SIGMOD/PODS Warmup: Query Optimization Unleashed
Bridging Theory, AI, and Systems for the Future of Databases (Sunday, June 22, 2025, 17h00-18h30, starts for real 17h15)
What happens when cutting-edge theory meets AI-driven intelligence and real-world database engineering?
Prepare for an electrifying session that will shatter conventional wisdom on query optimization and cardinality estimation. This is not just another academic discussion — this is a battle of ideas where the sharpest minds from theory, machine learning, and database systems go head-to-head to define the future of query performance.
Bridging the Gap: From Textbook Formulas to Modern Innovation
For decades, query optimization has relied on foundational cardinality estimation techniques, yet modern workloads, big data, and adaptive systems demand radical innovation. This session will bridge the gap between theoretical breakthroughs, AI-powered estimation techniques, and real-world database performance—showing how these once-separate fields are converging into a new paradigm of intelligent query optimization.
The Showdown – Four Perspectives, One Big Question
Several domain experts will challenge each other’s methodologies in a high-intensity, cross-disciplinary debate moderated by Dan Suciu (University of Washington) and Volker Markl (BIFOLD & Technical University of Berlin):
- Theoretical Powerhouse: Can information-theoretic guaranteed cardinality upper bounds lead the way?
Speaker: Dan Olteanu (University of Zurich) - Machine Learning Revolution: Is AI the future of query optimization?
Speaker: Carsten Binnig (Technical University of Darmstadt) - Real-World Systems: What actually works?
Speaker: Viktor Leis (Technical University of Munich) - Filling in the Gaps: What we don't talk about in research.
Speaker: Surajit Chaudhuri (Microsoft Research)
Why You Can’t Miss This:
Get insider insights into the most powerful query optimization techniques shaping the future of databases. Watch experts defend, debate, and challenge each other’s assumptions in a no-holds-barred discussion. Engage with the speakers and have your say in the interactive Q&A. Walk away with game-changing ideas that could redefine your approach to query performance.
This is the session where database theory and systems really meet. Don’t just attend—be part of the revolution.
The organisational team,
Floris Geerts, Benny Kimelfeld and Volker Markl
