AI & Data Summit Milan
Unlocking the Power of Data and AI
Building Intelligence that Creates Real Value
The IDC AI and Data Summit is the premier event for senior technology and business executives shaping artificial intelligence and data strategies across Italy. Designed for CDOs, Heads of Data, and AI and innovation leaders, this full-day event delivers strategic insights and practical frameworks aligned with Italy’s national priorities: AI-driven industrial modernization, digital sovereignty, ethical and human-centric innovation, and data governance excellence.
Italy is fast becoming a key player in Europe’s responsible AI landscape, guided by the National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence, and a growing commitment to sustainable, transparent, and sovereign digital innovation. As organizations expand AI adoption in 2026, they face complex challenges: ensuring compliance with the EU AI Act, addressing data quality and governance issues, and modernizing fragmented infrastructures to support scalable, trusted AI.
Agenda
IDC research shows that 29% of European enterprises cite data quality and availability as their top barrier to realizing AI’s value, while over 90% share data externally but only 30% do so strategically. In Italy, these findings highlight the urgency of developing trusted data ecosystems, interoperable platforms, and robust governance frameworks that foster innovation while safeguarding privacy, accountability, and ethical standards.
Through keynotes, executive panels, and peer discussions, participants will gain the insights and tools needed to transform AI and data into pillars of Italy’s next wave of innovation, resilience, and digital competitiveness.
2026 Prediction
By 2027, organizations that adopt tools and processes for AI evaluation and monitoring will have the confidence to deploy AI applications twice as fast as those that don’t.
Main Themes
Data Value Reinvention in the Age of AI
Organizations are shifting from thinking about “using AI” to “leveraging data for AI value,” integrating data maturity practices like cataloging, lineage, and observability to fuel model performance and business impact.
Business Value and ROI from AI & Data
Translating AI and data experiments into measurable business outcomes demands clear KPI frameworks, strong business cases, and scalable use cases tied to financial value.
Trust, Transparency and Responsible AI
Embedding fairness, bias mitigation, auditability, and explainability across the AI lifecycle helps build user confidence, regulatory alignment, and long-term trust in intelligent systems.
Data Sovereignty, Governance and Interoperability
Balancing data residency, regulatory constraints, and cross-border flow requires hybrid cloud strategies, shared governance models, and interoperable architectures that meet business needs.
Generative and Agentic AI: The Next Frontier
As generative and agentic models go beyond assistance, leaders focus on guardrails, cost/risk trade-offs, hybrid model design, and alignment with existing AI systems.
Infrastructure Evolution: Edge, Cloud and AI Platforms
Deploying AI at scale depends on modern, flexible infrastructure spanning edge and cloud, optimized for latency, throughput, cost, sovereignty, and workload distribution.
2026 Prediction
In 2026, a renewed focus on traditional AI for explainability and reliability will drive 70% of organizations to adopt composite AI, blending generative, prescriptive, predictive, and agentic technology.
Our partners
Mauden | IBM
Datadog
Qlik Italy
snowflake
Snowflake delivers the AI Data Cloud — a global network where thousands of organizations mobilize data with near-unlimited scale, concurrency, and performance. Inside the AI Data Cloud, organizations unite their siloed data, easily discover and securely share governed data, and execute diverse analytic workloads. Wherever data or users live, Snowflake delivers a single and seamless experience across multiple public clouds. Snowflake’s platform is the engine that powers and provides access to the AI Data Cloud, creating a solution for data warehousing, data lakes, data engineering, data science, data application development, and data sharing. Join Snowflake customers, partners, and data providers already taking their businesses to new frontiers in the AI Data Cloud.
Celonis
Celonis makes processes work for people, companies, and the planet. Celonis is the trusted platform to industrialize Enterprise AI, empowering organizations to analyze, design, and operate AI-driven processes. The Celonis Platform is powered by the Celonis Context Model, which combines process data, business knowledge, and intelligence to create a living digital twin of the enterprise that AI can understand — turning AI’s operational blind spots into operational clarity. No other platform brings together Process Mining, Process Intelligence, Decision Intelligence, and Digital Twin of the Organization (DTO) technology to make AI work. Industry-leading companies around the world trust Celonis and its global ecosystem of partners to make their AI agents, people, systems, and processes work together, achieving transformational outcomes.
HPE
Wasabi Technologies
Wasabi is on a mission to store all the world’s data by making data storage simple, affordable, predictable, and secure. If you have data to store, whether it’s backups, medical images, surveillance videos, financial data, multimedia, or scientific data, our pledge is to always be the cheapest, fastest, most secure and reliable cloud storage in the world. It’s all we do, and we do it better than anyone.
