The Event
The Chaos Communication Congress is the Chaos Computer Club’s (CCC) annual symposium and hacker party.
During four days between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, thousands of hackers, technology freaks, artists, and utopians get together in Hamburg to communicate, learn from each other, and party together.
The Congress is the longest running German IT security conference, the biggest European hacker gathering and grew into one of the most important conferences on digital transformation. We focus on topics such as information technology, digital security, making, and breaking. We engage in creative, sceptical discourse on the interaction between technology and society.
Dates & deadlines
- 11 November 2023 (23:59 UTC): Deadline for submissions,
- 03 December 2023: Notification of acceptance,
- 27 - 30 Dezember 2023: Chaos Communication Congress.
Reaching out
The 37C3 is a place where attendees yearn to be challenged on outdated ideas, conventional perception of reality and yesterday's approaches to tomorrow's problems. That's why we strongly encourage individuals of underrepresented groups, as well as people from the Global South to apply. We're looking forward to your contributions on just digital futures.
Tracks
37C3 lectures are organized by tracks, each track is curated by a team of experts in the respective field. Please choose one of the tracks below when submitting.
Art & Beauty
The quote "you can create art and beauty with a computer" formulated by Steven Levis in 1984 in his hacker ethics is the leitmotif for the Art & Beauty track. The focus here is on artistic practices (including literature, comics, film & audiovisual media, music, games, theater, dance, performance, and painting) that (critically) engage with new technologies and their social impact.
We welcome submissions that use computers, coding, and networks to expand the possibilities of art; or demonstrate that the principles and practices of hacker culture contribute to constructive and unforeseen perspectives in artistic contexts. We also welcome submissions that present a theoretical reflection on the impact of new technologies on artistic practices and forms of expression.
Ethics, Politics & Society
The Ethics, Society & Politics track looks at the social, ethical and political consequences of technology that affect our lives.
A general tiredness and resignation can be felt everywhere, but it doesn't get us anywhere. In this track, we explore the next phase, the post-resignation: what can we actually still contribute in a valuable, productive way now, when the tipping points of democracy and the climate crisis have been noticeably passed?
In this track, we would like to call for submissions of stories and analyses about activist and future-oriented concepts. We welcome presentations and in-depth reports on current or proposed legislation that threatens our fundamental rights on the net, field reports on the constant fight against mass surveillance and the current hype cycles, and of course the hacker paragraph!
Besides "classic" netpolitics, this year's informal track motto is: "Resignation is boring." Therefore, the team is especially looking forward to submissions with forward-looking, optimistic ideas and reports. Tangible or philosophical, narrative or subversive, technical solutions or ingenious-sounding changes of perspective: we are looking for the topics and perspectives that will vent our lungs weighed down by powerlessness and let us breathe a sigh of relief.
Hardware
The Hardware track is all about development and creative use of things that allow the digital to make an impression on the physical.
On the one hand our focus is on the whole process from architecture, planning, creation and debugging of everything ranging from textiles, musical instruments, robots, integrated circuits, means of transporting for people and mate, launching stuff into space, alternative energy supplies to medical tools - all things hands-on.
On the other hand we must balance building new hardware with sustaining a liveable planet. So please tell us your stories about the expansion, repair and regaining sovereign use of technology, and as always we like to hear about liberation of proprietary systems - from decapped smart-card to the firmware of your toaster to a modified agricultural machine.
Of course we're also up for a surprise: Hit us with all the things we can't imagine - and of course rockets!
Science
The multiple and interwoven crises of the present dominate public attention. Unfortunately, they often leave little room for a (self-)critical look at the very details that are essential for good solutions. The sciences offer a multitude of approaches, ideas and theories that can help us all cope with the crises and that will be with us in the future. Numerous, fascinating developments combine science and technology. Artificial intelligences are processing medical data or deliver entirely new protein structures. Quantum computing is getting closer to practical use with each passing year. Social sciences offer insights into how we live together in a changing world. The science track offers time and space for all of these scientific topics - and far beyond. Whether you're working at research centers, universities, or in the garage: If you explore and evaluate interesting and important developments from a scientific point of view, share your knowledge and submit a relevant presentation topic!
Security
The security track hosts content demonstrating the influence of IT security aspects on users and machines. We ask for technical submissions describing problems and solutions in both hardware and software.
If you want to share your discoveries with thousands of fellow security enthusiasts; if you have developed new solutions to previously unsolved problems; or if you have found new problems which we knew nothing about, we invite you to present.
This includes topics from mathematics, networks, operating systems, web technologies, memory (mis)management, cryptography, programming languages, hardware design and other fields.
This year, we dedicate some presentation slots to beginners and people who are interested in relevant basics, so please feel invited to submit your introductory presentations.
Sustainability & Climate Justice
The track Sustainability & Climate Justice welcomes all talks critically examining design and use of technology in the context of ecosystem collapse and global environmental injustice. We are looking for contributions that envision and implement sustainable, just and democratic digital futures.
If you are researching the energy hunger of ad-tech industry, criticise the "AI for sustainability" hype or have implemented projects that improve technology to be more sustainable, then submit a presentation in this track about your insights, success stories or visions on how technology must move forward to support societal emancipation and ecological sustainability.
This is a track dedicated to those wanting to present their approach on understanding and fighting the socio-ecological crisis, with an emphasis on those working at the core of climate action and justice with a drive to shape solutions for a sustainable and just world that respects both people and the planet.
Online submissions only
Please submit your talk to our conference planning system at https://frab.cccv.de/en/37c3/cfp. Lectures are 40 or 60 minutes by default.
Simply follow the instructions there. If you plan to submit anything other than a lecture, want to present longer than 60 minutes, or just have any questions regarding the submission, you are welcome to contact us via mail at 37c3-content(at)cccv.de.
Submission guidelines
Please send us a description of your suggested talk that is as complete as possible. The description is the main criterium for acceptance or rejection, so please ensure that it is as clear and complete as possible. Quality comes before quantity. Due to the non-commercial nature of the event, presentations which aim to market or promote commercial products or entities will be rejected without consideration.
Since most participants find (or don’t find) a lecture by its title, it’s important to keep it precise, accessible and comprehensible. Our teams will keep a keen eye on title and subtitle and make suggestions to change them if necessary, so please avoid insider jokes and stereotypes. It would be a shame if we would have to reject an otherwise excellent submission because the title does not tell much about the actual content.
As it is likely that there will be multiple submissions on the same topic, please show us exactly why your talk should be part of the conference. Remember that the teams are diversely staffed, and not every reviewer knows every submitter and their background. Please write something about yourself, your research, and your motivation. It does not matter if the talk has been held at another conference somewhere on this planet, as long as it is up to date and relevant.
Talks should be either 30 minutes long plus 10 minutes for questions and answers or 45 minutes long plus 15 minutes for questions and answers. Longer slots are possible if absolutely necessary, but should be an exception. Please take our limited amount of presentation time into consideration, check how much time you really need to bring home your points and then tell us the proposed length of your talk.
Travel, costs & visa
The Chaos Communication Congress is a non-commercial event where neither the organisers nor the speakers are being paid. As an accepted speaker for a full talk, you get free admission, though. If necessary, we are able to provide limited support for travel costs. If you need help applying for a visa, such as an official invitation to present to the German embassy, please make sure to let the content team know well in advance. Please be aware that the visa application procedure may take up to six weeks.
Preferring an online only event?
In parallel to the 37th Chaos Communication Congress in Hamburg, haecksen and R3S host an independent fully remote event titled “FireShonks.” Click here for its CfP.