloud” deep-dive track covers hybrid architectures, cloud strategies, security, governance, and data platforms.
T-Systems validation: Gold Sponsor in 2025 with live Catena-X demos for Battery Passport, PCF, and Traceability. They emphasized enterprise-scale onboarding and BMW supplier integration.
What to do:
- Bring a live demo: “join any EDC dataspace in under an hour”
- Contrast on self-service signup, sub-EUR-50 pricing, and under-one-hour deployment (the Mittelstand story T-Systems does not tell)
- Pre-book 8-12 CIO meetings via LinkedIn attendee mapping 4-6 weeks before
- Book tickets early (EUR 1,225-1,550, early-bird deadline ~July 31)
What to skip: Do not attempt to compete with T-Systems on enterprise positioning. Own the Mittelstand story.
Confidence: 33/35 rests on structural signals (organizer positioning, speaker roster, T-Systems validation) rather than verified attendee demographics. High-confidence modeled, not empirically measured.
VDA Mittelstandstag (30/35)
What: ~200 Geschaeftsfuehrer (managing directors/CEOs) of mid-sized automotive suppliers, organized by VDA in Bonn, June 2026. The 2024 edition focused on AI and data strategies.
Why it matters: These are exactly the Tier-2/3 decision-makers receiving OEM mandate letters. The compliance-urgency message fits directly.
What to do:
- Compliance-urgency pitch: “Your OEM customer mandated Catena-X. We handle the connector so your IT team doesn’t have to.”
- Request speaking/demo slot from VDA
- Collect 20-30 CEO contacts; follow up within 72 hours
- Map attendee companies via LinkedIn for Geschaeftsfuehrer + IT-Leiter pairs
What to skip: Generic dataspace evangelism. These CEOs care about compliance cost and speed, not architecture.
OEM Mandate Context
Three OEMs made public, on-the-record procurement commitments at IAA MOBILITY 2025, each with a distinct enforcement posture:
BMW: Active and Operational
Nicolai Martin (Board Member, Purchasing and Supplier Network): “The challenges our industry faces today are too complex to solve alone… To scale it broadly, the participation of as many stakeholders as possible and easy onboarding are essential.” BMW formalized Catena-X requirements in supplier contracts since April 2025. T-Systems onboarded 20+ BMW suppliers in a single quarter.
For Kaphera: BMW suppliers are the warmest leads. Active enforcement, proven onboarding velocity.
Volkswagen: Committed, Support-Framed
Dirk Grosse-Loheide (Board Member Procurement): “We are committed to digital transformation and will require our suppliers to make the same commitment in new contracts, supporting them along the way.”
For Kaphera: VW suppliers in Lower Saxony (via Automotive Agentur Niedersachsen) are next. VW couples the mandate with supplier support language, suggesting a phased rollout.
Mercedes-Benz: Strategic Conviction, Speed-Oriented
Gunnar Guethenke (Head of Procurement and Supplier Quality): “Mercedes-Benz is fully committed to Catena-X to digitize the supply chain, become faster, reduce costs, and act more flexibly.”
For Kaphera: Mercedes suppliers are strategic but may have longer decision cycles.
Messaging Implications
- “Your OEM has mandated Catena-X” is generic
- “BMW is already enforcing; here’s what happened to the suppliers who moved first” is specific and urgent
- These mandates are contractual procurement requirements, not regulatory obligations; no government penalty for non-compliance exists
Eight of the world’s top ten automotive suppliers are already active Catena-X participants.
ALSC Events
ALSC Europe (Bonn, March): 450+ senior leaders including OEM logistics heads and supply chain VPs from BMW, Tesla, JLR, and Stellantis. One of the highest buyer-density events for supply-chain data exchange.
ALSC Digital Strategies Europe (Munich, November): specifically covers AI, data integration, and supply chain visibility platforms. Smaller, more targeted format mapping directly to the EDC use case. Target: OEM logistics heads who authorize supply-chain data platform contracts. Offer: “Managed EDC for supply-chain data exchange, OEM-mandated, deployed in under an hour.”
Lower-Priority Events
Automobil-Elektronik Kongress (AEK) (Ludwigsburg, June): 500+ decision-makers, 30th anniversary in 2026. 11 companies signed the VDA-led S-Core MoU at the 2025 edition. Audience skews toward electronics architecture and software-defined-vehicle topics rather than supply-chain data exchange. High buyer density but lower EDC/dataspace fit.
IAA Transportation (Hannover, Sep 15-20): 145K visitors. Pre-GA invisibility at mega-expo scale. Monitor only.
IAA Mobility (Munich, Sep 2027, biennial): venue where BMW/VW/Mercedes made unified Catena-X commitments. Plan for post-GA credibility positioning in 2027.