To our Energy community,

a large number of conferences and events are offered for our industry from different players – online and offline. There are always good reasons to attend, but making the choice may not be easy – timewise, budgetwise or simply not knowing what to expect. Having led the organization of the “International SAP Conference for Oil, Gas & Energy” on IBU side, I feel it´s time to draw a conclusion, reflecting on things in the past and outlining future events.

Since 2015, the International SAP Conference for Energy marks a milestone in our customers and partners calendars, offering a vivid platform to meet peers and business partners face to face. This tradition also implies changing locations and stylish evening events. Not only for the sake of fun, but to energize the community and to stimulate the interaction with new ideas and surroundings. This year, the Swiss city of Basel was chosen to host the ´23 joint conference for Utility and Oil, Gas, and Energy.

Acknowledging the growing overlap of both industries regarding processes and customers, this joint conference touched upon a range of generic topics, ranging from sustainability, asset management to technology and thus offered our attendees an abundance of new insights to latest projects and best practices. In total, 809 attendees from 44 countries enjoyed more than 50 presentations, the vast majority held by customers talking about their latest projects and initiatives. In addition, the pre-conference day featured deep dive workshops focusing on industry specific topics. Next to this, the executive exchange as a one-day parallel event, offered a forum for strategic topics and discussions.

The objective of this conference is to facilitate interaction between experts, partners, customers, and SAP colleagues, to encourage one-on-one discussions, and to showcase the latest innovations, and best practices in a concise and engaging manner. The Basel location proofed to be ideal with a wide range of opportunities for networking and information sharing:  on-stage presentations, round tables, micro-forums, meeting rooms, partner booth and demo areas.

The preparation of these event starts more than 6 months in advance. This time span assures that we can carefully assess the agenda, identify new topics, look for recent and exciting projects to talk about and  prepare compelling demos and presentations. Inspiring keynotes such as this year´s presentations about the professional athletes’ lives as well as the challenge of plastic pollution issue in oceans resonate very well and kick off discussions and feedback.

The IBU Utility and the IBU Oil, Gas & Energy are grateful to receive overwhelmingly positive feedback on this event which motivates us to start planning next year´s conference soon taking place in Seville, Spain, from the 22nd to 25th of April 2024.

We would like to thank all customers, partners and colleagues who supported us and proof that this community is alive and kicking. See you in Seville.