ImpresaCity
Reportec
AIPSI
Speakers
Roberta Bigliani
Group Vice President, Global Lead for Energy & Retail Insights and Industry Hub
IDC
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Roberta Bigliani
Roberta Bigliani is a Group Vice President at IDC, and Global Lead for Energy Insights, Retail Insights, and the IDC Industry Hub.
She leads IDC’s global research, data, and custom delivery agendas for energy, utilities, and retail, and oversees the Industry Hub, which drives cross-industry initiatives and collaboration.
A recognized expert in industry and business transformation, with longstanding experience in energy and utilities, Roberta’s work centers on how AI and digital technologies are reshaping the industry – enabling new business and operating models, enhancing operations and customer experiences, and effectively integrating IT and operational technology.
Her work combines deep sector expertise with a cross-industry lens, helping organizations understand how disruption and innovation propagate across sectors and markets.
Roberta regularly advises senior managers and executives at both technology suppliers and end-user organizations, speaks at international conferences, and moderates executive-level discussions.
She is based in Milan, Italy.
Alessandro Perilli
Vice President, Enterprise AI Strategies
IDC
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Alessandro Perilli
Alessandro Perilli is a Vice President leading the Agentic AI Platforms and Strategies research program. Alessandro’s core research coverage includes emerging AI technologies, global AI market trends, the state of enterprise AI, and sovereign AI.
Most recently, Alessandro founded Unstable Reality, an AI R&D lab in London, where he worked as Chief of Research, developing synthetic media generation solutions for creative studios, ad agencies, and large end-user organizations.
Among other projects, Alessandro published a weekly newsletter dedicated to tracking how AI is reshaping jobs, workforce productivity, and business operations.
Previously, Alessandro served as a senior leader at Red Hat, focused on business and product strategy. Across roles, Alessandro has also worked as an advisor to Fortune Global 2000 companies, helping IT decision makers translate emerging technology shifts into actionable and risk-informed strategies.
Throughout his career, Alessandro has often delivered keynotes at industry and vendor events, focusing on the state of the union and emerging trends in cybersecurity, virtualization, and cloud computing.
Piergiorgio Grossi
Chief Innovation & Data Officer
Credem
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Piergiorgio Grossi
Daniele Natali
Artificial Intelligence Leader
Mauden
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Daniele Natali
Riccardo Paganelli
Account Executive
Qlik
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Riccardo Paganelli
Rocco Michele Lancellotti
Chief Data & AI Officer
RCS MediaGroup
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Rocco Michele Lancellotti
Crescenzo Oliviero
Manager Solution Engineer
Snowflake Italia
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Crescenzo Oliviero
Lorenzo De Amici
Commercial Account Executive Italy
Wasabi
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Lorenzo De Amici
AI & Data Summit Milan
One Day Event
Registration & Welcome Coffee
IDC Opening
Roberta Bigliani
Group Vice President, Global Lead for Energy & Retail Insights and Industry Hub, IDC
IDC Keynote
Agentic AI at Scale: Accelerating Innovation While Managing Risk
Agentic AI is unlocking new levels of enterprise innovation by enabling autonomous decision-making and adaptive workflows at scale. Balancing this potential with robust risk management is essential for ensuring trust, compliance, and sustainable value as organizations operationalize agentic systems across critical functions.
Alessandro Perilli | IDC
Vice President, Enterprise AI Strategies
Alessandro Perilli
Alessandro Perilli is a Vice President leading the Agentic AI Platforms and Strategies research program. Alessandro’s core research coverage includes emerging AI technologies, global AI market trends, the state of enterprise AI, and sovereign AI.
Most recently, Alessandro founded Unstable Reality, an AI R&D lab in London, where he worked as Chief of Research, developing synthetic media generation solutions for creative studios, ad agencies, and large end-user organizations.
Among other projects, Alessandro published a weekly newsletter dedicated to tracking how AI is reshaping jobs, workforce productivity, and business operations.
Previously, Alessandro served as a senior leader at Red Hat, focused on business and product strategy. Across roles, Alessandro has also worked as an advisor to Fortune Global 2000 companies, helping IT decision makers translate emerging technology shifts into actionable and risk-informed strategies.
Throughout his career, Alessandro has often delivered keynotes at industry and vendor events, focusing on the state of the union and emerging trends in cybersecurity, virtualization, and cloud computing.
Event Sessions
One Day Event 09:35
IDC Keynote
Agentic AI at Scale: Accelerating Innovation While Managing Risk
Agentic AI is unlocking new levels of enterprise innovation by enabling autonomous decision-making and adaptive workflows at scale. Balancing this potential with robust risk management is essential for ensuring trust, compliance, and sustainable value as organizations operationalize agentic systems across critical functions.
