CIO Summit Germany
The Rise of Agentic Systems
Modernize. Secure. Innovate. Lead with the power of Agentic-AI
Germany is entering a pivotal stage in its digital transformation, where innovation, sovereignty, and trust are becoming central to economic competitiveness and industrial leadership. As organizations across the public and private sectors advance modernization efforts, CIOs are accelerating investments in AI, cloud, and cybersecurity to build more efficient, resilient, and sustainable enterprises.
By 2026, German CIOs will be managing transformation on multiple fronts: modernizing complex IT infrastructures, ensuring compliance with the EU AI Act and NIS2 Directive, and driving AI-enabled productivity while maintaining data protection, ethics, and governance. The rise of Agentic AI, represents a defining opportunity to enhance decision-making and operational efficiency, but also demands stronger oversight, transparency, and security frameworks.
Agenda
IDC analysts and industry experts will share guidance on building secure, sovereign, and sustainable IT architectures, reducing technical debt, and scaling AI, including Agentic AI, responsibly and effectively. Through keynotes, panels, and collaborative discussions, the Summit equips Germany’s CIO community with the research, frameworks, and leadership tools to drive trusted innovation, strengthen resilience, and advance the nation’s digital leadership through 2026 and beyond.
2026 Prediction
By 2027, 55% of G1000 CIOs will be tasked to create enterprise AI value playbooks, featuring expanded ROI models to define, measure, and showcase AI impact across efficiency, growth, and innovation.
Main Themes
The CIO as Business Strategist
CIOs have evolved from operational leaders to enterprise strategists. As digital transformation reshapes every business model, technology leadership now defines competitiveness. Today’s CIO must align IT priorities with business outcomes, influence the boardroom agenda, and drive innovation that delivers measurable value.
Modernization, Legacy and Technical Debt
Managing technical debt is no longer just a maintenance concern, it’s a strategic priority. Modernizing legacy systems, simplifying architectures, and optimizing cost structures allow organizations to shift resources from upkeep to innovation. Streamlined technology portfolios create the agility needed to compete in a digital economy.
The Agentic AI Revolution
Agentic AI marks a shift from automation to autonomy. How CIOs can govern, scale, and integrate autonomous AI systems responsibly (balancing opportunity with oversight to create intelligent, self-directed enterprises.
Resilience by Design
Resilience is emerging as the defining capability of modern enterprises. Adaptive architectures, secure infrastructure, and integrated continuity planning enable organizations to withstand disruption (whether from economic uncertainty, regulatory shifts, or cyber threats) while sustaining growth and trust.
Cybersecurity, Trust, and Digital Sovereignty
As digital ecosystems expand, trust becomes a critical currency. CIOs must address cybersecurity, data sovereignty, and compliance in tandem, ensuring that cloud strategies and cross-border operations align with evolving regulations. Building digital trust creates both protection and competitive advantage.
Building the Intelligent Enterprise
Data is the foundation of every intelligent organization. Reliable, governed, and accessible data architectures enable AI, automation, and analytics to operate at scale. Enterprises that invest in strong data foundations are better positioned to extract insight, anticipate change, and deliver smarter, faster business outcomes.
2026 Prediction
By 2027, G1000 organizations will face an up to 30% rise in underestimated AI infrastructure costs, driving CIOs to expand the scope of FinOps teams to optimize expenses and enhance business value.
Speaker
Thomas Meyer
General Manager and Group Vice President, EMEA Research
IDC
Read bio
Thomas Meyer
Knowledge Hub
The AI homework nobody asked for (but everyone’s getting anyway)
Artificial Intelligence has officially reached the “you can do anything with it” stage of technological hype. Judging just by AI vendor narratives, and by some of the media, it’s the golden key to productivity, efficiency, optimization and innovation.
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.
EMEA’s Tech Evolution – 7 Key Themes Transforming Business in 2025
The technology landscape across Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) is changing rapidly in 2025, with innovations actively reshaping industries and creating new business opportunities.
Terms and Conditions
The IDC CIO Summit is aimed at IT and specialist staff from IT user companies in GERMANY.
For the purposes of these terms and conditions of participation, IT user companies are defined as all companies that do not themselves provide consulting services and/or develop, manufacture, or distribute information and communication technology (ICT) products or services.
Employees of outsourced IT companies who work exclusively for the parent company and do not conduct any third-party business are also eligible to participate. Employees of IT service companies generally only have access to our events through sponsorship.
IT provider companies within the meaning of these conditions of participation are hardware, software, service, and telecommunications companies, as well as consulting firms and ICT service providers.
IDC expressly reserves the right to reject registrations from persons who do not belong to the above-mentioned target group, even if the invitation was issued by one of our partners, mistakenly by IDC itself, or through participation in an online survey.
After registering via the online registration form and successful verification by IDC, you will receive a binding confirmation of registration by email.
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