Christian Piechnick, CEO of Wandelbots | Visionary Technologist | Architect of the AI-Driven Factory Christian Piechnick is the CEO and Co-Founder of Wandelbots and one of Europe’s leading voices for software-defined manufacturing in the age of AI. As industries around the globe unlock double-digit efficiency gains through intelligent automation, Christian is driving a clear message: the next industrial revolution has already begun and it is powered by software and artificial intelligence. With a background in Media Computer Science and Software Architectures, Christian has dedicated his career to making robotics smarter, more adaptive, and radically easier to scale. He founded Wandelbots to challenge a hardware-bound status quo and built a platform that enables industrial companies to modernize their automation - not through simple disruption, but through intelligent transformation. Christian’s bold vision and technical acumen have attracted over €125 million in investment from top-tier partners like Insight Partners, 83North, Microsoft, Siemens, and Paua Ventures - a clear signal of Wandelbots’ role in shaping the global automation landscape. Under his leadership, the company empowers enterprises to move beyond fragmented robotics systems and adopt a unified, software-first automation strategy. In this talk: “Production in the Era of AI: The True Next Industrial Revolution Has Begun” Christian outlines the main challenge and a clear opportunity: While AI is already driving historic gains across industries, European manufacturers have fallen behind by delaying the digitization and softwarization of their production environments. The time to catch up is now and the path forward requires bold modernization, smart investments, and a shift from static infrastructures to dynamic, learning ecosystems. With clarity, urgency, and strategic insight, Christian lays out what industrial leaders must do to reclaim competitiveness in the AI era and why modernization doesn’t just have to be disruptive - it has to be intelligent too. Named “Newcomer of the Year” by the German Startup Association, Christian is a sought-after speaker at leading global forums including Hannover Messe, Web Summit, and advanced manufacturing summits. His sessions are known not only for foresight, but for actionability - connecting visionary strategy with practical pathways forward. At the heart of his message is a transformative idea: “A unified software strategy for industrial robotics is the key to continuous business impact.” Christian is not just shaping the conversation around AI and automation, he’s helping enterprises take their first steps into a new era of production leadership.