The opening panel gathers leading European CIOs, CISOs and regulators to explore how accelerated AI adoption, looming post-quantum risks and new EU mandates are reshaping digital value creation. Together they will define a shared playbook for balancing velocity with verifiable trust.

• Mapping the 2026 risk–opportunity landscape: GenAI, PQC, 6G, and sovereign cloud
• Aligning IT modernisation roadmaps with NIS2, DORA and the EU AI Act
• Bridging the talent and culture gap between security and transformation teams
• Metrics the board actually wants: resilience, ESG impact, and business enablement

Solution Spotlight #1

Solution Spotlight #2

Solution Spotlight #3

Solution Spotlight #4

Rigid legacy systems are giving way to agile, composable platforms—but only if CIOs can guide their organisations through modular redesigns that balance innovation with integration.

• Migrating from monoliths to service-based and event-driven architectures
• Governing data products and APIs at scale across business units
• Creating an IT backbone that supports fast-changing workflows
• Managing lifecycle, security and interoperability of third-party components
• Avoiding architectural drift through continuous alignment with business outcomes

With pressure mounting to reduce digital carbon footprints and meet Scope 3 disclosure requirements, CIOs are at the centre of sustainable transformation. This session explores what actionable climate leadership looks like in IT.

• Measuring and optimising energy use in data centres, cloud and devices
• Extending green procurement principles to software and hardware sourcing
• Balancing compute performance with environmental trade-offs
• Embedding sustainability into architecture and vendor selection decisions
• Reporting frameworks and assurance tools for ESG-aligned IT

Edge infrastructure is rapidly becoming essential for AI workloads, automation, and low-latency services. CIOs must position their organisations to harness this shift while maintaining control, compliance and scalability.

• Designing edge strategies aligned to real-time enterprise needs
• Orchestrating AI inference, data management and integration at the edge
• Navigating regulatory challenges in edge data collection and usage
• Integrating edge and cloud through hybrid orchestration models
• Forecasting the role of 6G and private networks in enterprise transformation

AI is reshaping the workforce—but digital transformation still depends on people. CIOs must play a central role in aligning human capital with emerging digital operating models.

• Identifying new skills and roles emerging from AI integration
• Building internal talent pipelines for data, automation and architecture
• Partnering with HR to lead culture change and adaptive learning
• Balancing centralised vs. federated AI ownership across teams
• Ensuring inclusion, wellbeing and psychological safety in the new digital workplace

As digital infrastructure becomes ever more critical to economic security, CIOs must navigate a complex web of regulatory, geopolitical and operational demands. New frameworks—from data localisation mandates to trusted digital identity ecosystems—are reshaping expectations around cloud strategy, governance and vendor engagement. This session explores how CIOs can build resilient, future-proof digital foundations that deliver both control and competitive advantage.

• Building cloud architectures that align with evolving sovereignty, compliance and risk appetites
• Integrating trusted identity and access frameworks, including eIDAS 2.0, into public and private services
• Resolving tensions between data gravity, portability and cross-border collaboration
• Designing partner and supplier agreements that embed transparency, accountability and strategic autonomy

As organisations move beyond early-stage generative AI pilots, the focus is shifting to sustainable, enterprise-wide adoption. CIOs must now lead the integration of AI into core operational frameworks—ensuring efficiency gains are matched by robust governance, transparency, and long-term resilience. This session explores how to evolve from assistive tools to fully autonomous IT operations while maintaining control, accountability and alignment with organisational risk and compliance strategies.

• Embedding generative and predictive AI into ITSM, observability and MLOps ecosystems
• Implementing real-time guardrails to mitigate bias, drift and operational unpredictability
• Rethinking incident response: from reactive to autonomous remediation and recovery
• Demonstrating measurable value: operational efficiency, resilience, and service-level optimisation