IFA Berlin pivots to an ‘innovative new concept’ due to coronavirus pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has effectively and thoroughly silenced the business of tech conferences, with most major events, including this year’s Mobile World Congress, Apple’s WWDC or Google’s I/O, being either canceled or reformatted into online-only events. 

IFA Berlin, one of Europe’s largest tech conferences, has suffered the same fate, but it’s not completely canceled; instead, it will go forward in a somewhat mysterious “innovative new concept.”

In a note sent to press, the show’s organizers admitted that, due to the pandemic, IFA will “not be able to go ahead as usual.” 

“Planning is well advanced for a concept that will allow IFA to deliver on its core functions for our industry — as a global showcase for technology innovation and an important meeting place for brands, manufacturers, retailers and media,” the note said. 

The details are slim at present, but the organizers said they will present the details for the updated IFA 2020 concept “in the near future.”

This year’s IFA is scheduled to happen on Sept. 4. Given the fact that the city of Berlin has banned all events with more than 5,000 participants until Oct. 24, it’s hard to imagine this new concept being similar to the usual business of IFA, which consists of thousands of companies showing off new gadgets in Berlin’s massive Messe venue. Instead, we’ll likely see a slew of online-only announcements. Whether IFA’s organizers will be able to turn that into a coherent show remains to be seen.