Guest End User Keynote Speaker
Host Sponsor Session
Scaling AI at Enterprise Scale: Performance, Governance, and Risk. Real-world insights on how leaders and organizations make AI adoption successful at scale.
Daniele Natali
Artificial Intelligence Leader, Mauden
Managing Complexity to Make Artificial Intelligence a Real Business Driver
The adoption of Artificial Intelligence is often hindered by structural obstacles: data silos, a lack of business context, architectural rigidity, and unexpected costs inevitably slow its progress. To transform experiments into tangible value and make AI a concrete driver of business growth, these barriers must be overcome. In this context, a unified architecture allows models to be deployed directly where the information resides, providing algorithms with the essential context for proprietary data. Through real-world case studies, we’ll explore how to make artificial intelligence production-ready by combining context with precise governance and observability.
It is precisely the synergy between these key elements that enables us to manage complexity, optimize investments, and scale innovation in a controlled manner to ensure rapid time to market and a return on investment.
Crescenzo Oliviero
Manager Solution Engineer, Snowflake Italia
Guest Keynote Speaker
Piergiorgio Grossi
Chief Innovation & Data Officer, Credem
Strategic sponsor session by Qlik
Coffee Break, Visit to Expo Area, and 1to1 Meetings
Guest Keynote Speaker
Rocco Michele Lancellotti
Chief Data & AI Officer, RCS MediaGroup
Strategic sponsor session
Strategic sponsor session
Tech Talk Sponsor Session by HPE
IDC Connect
Each table seats a sponsor moderator and a small group of pre-registered delegates. Each session takes place simultaneously and is about increased interaction, experience sharing and peer discussions relevant across companies and industries.
- IDC Connect 1 – The Agentic AI Decision: What ICT Leaders Need to Know Before Scaling
- IDC Connect 2 – The EU AI Act Is Here: An ICT Leader’s Roadmap to Compliance and Beyond
- IDC Connect 3 – Data Sovereignty: What It Really Means for Italian Enterprises
- IDC Connect 4 – Choosing Your AI Stack: Large, Small, Local — How ICT Leaders Are Deciding
- IDC Connect 5 – GenAI at Work: What’s Actually Delivering Productivity in Italian Enterprises Chaired by Mauden
- IDC Connect 6 – Cloud, On-Prem, or Edge? Architecting AI Infrastructure for the Future
- IDC Connect 7 – Trust by Design: Embedding Governance in Enterprise AI Chaired by Qlik
- IDC Connect 8 – Proving the Value of AI & Data: How CIOs Are Building the Business Case Chaired by Celonis
- IDC Connect 9 – Beyond Technology: Leading People and Culture Through the AI Transition
Networking Lunch, Visit to Expo Area, and 1to1 Meetings
Guest Keynote Speaker
Tech Pitch
Lorenzo De Amici
Commercial Account Executive Italy, Wasabi
Guest Keynote Speaker
Honorary Guest Speaker
Closing remarks by Host Sponsor
Closing remarks by IDC
End of the Event
How to join
The event, which will take place on October 8, 2026 starting at 9:00 am is free of charge (upon filling the registration form), for professionals in the following sectors: Manufacturing, Automotive, Fashion, Finance, Banking and Insurance, Retail, Energy and Utilities, Media, Government, Health, Education, Transports, Logistics, Telecommunications, Personal and Professional Services.
Access to the event is not allowed for non-sponsoring ICT companies (vendor, distributors, reseller, VAR, system integrator), ICT consultancy and services companies, private individuals and freelancers.
The official language of the event is Italian.
Knowledge Hub
5 Key Highlights on the European Observability Market in 2025
Observability is rapidly evolving as organizations across Europe embrace digital transformation, cloud adoption, and AI. As IT environments become more complex, traditional monitoring approaches are no longer sufficient.
The Agentic Business Future: Driving Resilience, Sovereignty, and Innovation in EMEA
As organizations navigate an era defined by economic uncertainty, geopolitical shifts, and relentless technological change, one truth stands out: the future belongs to those who can harness AI, automation, and sovereignty to build resilience, drive innovation, and unlock growth.
Shadow AI: How stealth productivity is strangling enterprise AI adoption. And creating a security nightmare…
Remember the good old days when “Shadow IT” was just about rogue Excel spreadsheets and unauthorized Dropbox accounts? But the times they are a-changing! Now we’re dealing with something far more insidious: Shadow AI.
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