In October, we will once again be gathering all our experts at a virtual location. Up2Date is our old Acumen event in a new guise! For the second year in a row, Sirris and Agoria are joining forces to tell members – and customers – about all the key developments for businesses in the sector: trends, regulations, technology, opportunities and more. Dominique Du Tré, Director of Services at Agoria, and Herman Derache, Managing Director at Sirris, look ahead and tell you what to expect.
Up to date with what’s happening
The tsunami of regulations that was set in motion in 2023 will roll powerfully onwards in 2024. Up2Date provides the perfect opportunity to catch up on the latest developments. During this online event, we will be inviting experts from the various specialist fields within Agoria and Sirris for more than 70 separate digital sessions spread over 10 days.
Dominique Du Tré, Director of Services at Agoria, explains: ‘There’s so much going on and in so many different areas that we want to give our businesses a brief and effective update at a fixed time every year about what’s on the way: during Up2Date, the experts share the most important recent developments in their fields and provide an update on the issues that are causing concern to our member businesses. At our Academies and information sessions spread throughout the year, we give our members the opportunity to go into more depth with our experts.’
Up2Date 2024: where and when?
The Up2Date webinars will take place from 7 to 18 October. The 70 or so sessions run by experts from both Agoria and Sirris are divided into eight themes:
Sustainability reporting
People
Green transition
Digitalization
Corporate compliance
Product compliance
Product innovation
Manufacturing innovation
You can take part in as many sessions as you want, as there is no maximum number of participants. During the sessions you will have the chance to ask questions.
Herman Derache, Managing Director at Sirris, adds: ‘The experts will offer illustrative examples and case studies of services provided, and the participants can ask questions. These promise to be interactive and inspiring sessions. The breadth and number of themes also mean that the sessions are relevant to a wide range of profiles – there’s a huge amount to be learnt by everyone, from the CEO or CTO to the managers and employees of departments such as HR, Sustainability, R&D and production. Last year, we had more than 2,800 participations from around 550 different businesses. We hope to welcome even more interested parties this year.’
Meet the 200+ experts
As well as being the perfect moment to brush up on your knowledge, Up2Date is also the ideal opportunity to get to know the Agoria and Sirris experts. Dominique explains: ‘Many of our services are provided in an increasingly digital form, and this makes personal contact between our members and our experts all the more important. Part of Up2Date’s purpose is therefore to bring them into contact, so that our members know which expert they can turn to. You can also invite all your colleagues, so this is a great opportunity for people who aren’t yet well acquainted with us or Sirris to come and listen and get to know us.’
Sustainability and AI remain hot topics
Which sessions will definitely be popular? ‘There are numerous developments on the way for both large companies and SMEs, not least in terms of regulations,’ says Dominique. ‘There’s a lot going on in the areas of HR and social legislation, but I think that CSRD (sustainability reporting) is relevant to the largest number of companies and yet insufficiently understood. The tsunami of environmental regulations at both European and regional level is difficult to grasp. I’m also thinking in terms of digitalisation, the AI act and the NIS2 Directive on Cybersecurity: these new laws have either just been published or are still in the pipeline.’ However, it’s not all about compliance. ‘Rewarding strategies and the circular economy will also receive extensive coverage.’
Herman agrees. ‘The rapid rise of generative AI this year is very important. Businesses are already aware of this, but our experts focus on how you can apply it practically and successfully in a business context. For example, how can you use it to become more competitive in your own market? Most companies understand the big message, but we’ll look at how to translate this into added value for your company during the sessions.’
New name, similar concept
Up2Date derives from the former Acumen and the R&S Events (Regulations & Standards) of past years. Why the new name? Dominique explains. ‘We saw the idea of “giving an update” as essential. The “2” refers to the collaboration between Agoria and Sirris. The “Date” is also important: we invite participants to contact the expert in question if they found a session inspiring. This is really useful if you have a specific question or want to outline your situation.’
A new name, but a similar concept, then. There are several new features, though, says Herman. ‘This year, the event will take place exclusively online. This will allow you to plan to attend the sessions of interest to you with even more flexibility. Various time slots will also be available during the ten days for visitors to instantly book a one-to-one session with an expert. This is useful for businesses that want to discuss a confidential topic, for example, or that have very specific questions that would be harder to deal with in public sessions. The one-to-one sessions enable the two parties to get to know one another.’
To allow participants to submit their questions to our experts during the open sessions without inhibitions, the sessions will not be recorded. Dominique: ‘In this way we also want to encourage interaction during the webinars: we really do want participants to ask questions. The speakers’ presentations will be made available to participants and members afterwards.’
Cross-pollination between Agoria and Sirris
As in previous years, a deliberate choice was made for Agoria and Sirris to combine their strengths. Herman: ‘By taking the members of Agoria and Sirris together, we can reach almost the entire technology sector. The services we offer are complement one another closely, and this is reflected in the range of webinars.’
Out of this wide range, there are a few webinars that Dominique and Herman are especially looking forward to, though. Dominique: ‘I think that all sessions on CSRD will be popular, because this is a topic whose importance is usually seriously underestimated. It also increasingly relates to different profiles within an organisation, going beyond the Environmental Officer or the HR Manager.’
Herman: ‘I’m looking forward to “Enhancing manufacturing through AI”, which I think will be very interesting and more relevant than ever. There’s a lot of talk about AI, but so far its concrete applications in a manufacturing context have only been implemented by a happy few. There’s great potential, but it’s still somewhat underutilised. Up2Date is sure to provide inspiration!’
Are you ready to gain new insights and get completely back up to speed in your field?
