ConnectChains – The Humanitarian Supply Chain Conference 2026
The focus of the 4th ConnectChains – The Humanitarian Supply Chain Conference, which will take place on December 4, 2026, at the Vienna Airport Conference & Innovation Center (Runway 1 room), Towerstrasse 3, 1300 Vienna Airport, will be on knowledge transfer and networking among all stakeholders in humanitarian and commercial supply chain management. The goal: to manage crisis situations even better in the future. The international conference is unique in that representatives from the commercial sector and humanitarian organizations will present best practices for collaboration and partnerships and develop strategies for the future in the field of supply chain management. One of the main topics will be increasing efficiency through the use of artificial intelligence in humanitarian logistics.
The number of tickets (free of charge) is limited. Dress code: smart casual. Premium sponsors of the event are DHL Global Forwarding (Austria), duisport (Germany), Fritz Institute (USA) and Vienna AirportCity (Austria).
The conference is aimed at logistics and SCM experts in humanitarian and development aid organizations as well as logistics companies. Representatives from foundations, academia, and governments as well as international donors are also invited. Representatives from the target group can request a free ticket by emailing the conference organizer at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., stating their position.
Program
| 9:00 | Registration at entrance and coffee |
| 9:25 | Welcome: Thilo Jörgl, Conference Director ConnectChains, Munich |
| 9:30 | Welcome: The new reality of humanitarian supply chains Lynn C. Fritz, CEO Fritz Institute, San Francisco |
| 9:35 | Impulse: Certification program in humanitarian logistics – building the next generation of humanitarian supply chain professionals Mitsuko Mizushima, Chief Logistics Officer, Fritz Institute, San Francisco Marco Bachour, Upstream Planning Information Lead, World Food Programme, Rome |
| 9:50 | Presentation: The myth of AI – what it is and what it isn´t Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Michael Henke, Chair of Corporate Logistics, TU Dortmund |
| 10:10 | Impulses and Panel: AI & Co: Results of the virtual working group AI in humanitarian logistics Impulse 1: N.N: Impulse 2: AI analysis of donor requirements: Sarah Penniman-Morin, CGSCO, International Rescue Committee (IRC), NYC, and Yuehwern Yih, Ph.D., Director SOS Lab, Purdue University Impulse 3: How can AI, earth observation, and dynamic routing help humanitarian organizations navigate rapidly changing operating environments? Alec Schulze-Eckel, Project Manager Anticipatory Action, Heidelberg Institute for Geoinformation Technology, Heidelberg Martijn Blansjaar, Head of Logistics & Supply, Oxfam, Oxford Marin Tomas, Senior Advisor for Logistics and Supply Chain, International Medical Corps, Split |
| 10:55 | Introduction: Lynn C. Fritz Medal: cooperation and AI – the topics 2026 Lynn C. Fritz, CEO Fritz Institute, San Francisco Dr. Anisya Thomas Fritz, Co-Founder Fritz Institute, San Francisco Mitsuko Mizushima, Chief Logistics Officer, Fritz Institute, San Francisco |
| 11:05 | Presentation: Winning project of the Lynn C. Fritz Medal 2026 Introduction: N.N. N.N. N.N. |
| 11:20 | Q&A: : Winners of the Lynn C. Fritz Medal answer your questions N.N. N.N. |
| 11:30 | Coffee break |
| 12:00 | Presentation: Survey about PPP – which areas have changed over the past two years Dr. Maximilian Löffel, Lecturer, Chair of Logistics Management, ETH, Zurich |
| 12:15 | Impulse and panel: The current state of public private partnerships and collaborations Impulse 1: In time, in budget – an example of a successful cooperation in a TMS project: Antoine Collot, Project Manager, AEB SE, Stuttgart, and Jan Kanzleiter, Coordinator End-2-End Supply Chain Excellence Unit, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Berlin Impulse 2: Ukraine´s resilient health supply chain: Farmasoft´s cooperation with the Ukrainian Ministry of Health, Prof. Dr. Vladyslav Strashnyi, Head of the Department of Industrial Pharmacy at KNUTD, Kiev Impulse 3: ICRC´s cooperation with Amazon Disaster Relief: Patrick Ruppenthal, EMEA Lead Disaster Relief, Amazon Deutschland Services, Munich Dr. Alexander Fuchs, Co-Founder DSCN, Nuremberg (moderator) |
| 13:00 – 13:25 | Panel: The future of humanitarian supply chains part 1: emerging challenges and ways to address the challenges Ben Safari, Head of Supply Management Service, UNHCR, Budapest Martijn Blansjaar, Head of Logistics & Supply, Oxfam, Oxford Mitsuko Mizushima, Chief Logistics Officer, Fritz Institute, San Francisco (moderator) |
| 13:25 – 13:55 | Panel: The future of humanitarian supply chains part 2: new partnerships, new capabilities Patrick Ruppenthal, EMEA Lead Disaster Relief, Amazon Deutschland Services, Munich Julian Schneider, Head of Strategic Sales, duisport, Duisburg Sarah Penniman-Morin, CGSCO, International Rescue Committee (IRC), NYC Prof. Sander de Leeuw, Chair of Operations Research & Logistics, Wageningen University & Research (moderator) |
| 13:55 | Outlook: Application for Lynn C. Fritz Medal 2027 (Thilo Jörgl) |
| 14:00 | Light lunch, networking opportunities |
| 14:45 | End |
Review of the ConnectChains conference 2025
