8 Apr 2026
Paris, France
AI & Data Summit
Enterprise-wide Governance and Business Impact Decisions
Register now Join as a partnerPerformance Meets Responsibility: Can AI Deliver Both?
The IDC AI & Data Summit is a flagship event for CIOs, Chief Data Officers, and AI & Data leaders, as well as business and support function executives and managers driving enterprise transformation through artificial intelligence.
Beyond technology, the IDC AI & Data Summit addresses a central question: can we drive AI that is both high-performing, trustworthy and responsible?
Decision-making, skills, governance, and value creation are now shared challenges across IT, data, and business teams.
Through forward-looking, academic, and business perspectives, the Summit equips decision-makers with the insights needed to drive AI pragmatically and at scale.
Global Overview
In 2025, AI investments in Europe reached $72.5 billion, with over 20% dedicated to generative AI.
While AI is establishing itself as a major strategic lever, scaling it remains a complex challenge.
According to IDC, 68% of European companies cite a lack of AI and data skills as a key barrier, while governance is still struggling to keep pace with usage.
The IDC AI & Data Summit supports technology and business leaders in reconciling AI performance, responsibility, and impact management.
IDC 2026 Insights
By 2026, 40% of roles within the world’s 2,000 largest companies will involve working with AI agents, permanently reshaping positions from junior staff to executives. As AI becomes integrated into daily work, management, skills development, and accountability will emerge as key levers of performance at scale.
AI & Data Summit
One day event
Welcome and Networking Breakfast
Kick off the day with coffee and conversation, connecting IT decision-makers, data leaders, and business and support managers for their first encounters.
IDC Opening Keynote
Can AI Deliver Both Performance and Responsibility?
Explore IDC’s insights on the AI revolution, the critical trade-offs between performance, governance, and responsibility, and the pivotal role of IT, data, and business leaders in shaping the future of AI.
Partner keynote
Scaling AI at Enterprise Scale: Performance, Governance, and Risk
Real-world insights on how leaders and organizations make AI adoption successful at scale.
Panel #1 – AI, Governance, and Decision-Making: Striking the Right Balance for Organizations
Perspectives from a researcher, a social sciences or philosophy expert, and an analyst or journalist on:
- AI-augmented decision-making
- Bias, transparency, and trust
- The socio-economic impacts of AI on work and management
Partner keynote
Driving AI Innovation Without Losing Control
Key insights on aligning technology, governance, and organizational choices to achieve innovation, performance, and responsibility.
IDC Connect Workshops
Driving AI in the Enterprise: Methods, Governance, and Best Practices
Interactive IDC sessions exploring governance models, operational frameworks, and the key levers to create real value from AI.
Partner keynote
From Experimentation to Enterprise Impact: Driving AI Success at Scale
Insights on scaling AI effectively, avoiding common pitfalls, and turning innovative initiatives into measurable business value.
Panel #2 – AI in Action: From Enterprise Strategy to Day-to-Day Operations
Insights from leading organizations on:
- Day-to-day AI governance
- Balancing performance, risk, and compliance
- The joint role of CIOs, CDOs, and business managers
Tech Talks
Building Responsible and High-Performing AI
Short, focused sessions on observability, governance, generative and agentic AI, and steering complex AI environments.
Networking Lunch
Guest interview
Decision-Making in the AI Era: The Evolving Role of Executives and Managers
A conversation with a senior executive, academic expert, or thought leader exploring how AI-augmented intelligence is reshaping leadership and decision-making across organizations.
Tech Pitches
AI in Practice: Use Cases and Concrete Outcomes
Insights and demonstrations highlighting how organizations turn AI initiatives into tangible business value.
Panel #3 – AI and the Future of Work: Moving Towards the Augmented Enterprise
A visionary debate on:
- Agentic AI and system autonomy
- AI in strategic decision-making
- New balances between humans and machines
- Long-term organizational responsibility
IDC Closing Keynote
Key Takeaways for Driving Sustainable and Responsible AI
An IDC summary of the day’s key insights, with strategic recommendations for IT, data, and business leaders.
Networking Cocktail
Christophe Vaudable
Philippe Rambach
Sébastien Pachinni
Ludovic Letort
Mohamed Senhadji
Nicolas Grandclaude
Jean-Loup Loyer
Julien Maillard
Nicolas Fayet
Stéphane Mariotto
2026 Key Topics
Unlocking Data Value in the AI era
Organizations are shifting from merely “using AI” to strategically unlocking value from their data.Data maturity, encompassing quality, traceability, transparency, and reliability is now a critical lever for driving AI performance and transforming business operations.
Scaling AI: Moving from Pilot Projects to Enterprise Deployment
Moving beyond pilot projects, leaders need a structured approach to scaling AI.
Effective governance, robust operating models, reliable deployments, and thoughtful change management are all critical to embedding AI sustainably at the core of business operations, with control, continuity, and long-term impact.
AI You Can Trust: Transparent, Accountable, Responsible
Performance and responsibility go hand in hand.
Transparency of models, explainable decisions, bias control, and end-to-end auditability are now essential to building user trust, ensuring regulatory compliance, and making AI-driven decisions reliable.
Strategic Data Governance for Sovereignty and Interoperability
Navigating regulatory requirements, data flows, and business priorities, organizations need to strike the right balance.
This means implementing hybrid strategies, adopting shared governance models, and building interoperable architectures — all designed to deliver compliance, drive performance, and enable business agility at scale.
Mastering the New Frontier of Generative AI and Intelligent Agents
As generative AI and intelligent agents extend beyond basic assistance, executives must carefully manage the trade-offs between autonomy, control, cost, and risk.
The real challenge lies in integrating these technologies into business strategy, governance structures, and existing operations – ensuring that AI delivers both innovation and tangible, sustainable value.
Building AI-Ready Organizations: Skills, Leadership, and Culture
AI success depends on people, culture, and leadership.
Organizations must build AI awareness, develop the right skills, foster close collaboration between IT, data, and business teams, and guide change effectively. These elements are essential to embedding AI into daily operations in a sustainable and impactful way.
IDC 2031 Forecast
By 2031, 60% of executives at the world’s largest companies (Global 2000) will leverage AI agents to guide their strategic decisions. In an era of market volatility and rapid innovation, the key challenge is not letting AI take the wheel, but maintaining human judgment, control, and accountability at the highest levels of decision-making.
IDC Analysts
Cyrille Chausson
Dina Capelle
Further Reading
Observability: The Key to Managing Complex IT and AI Environments
As organizations accelerate digital transformation, cloud adoption, and AI integration, IT environments are becoming increasingly complex, distributed, and interdependent.
Traditional monitoring approaches can no longer provide the visibility needed. Observability has become a critical lever to understand system behavior, maintain control, and ensure the reliability and performance of both core IT infrastructure and AI architectures.
Agentic AI and Enterprise Resilience: Innovating with Control
In a context of economic uncertainty, geopolitical tensions, and rapid technological change, organizations must rethink their approach to resilience.
Agentic AI, automation, and strategic data sovereignty are emerging as essential pillars to drive innovation, safeguard operations, and support sustainable growth, all while ensuring that critical decisions remain under human oversight and aligned with organizational objectives.
Shadow AI: Risks, Governance, and Enterprise Control
AI is no longer confined to formal frameworks.
Similar to Shadow IT, Shadow AI proliferates through unmonitored use driven by individual productivity objectives. This phenomenon introduces significant challenges for security, compliance, and governance, while also slowing the enterprise-wide, controlled adoption of AI.
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