Effective transformation in the SME sector
The Transformation Conference is the conference for business model and cultural change in practice and the major meeting of managers in Germany. The unique format ‘Effective Transformation in SMEs’ offers valuable fundamental insights and, above all, many concrete practical examples of how intentions become successes:
Concrete. Practical. Effective.
It's time again on 11 July 2025. The transformation conference is entering its second round in Heidelberg. Following the successful inaugural event in 2024, top-class transformation experts will once again be guests this year, providing practical insights into their work.
As usual, the programme will provide valuable impetus for effective transformation work and cultural change. A highlight this year: even more in-depth presentations - and additional parallel sessions.
The second round of the 2025 Transformation Conference will offer even more inspiration and practical examples. This year with even more speakers who will shed light on transformation from different perspectives: From the necessary change of perspective for successful transformation to an exciting panel discussion and the toughest bike race in the world - and what we can transfer from it to transformation processes.
All details and information on the programme, presentations and speakers can also be found on the IfUS Institute website.
The 1st Transformation Conference was launched in 2024 with the aim of supporting people in complex transformation processes and networking with other transformation experts at the same time. Speakers such as Mark Poppenborg, Oliver Sowa and Tina Kleingarn gave practical reports on successful transformation work in SMEs. And Olympic rowing champion Andreas Kuffner translated his high-performance experience from competitive sport into practical tips for successful transformation projects.
Curious what 2024 was like? You can see more impressions in our recap.
About the Transformation Conference
Digitalisation and sustainability are the big issues of our time and pose new entrepreneurial challenges, especially for SMEs. If this transformation and cultural change in companies is to succeed, then a fundamentally new culture of cooperation, initiative and taking responsibility is needed in companies. This will succeed if companies focus on cooperation between all those involved and enable them to act in a goal-oriented manner. We want to convey this systemic understanding to the participants of this conference and thus contribute to successful transformation in SMEs.
With topics from practice for practice, our speakers actively provide impetus for successful transformation projects in medium-sized companies.
Appeals, guidelines or the famous corporate values. We believe that this is not the way to create tangible and successful long-term cultural change in companies. But we also believe that it is possible if you create structures that not only allow change, but above all promote and enable it. This is why we support decision-makers who accompany transformation processes in practice with valuable impulses and offer an ideal platform for networking with other transformation experts with our transformation conference.
The conference is primarily aimed at decision-makers who implement transformations in SMEs or actively support companies in their transformation. Special focus is placed on senior executives, interim managers and financiers.
The conference is a joint project of Prof Dr Henning Werner (ifus-Institut), Georgiy Michailov (Struktur Management Partner), Sebastian Bretag (Keyplayer) and Mark Poppenborg (intrinstify). We share the philosophy of a practice-orientated approach combined with a focus on medium-sized companies and the conviction of contributing to effective business model transformation with concrete impulses.
