OREANDA-NEWS. September 27, 2016. Not since Doc Brown blasted into the past through a time warp in the original film “Back to the Future” has the world seen the stunning kind of innovation on display at the 20th annual SAP TechEd event in Las Vegas this year.

However, unlike the 1980s movie conceit SAP’s Björn Goerke brilliantly used in his keynote, the mind-bending innovations at SAP TechEd were completely real as over 5,000 attendees discovered. Companies are saving millions, getting closer to customers, and discovering amazing possibilities. Here are some of the exciting video highlights.

Expertise, Exercise, and Education

Check out my onsite video interviews with the most brilliant minds in the industry who are innovating to bring organizations business value from the Internet of Things (IoT), mobile (hint: Build is equally powerful for non-developers and developers), predictive analytics, machine learning, and chat bots freeing up people’s time to get straight to their creative core.  I’m talking about buildings that make us work smarter and safer, and apps that stream real-time data from physical equipment anywhere straight into the enterprise for quick, accurate decision-making. And don’t miss my illuminating conversations with onsite gurus about the biggest changes IoT brings to developers, and how they can make it a reality.

A record 700+ people registered to participate in this year’s annual 5K Fun Run/Walk held in memory of Diane Gottheimer Davis, a dedicated SAP TechEd event organizer. Equally amazing was the level of excitement among developers, partners and customers as they eagerly absorbed educational content in more than 1,300 sessions, asked questions about demos on the show floor, and of course, gave it their all competing in DemoJam with some breathtaking apps focused on education and research. The week ended with a jam-packed, raucous 20th anniversary celebration at Gilly’s and Senor Frog’s where everyone rocked out to the beat of the D.J. and a live country and western band. As for the bucking bronco at Gilley’s, famed for the movie, Urban Cowboy with super-star John Travolta, there were many rodeo stars, but this writer kept both feet on the ground, just as happy to cheer them on.

Here’s a quick recap of SAP TechEd Las Vegas, including the keynotes, my blogs, and the week’s announcements:

Keynotes Spotlight Innovation

SAP’s Bjorn Goerke Transports SAP TechEd Las Vegas Audience “Back to the Future”

SAP’s Björn Goerke kicked of SAP TechEd in Las Vegas this year wowing a packed crowd with an extravaganza of gifted acting plus inspired, real-time digital application development, driving onto and off the stage in an appropriately souped-up DeLorean just like in the film.

Customer Digital Journeys Keep it Real #SAPTechEd 2016

SAP customers Lenovo, Epsilon, and Noble Corporation joined Irfan Khan, general manager and global head of Database & Data Management at SAP , for his keynote on Day two, demonstrating their unfolding, disruptive digital journeys.

Keytree is 5-Time DemoJam Winner

Six teams gave it their all after emerging from SAP InnoJam to compete as the DemoJam finalists. I caught up with the ecstatic winning  team from Keytree in this video interview, minutes after they accepted their award for their astounding prototype “beApp,” which is connected to the collaborative cloud platform SAP Jam, and is designed to inform and reward students as they go about their daily activities across campus.

Announcements Unleash New Possibilities

At SAP TechEd Las Vegas this year, the company announced SAP HANA, express edition, providing developers with unlimited, streamlined, downloadable access to the company’s in-memory platform where they can build applications free of charge on a computer or in the cloud. Plus, after provoking industry-wide disruption that initially simplified IT architecture, SAP HANA in-memory technology now features new capabilities enabling partners to deliver the right development environment to customers, and extending SAP Web IDE delivery options with offline development.

SAP also launched the next phase in its initiative to transform industrial 3D printing into a seamless distributed manufacturing process with UPS, expanding the program to give even more companies first-mover advantage.