23 CIO Events to Attend in 2026

Editor’s note: This is an evolving post, and we will continue to update it with the latest information as conferences announce their 2026 dates.

CIO events and IT conferences bring together industry leaders, bold innovators, and technology specialists to network, learn, and drive the future of IT. CIOs should mark their calendars with the events below to fill 2026 with opportunities to evolve their security practices, improve interoperability, reinforce tech architecture, optimize their AI projects, and more.

Top CIO Conferences in 2026

1. TechEx Global

Location: London, United Kingdom

Date: February 4-5, 2026

TechEx Global brings together technology leaders, including CIOs, CTOs, IT Directors, and engineering leaders. This conference hosts seven co-located events that span AI, Cloud, Cybersecurity, IoT, and Data Centers. TechEx positions itself as a one-stop resource for tech-led teams where attendees can learn essential insights from industry peers.

2. Cisco Live

Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands

Date: February 9-13, 2026

Cisco Live is a major IT event revolutionizing how infrastructure and data connect in the AI era. This event has been a premier destination for IT experts and CIOs for over 35 years. With a 96% attendee event satisfaction rate, this is a great opportunity to meet Cisco experts, attend conferences, participate in breakout sessions, and enjoy afternoon receptions.

3. Generative AI Expo

Location: Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA

Date: February 10-12, 2026

The 3rd annual Generative AI Expo is a new opportunity to establish your company as an early adopter and leader in this emerging technology. Attendees will showcase how GenAI applications support and improve business operations, customer experience, and growth opportunities.

4. CIO Edge

Location: Sydney, Australia

Date: February 24, 2026

Join over 180 of Australia’s top CIOs at CIO Edge. The 2026 conference theme is “Business & Operating Models in the Agentic AI Era,” and attendees can expect to learn about how to drive growth with constrained resources, redefine their operating models with Agentic AI, and solidify the CIO’s role as the enterprise’s chief architect.

5. CIO Exchange

Location: London, United Kingdom

Date: February 25-26, 2026

The CIO Exchange is an invitation-only event for Europe’s senior IT leaders. Their 2026 theme is centered around three words: Acceleration, Value, and Resilience. This two-day event hosts intimate discussions, interactive workshops, and one-on-one meetings to explore how to simplify complex IT landscapes, modernize legacy systems, and lead enterprise transformation confidently.

6. Swiss Cyber AI

Location: Lugano, Switzerland

Date: April 14, 2026

The Swiss Cyber AI conference is dedicated to bringing leaders together to shape the future of cybersecurity and AI. Attendees can expect talks and discussions around the strategic challenges and opportunities AI brings to security leadership. This includes analyzing autonomous systems and their emerging threats to trust, governance, and resilience.

7. Data Innovation Summit

Location: Stockholm, Sweden

Date: May 6-8, 2026

The Data Innovation Summit brings together ML engineers, AI engineers, and AI strategists to explore the future of machine learning, Agentic AI, and Generative AI. Attendees will explore how to move from pilots to scaled developments, and how to integrate AI applications and agents into real business processes.

8. CSO Conference & Awards

Location: Nashville, TN, USA

Date: May 11-13, 2026

The CSO Conference & Awards recognizes distinguished security executives and celebrates excellent cybersecurity projects and initiatives. Attendees will discover what success looks like and gain valuable insights from industry leaders. The conference agenda is designed to inspire, educate, and provide practical strategies for teams to apply right away.

9. AI & Big Data Expo North America

Location: San Jose, CA, USA

Date: May 18-19, 2026

The AI & Big Data Expo North America is a world-leading US AI conference and summit focused on Generative AI, Enterprise AI, Machine Learning, Security, Ethical AI, Deep Learning, Data Ecosystems, and NLP. With eight co-located events with over 200 speakers, networking drinks receptions, exclusive events, and more, this event is the place for CIOs to be in 2026.

10. MIT Sloan CIO Symposium

Location: Cambridge, MA, USA

Date: May 19, 2026

MIT Sloan CIO Symposium is an event bringing together CIOs, tech leaders, and MIT’s world-renowned faculty to discuss industry insights, exchange cutting-edge solutions, and network. The 2026 event theme is “Human-AI Synergy: Redefining Leadership for a Transformation Future,” which seeks to illustrate how human insight and AI tools can work together to enhance innovation, efficiency, and resilience while acknowledging that AI is a tool under human leadership.

11. American CIO & Cybersecurity Summit

Location: San Francisco, CA, USA

Date: June 9-10, 2026

The American CIO & Cybersecurity Summit is a leading North American event for CIOs, CTOs, CISOs, and senior IT leaders. The 2026 conference will focus on themes around cybersecurity, AI and machine learning, and digital transformation and data management. Attendees can expect high-level networking, expert-led sessions, and actionable strategies at this two-day event.

12. RAISE Summit

Location: Paris, France

Date: July 8-9, 2026

RAISE Summit was named the “fastest-growing AI tech conference in Europe, and maybe in history” by Eric Schmidt. If that doesn’t convince you, then the 350+ speakers and 2000+ companies attending should. Don’t miss the ground-breaking innovations and expert insights from visionaries, tech giants, regulators, and political leaders. Additionally, the event hosts the world’s largest hackathon, “Raise your Hack” to develop new AI solutions with concrete applications.

