On March 13, 2026, BOB, Active Group‘s conference about the best in software development, will take place — once again in Berlin and once again at the Scandic Berlin Potsdamer Platz.

The Call for Contributions is open. Send us your proposal for a talk or tutorial (by November 17, 2025) — the program committee is looking forward to it!

BOB 2026

Every year, BOB is about techniques and technologies that represent the best in their respective fields for developers — appropriate, particularly well-suited, and preferably beyond the mainstream. Here‘s a list of our primary topics:

  • functional programming
  • persistent data structures and databases
  • event-based modelling and architecture
  • „fancy types“ (dependent types, gradual typing, linear types, …)
  • formal methods for correctness and robustness
  • abstractions for concurrency and parallelism
  • metaprogramming
  • probabilistic programming
  • math and programming
  • controlled side effects
  • program synthesis
  • Ai beyond vibecoding and chatbots
  • linked data
  • symbolic AI
  • next-generation IDEs
  • effective abstractions for data analytics

We‘ve added three new items related to „AI“. If you‘re submitting in this area, you should pay attention to BOB‘s general goal — specifically, that the techniques applied are appropriate and particularly well-suited. The topic areas „Linked Data“ and „Symbolic AI“ are also meant to open a small door to what used to be called „AI“ before neural networks and LLMs came to dominate the field.

Also of interest are submissions on special challenges in software development in our time:

  • bias in machine-learning systems
  • digital transformation in difficult settings
  • accessibiltity
  • systems with critical reliability requirements
  • ecologically sustainable software development

BOB is also always open to new topics — just mind that they should always be appropriate and particularly well-suited.

In 2026, we are once again offering speaker grants. The speaker grants are intended to support groups underrepresented at BOB. This particularly includes women and speakers who would not be able to attend BOB for financial reasons. We will also once again offer free childcare on-site. These grants subsidize travel to and accommodation in Berlin.

So send us your proposal for a talk or tutorial! You can do so in German or English. We expect to have two talk tracks and two tutorial tracks again.

Is there a tutorial or topic you would like to see at BOB that has been missing so far? We‘re happy to receive your suggestions and wishes: as comments on this blog post or by email to konferenz at bobkonf dot de.