Report from Qt World Summit 2015
I recently returned from the Qt World Summit conference and wanted to share a brief report on some of the highlights of the show.
As in previous years, the event was held in Berlin, Germany and was in the same venue as last year, the Berlin Congress Center. It is conveniently located close to the historic Alexanderplatz public square and transport hub in the central Mitte district of Berlin. For those who came a day or two early, you could catch the tail end of Oktoberfest!
There were some significant changes this year. Whereas for the last three years the Qt Developer Days conferences were organized by ICS and KDAB, this year the conference was run by The Qt Company. KDAB and ICS continue to be major sponsors of the show.
The conference also featured a new name this year. After eleven years as Qt Developer Days, this year it is called the Qt World Summit, reflecting the fact that it is not just a developer conference, but also brings together users of Qt and developers of Qt products and professional services. The name also reflects the fact that this is the major Qt event of the year. While there was a series of one-day road shows in various North American cities earlier this year, this is the only formal Qt developer's conference this year.
The format of the show was much the same as in the past: the first day consisted of optional training classes where attendees could learn more about Qt. This was followed by two full days of the conference proper. The conference consisted of formal presentations, which this year could be either 30 or 60 minutes in length. As in the past, the agenda also featured a series of 10-minute lightning talks. New this year was the unconference track, where less formal discussions were held on topics suggested by the attendees.
The keynotes on the opening day started with a talk by Juha Varelius and Petteri Hollander of The Qt Company. This was followed by presentations by Kenneth Cukier of The Economist, Jeff Payne of OpenCar, Inc., Till Adam of KDAB and Andreas Schmid for Holoplot and finally Lars Knoll, the Qt Chief Maintainer.
There were about sixty formal talks at the conference. I gave a presentation entitled The Internet of Things: What Is It and Why Should I Care? My colleague Dustin Kassman spoke on How to Implement an Automotive Infotainment System using Qt Quick. Other ICS staff participated in the presentation of lightning talks.
The show also featured vendor booths where a number of companies displayed their Qt-related goods and services. ICS had a well-manned booth where we demonstrated some of the technologies we work with including embedded touchscreens, 3D graphics with OpenGL, a multi-camera security monitoring application and an impressive multi-monitor In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI) system.
The number of attendees was said to be around 850, a slight increase over last year's conference, and most attendees were from Europe, as would be expected. There was an equal mix of new users of Qt and experienced Qt developers.
Summary
This year's conference was informative and a great opportunity to meet other Qt developers and potential customers and partners. The Qt Company stepped up to the plate and did a great job organizing the conference. The wide variety of presentations and number of enthusiastic attendees from around the world confirm that the Qt ecosystem is healthy and growing.
References
- Qt World Summit, conference website, last accessed October 13, 2015, http://www.qtworldsummit.com/
- The Internet of Things: What Is It and Why Should I Care?, Qt World Summit presentation, http://www.qtworldsummit.com/cpt-sessions/the-internet-of-things-what-is-it-and-why-should-i-care/
- How to Implement an Automotive Infotainment System using Qt Quick, Qt World Summit presentation, http://www.qtworldsummit.com/cpt-sessions/how-to-implement-an-automotive-infotainment-system-using-qt-quick/