13. CIO 100 Symposium & Awards

Location: Frisco, TX, USA

Date: August 17-19, 2026

The CIO 100 Symposium & Awards was created to honor 100 organizations using IT in innovative ways to drive business value. In addition to the awards ceremony, it offers leadership masterclasses, roundtables, and over 35 sessions on AI, data, talent, innovation, and leadership.

14. FranSec Cyber Summit

Location: Paris, France

Date: September 15-16, 2026

FranSec Cyber Summit brings together leading French cybersecurity players for two days of networking, best practices, and collaboration. The theme of the 7th edition is “Intelligent Automation, Informed Humans: The Pillars of Modern Cybersecurity”. This theme underscores key challenges like building a cybersecurity culture within teams and tackling the latest innovations in AI.

15. IT Leaders Summit

Location: London, UK

Date: September 24, 2026

The IT Leaders Summit brings together the UK’s most influential tech leaders to discuss the latest innovations and technical challenges, as well as address emerging IT leadership needs. This free conference is a great opportunity to connect with other senior IT professionals, learn from real-world case studies, and stay up to date on the latest legislation impacting IT missions.

16. it-sa Expo&Congress

Location: Nuremberg, Germany

Date: October 27-29, 2026

The it-sa Expo&Congress is Europe’s largest trade fair for IT security, covering topics across hardware, software, training, and consulting services as well as Security as a Service. With the digital event portal, attendees can filter exhibitors and conferences by interests, bookmark events and contacts, and arrange on-site appointments in advance.

17. IT Leaders Summit

Location: Bordeaux, France

Date: November 5-6, 2026

2026 is the 7th year of the IT Leaders Summit, which welcomes over 140 experts in IT, data, and cybersecurity to share best practices and exchange ideas. The event uses a business matchmaking tool to organize over 1,500 strategically selected meetings between attendees. Additionally, the conference features trend presentations, client use cases, networking opportunities, and small group workshops.

18. Tech.Rocks Summit

Location: Paris, France

Date: November 30- December 1, 2026

The Tech.Rocks Summit is a yearly event designed by and for CTOs and tech leaders like AI engineers, VPs of engineering, CTOs, and Heads of AI. The event revolves around four themes: leadership and organization, frugality and sovereignty, productivity and information systems, and ethics and strategy. The event has a special rate for job seekers in relevant positions, so don’t hesitate to reach out to the event team for more information.

19. apidays Paris

Location: Paris, France

Date: December 1-3, 2026

Apidays Paris is a great event for data, engineering, research and innovation, and product teams. The 2026 event will focus on several topics, including API security, AI agents and MCP, API governance and management, API and AI gateways, and more. At the event, attendees will discover and discuss how these pivotal technologies are evolving, how they impact APIs, and how to combine innovation and sustainability.

20. GBI CISO Summit

Location: Half Moon Bay, CA, USA

Date: December 2, 2026

The GBI CISO Summit focuses on topics like cloud security, automation, response and resilience, data breaches, and harnessing the power of AI. This event brings together leaders from public organizations, large enterprises, and mid-market sectors to provide diverse perspectives, successful strategies, and practical actions. This event offers extensive industry insights through keynote speeches, interactive roundtables, and lively panel discussions.

21. Digital Enterprise CIO Transformation Assembly

Dates and locations:

• Miami, FL, USA: February 4-5, 2026
• Miami, FL, USA: April 8-9, 2026
• Madrid, Spain: May 19-20, 2026
• Austin, TX, USA: June 23-24, 2026
• Dallas, TX, USA: August 25-26, 2026
• Barcelona, Spain: October 27-28, 2026
• Houston, TX, USA: November 17-18, 2026

The Millennium Alliance hosts the Digital Enterprise CIO Transformation Assembly events, which take place in different cities around the US and globally throughout the year. The event brands itself as a “groundbreaking opportunity” for Global Chief Information Officers to meet in person, discuss emerging trends, and share insights on how to tackle current industry challenges.

22. Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo

Dates and locations:

• Gold Coast, Australia: September 14-16, 2026
• Orlando, Florida, USA: October 19-22, 2026
• Yokohama, Japan: November 4-6, 2026
• Kochi, India: November 16-18, 2026

The Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo is a series of conferences that invite global, leading CIOs and IT Executives from security, data and analytics, applications, and IT I&O to come together to share ideas and collaborate. Attendees discuss concrete solutions to cutting-edge issues and share best practices on accelerating a company’s technology strategy with adaptability and resilience.

23. IT Security Summit

Location: Many locations

Date: Many dates

The IDC sponsored IT Security Summit conference series focuses on inviting high-level IT Leaders to lead the conversation in enterprise security transformation. This international event series focuses on subjects such as trustworthy AI, protecting AI pipelines, next-gen SecOps, privacy by design, managing ecosystem exposure, and other topics around the future of cybersecurity.

Conclusion

These CIO events are great opportunities to exchange with the brightest minds on emerging opportunities and real-world challenges. Novice and veteran professionals alike will gain real business value from the insights and networking. Keep checking back for updates to the list as other conferences publish their 2026 schedules.