The digital conference “Republica” reported a decline in attendance for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a statement issued on Wednesday, the event hosted a total of 29,000 visitors over its three days, representing a drop of one thousand attendees compared to both the previous and the year before that.
In stark contrast, the 2024 digital fair was reported as a full house, drawing 30,000 attendees-a record high in the conference’s history. For current year’s programming, the number of scheduled points was significantly reduced from 880 to 650. Overall, this year’s program comprised over 675 sessions featuring more than 1,200 speakers. The organizers noted that approximately 57 percent of these speakers were female, marking an increase of three percentage points from the prior year, though it was one percentage point lower than 2024.
Since its inception in 2007, “Republica” has been an annual conference held in Berlin. Today, the event also operates under the same name in branches located in Vienna, Düsseldorf, and Los Angeles, with editions scheduled to take place throughout the year. The conference maintains a consistent focus on issues of net culture and network policy. To conclude the three-day gathering, co-founder Markus Beckedahl stated, “It is time that we become digitally sovereign. The paths to getting there are clear; we just need to walk them”.
