Opening plenary Save to my Google calendar

This Opening Plenary session will be introduced by a series of brief welcome addresses:

- Steve Cotter, CEO of GÉANT
- Christian Grimm, Chair of the Executive Committee of GÉANT
- Christian Panigl, Head of ACOnet (Local Host & Programme Committee Chair)
- Klaus Luger, Mayor of Linz
- Iris Rauskala, Director General at the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy
- Rodney Wilson, Ciena (Platinum Sponsor of TNC17)

And the Opening Keynote will be followed by two award ceremonies:

- GÉANT Community Awards
- Vietsch Foundation Medal of Honor

Opening Keyote:

The city of Linz has joined the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in 2014 and in this context has been awarded the title "City of Media Arts". One of the reasons is the Ars Electronica Festival which first happened in 1979 and nowadays attracts more than 35.000 visitors in September every year, and the Ars Electronica Center (AEC) as its permanent home institution. During the opening keynote, artistic director Gerfried Stocker will introduce us to this fascinating place of inquiry and discovery, experimentation and exploration.

• Research and Development at the Ars Electronica Futurelab
  Gerfried Stocker