GITEX AI EUROPE 2026 in Berlin: Digital sovereignty moves to the center of the European tech debate

GITEX AI EUROPE 2026 brings together more than 800 companies, 500 investors and representatives from over 100 countries. The focus is on a topic that is becoming increasingly crucial for Europe's economic and technological future: digital sovereignty.

Europe's tech ecosystem meets in Berlin

The second edition of GITEX AI EUROPE will take place at Messe Berlin from June 30 to July 1, 2026. The event is hosted by inD, the organizer of the world-renowned technology and AI trade fair GITEX.

The event sees itself as a cross-industry platform for the European digital economy and brings together companies, start-ups, investors and political decision-makers. The topics covered range from artificial intelligence and quantum computing to cloud infrastructures, cyber security and sustainability technologies.

The trade fair is supported by the Berlin Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises and Berlin Partner for Business and Technology.

Top-class speakers from politics and business

The speakers already confirmed include well-known representatives from politics, technology and business.

Among others, they include:

• Dr. Karsten Wildberger, Federal Minister for Digital and State Modernization
• Stefan B. Wintels, Chairman of the Board of Managing Directors of KfW Bankengruppe
• Benjamin Merle, Chief Product Officer at Enpal
• Ryan Foutty, Vice President Business at Perplexity
• Dr. Jarek Kutylowski, founder and CEO of DeepL

The conference will address technological innovations as well as economic and industrial policy issues.

Digital sovereignty as a leitmotif

This year's edition will focus on the topic of digital sovereignty.

Behind the term lies one of Europe's key questions for the future: how can the continent retain control over its digital infrastructure when cloud services, AI platforms and data processing are increasingly dominated by global technology companies?

The debate is gaining in importance because, according to current forecasts, around 91% of all corporate workloads will be moved to the cloud by 2028. At the same time, international providers can operate data centers in Europe, but are often still subject to the legal systems of their home countries.

In the view of many industry experts, digital sovereignty is therefore not only created by the location of servers, but above all through ownership, open standards and control over the entire technological value chain - from the cloud stack to AI models.

Startups and investors as important growth drivers

Promoting the European innovation ecosystem will remain a central component of the event in 2026.

North Star Europe, the European edition of one of the world's largest start-up and investor events, will take place at the same time. The program will be supplemented by special areas for unicorns, scale-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises. GITEX AI EUROPE is thus positioning itself not only as a technology conference, but also as a platform for financing, company growth and international networking.

Europe seeks its place in the AI age

This year's GITEX AI EUROPE is taking place at a time when Europe is redefining its role in the global competition for artificial intelligence, cloud infrastructures and digital value creation. Against this backdrop, the discussion about digital sovereignty is likely to extend far beyond technical issues. It touches on topics such as economic competitiveness, innovative strength and Europe's strategic independence in the digital age. With participants from more than 100 countries and a strong focus on AI, infrastructure and regulation, GITEX AI EUROPE 2026 is likely to be one of the most important European technology events of the year.