2026 Edition
CIO Summit Benelux 2026 brought together IT leaders, business executives, and IDC experts to explore the strategic role of CIOs in driving organizational growth. Discussions focused on practical AI applications, the rise of agentic systems, IT modernization, cyber resilience, and technological sovereignty. Presentations, case studies, and panel discussions connected technology leaders’ perspectives with boardroom expectations, emphasizing the measurable business value of IT investments.
Speakers
Gian Carlo De La Paz
Senior Event Manager, IDC
Read bio
Gian Carlo De La Paz
gdelapaz@idc.com
Martina Longo
Research Manager, CIO and CTO Buyer Insights
IDC
Read bio
Martina Longo
Martina Longo is a research manager in the IDC EMEA Digital Business and AI Transformation Strategy Research Group. In her role she advises ICT players on how organizations create business value using digital technologies. She also leads the IDC EMEA Digital Native Business research, focused on a mix of start-ups, scaleups, and more mature digital natives. She also collaborates with the EMEA C-Suite Tech Agenda research, analyzing technology investments and buyer preferences across C-suites in the EMEA region. She also examines how C-suite leaders are evolving as a result of key market trends and technology innovations (e.g., AI).
Event Sessions
Day 1 9:10 am
Scaling AI for the Agentic Future: Closing the Enterprise Gaps
EMEA CEOs have high expectations for AI – one-third foresee entirely new operating models, and 15% expect unprecedented market behaviors within 3-5 years. Yet only 9% of European organizations report measurable results from most AI initiatives. Progress is slowed by resource competition, regulatory uncertainty, ROI challenges, and unclear use cases. This keynote explores how CIOs can build strong foundations for an outcome-driven, agentic AI future.
Dirk Bil
Head of HR
ABB
Read bio
Dirk Bil
Feyo Sickinghe
Principal Regulatory Counsel
Bird & Bird
Read bio
Feyo Sickinghe
Feyo is a Principal Regulatory Counsel in Bird & Bird’s Regulatory & Public Affairs practice in the Netherlands and Brussels. He focuses on tech and comms and digital markets regulation, drawing on in-depth business knowledge and extensive experience in TMT and public administration.
Tamar Bastiaan
Senior associate, Data Protection and Regulatory Groups
Bird & Bird
Read bio
Tamar Bastiaan
Alan Radford
Technology Strategist
One Identity
Read bio
Alan Radford
Alan is a field strategist for One Identity, with over 20 years’ experience in the Identity Access Management space.
Alan is an experienced business owner and subject matter expert in Privileged Access Management. As an evangelist and innovator, helping the C-suite understand the business value of a digital transformation journey, he assists in creating strong security strategies and roadmaps to protect the most valuable assets in people, process and technology. He has worked with organizations across the globe to overcome unique cyber security challenges in compliance and automation in order to determine investment return from robust Cybersecurity strategies.
Job Rodenburg
Department Head Staff IT
O&P Rijk
Read bio
Job Rodenburg
Max Fredericks
Solutions Engineer Leader
1Password
Read bio
Max Fredericks
Bas Dusee
Senior Solutions Architect
Sophos
Read bio
Bas Dusee
George Miller
Director of Innovation
Insight
Read bio
George Miller
A distinguished leader in driving innovation across public and private sector enterprises, George helps organisations unlock new business value through technology. As Director of Innovation at Insight, he works closely with C-suite executives to navigate disruption and scale digital transformation.
George is the co-author of Deliberately Digital (Springer, 2020) and a long-standing member of the Atos Scientific Community. His insights are grounded in practical experience, shaped by years of working directly with executives facing high-stakes strategic decisions.
Partners
1Password
Trusted by over 180,000 businesses, millions of consumers, and 1 million developers, 1Password is redefining identity security for the way people and AI agents work today. Our mission is to unleash productivity without compromising security. The 1Password Extended Access Management product suite delivers zero trust security that protects, manages, and governs access to all SaaS applications, whether managed by IT or not. Built on 1Password’s Enterprise Password Manager, which secures more than 1.3 billion credentials, 1Password’s Agentic AI capabilities extend identity security to AI agents and other non-human identities. Leading companies such as Asana, Associated Press, Browserbase, Canva, Cresta, Golden State Warriors, Hugging Face, MongoDB, Octopus Energy, Salesforce, SandboxAQ, Slack, Stripe, and Under Armour trust 1Password to provide the right person or AI agent the right access to the right app from a trusted device.
Insight
Insight Enterprises is a leading Solutions Integrator that helps clients solve technology challenges by combining the right hardware, software, and services. As a Fortune 500 technology company, backed by 35+ years of expertise and a deep network of 6,000+ partners, we deliver secure, end-to-end IT solutions for organizations around the world.
One Identity
Sophos
Sophos is a cybersecurity leader defending 600,000 organizations globally with an AI-driven platform and expert-led services. Sophos meets organizations wherever they are in their security maturity and grows with them to defeat cyberattacks. Its solutions combine machine learning, automation, and real-time threat intelligence with frontline human expertise from Sophos X-Ops to deliver advanced, 24/7 threat monitoring, detection, and response. Sophos offers industry-leading managed detection and response (MDR) alongside a comprehensive portfolio of cybersecurity technologies — including endpoint, network, email, and cloud security, extended detection and response (XDR), identity threat detection and response (ITDR), and next-gen SIEM. Together with expert advisory services, these capabilities help organizations proactively reduce risk and respond faster, with the visibility and scalability needed to stay ahead of evolving threats. Sophos goes to market with a global partner ecosystem, including Managed Service Providers (MSPs), Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs), resellers and distributors, marketplace integrations, and cyber risk partners, giving organizations the flexibility to choose trusted relationships when securing their business. Sophos is headquartered in Oxford, U.K.