Department of Computer Science

Successful Data Saturday Rhineland 2026 at the H-BRS

Friday 24 July 2026

With an enthusiastic audience, high-calibre specialist presentations and a special handover ceremony, Data Saturday Rhineland 2026 came to a successful close at H-BRS.

The free community conference, held for the eleventh time at H-BRS, brought together experts, students and interested parties from the worlds of business, academia and the IT community. The focus was on practical presentations and sessions centred on the Microsoft data platform and Microsoft Azure technologies. Topics such as Microsoft Fabric, data management, cloud and hybrid architectures, analytics, business intelligence, artificial intelligence and other current developments in the data sector attracted a great deal of interest.

11.07.2026 Prof. Dr. Harm Knolle (li) übergibt den Staffelstab zur Organisation des Data Saturdays an den wissenschaftlichen Mitarbeiter Moritz Balg

Prof. Dr Harm Knolle (right) hands over the baton in the form of the ‘Datamonster’, the mascot of the DataSaturday conference. Photo: Markus Stuhm

A special moment at this year’s event was the handover of organisational responsibility for Data Saturday Rheinland: after eleven years, Prof. Dr Harm Knolle from the Department of Computer Science at H-BRS handed over the organisational reins to his research assistant, Moritz Balg, who will take over responsibility for the conference in future. Knolle had launched Data Saturday Rheinland in 2013 – at that time still under the name SQL Saturday – in collaboration with PASS Deutschland e. V., and had shaped the event with great dedication ever since. The involvement of students was particularly close to his heart. His aim was to promote exchange between the university and industry and to show participants prospects for their own career paths.

At the opening ceremony, Vice-President Prof. Dr Teena Hassan and Prof. Dr Sascha Alda, Dean of the Department of Computer Science, paid tribute to Prof. Dr Harm Knolle’s long-standing commitment. They thanked him for his exceptional dedication and his pivotal role in setting up and successfully establishing Data Saturday Rheinland at Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences. Thanks to his commitment, the event has developed into a regular meeting place for the data and cloud community.

Once again this year, Data Saturday Rhineland proved a hit with its varied programme and lively atmosphere. The many visitors took the opportunity to find out about the latest developments, make new contacts and exchange ideas with experts.

11.07.2026 Team Datamonster e.V. UG Rheinland bedankt sich bei Prof. Dr. Harm Knolle für seine Arbeit

11.07.2026 Data Saturday Dekan Prof. Dr. Sascha Alda (re) bedankt sich bei Prof Dr. Harm Knolle (li)

Data Saturday Rheinland is organised jointly by Datamonster e.V. UG Rheinland and Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg. As is traditional, the pre-conference took place the day before the main event, featuring several full-day workshops that complemented the technical programme.

We are looking forward to next year’s event, which will take place on a Friday for the first time.