Top 10 Tech & IT Events: 2026–2027

Every January, Las Vegas becomes the meeting point for the entire consumer technology industry at CES. Thousands of companies, from global giants to small startups, use the event to unveil new products, from smart home devices to next-generation vehicles. In recent years, the show has shifted its focus away from single gadgets and toward connected ecosystems, with artificial intelligence now built into almost everything on display — including kitchen appliances and personal health trackers.

• Do you think consumers actually need AI built into everyday objects like kitchen appliances, or is it mostly marketing?
• If you were launching a product at CES, which industry would you want to enter, and why?

Mobile World Congress, held every spring in Barcelona, brings together telecom operators, device makers and software companies from across the globe. It's traditionally been the place where new phones and network technologies are announced, but the conversation has increasingly shifted toward how 5G and emerging 6G networks will support entirely new industries — from autonomous vehicles to remote surgery — rather than simply faster downloads on a phone.

• Which industries do you think will benefit most from faster, more reliable mobile networks?
• Would you personally pay more for a phone plan that guaranteed a near-instant connection everywhere?

Web Summit, held in Lisbon each November, has grown into one of the largest gatherings of startup founders, investors and tech executives in the world. Unlike many corporate conferences, its stages host an unusually wide mix of voices — from early-stage entrepreneurs pitching their first product to CEOs of established companies discussing where their industry is heading next. For many founders, a single conversation on the sidelines can matter more than anything said on the main stage.

• Do you think informal networking at events like this is more valuable than the official talks and panels?
• If you had five minutes with an investor at an event like Web Summit, what would you want to tell them?

Black Hat USA, held every August in Las Vegas, is considered the most important event in the cybersecurity calendar. Security researchers present newly discovered vulnerabilities, sometimes in software used by millions of people, while companies send teams to learn how prepared — or unprepared — they really are. The event has a reputation for surprising announcements, and it's not unusual for a major tech company to rush out a security fix the very same week a flaw is revealed on stage.

• How much should a company budget for cybersecurity compared to other priorities like growth or marketing?
• Have you ever experienced a security issue at work or personally? What happened?

Amazon Web Services holds its flagship conference, re:Invent, in Las Vegas every winter, drawing cloud engineers and IT decision-makers from around the world. The event has become a yearly checkpoint for how far cloud computing has advanced, with recent editions focused heavily on the infrastructure needed to train and run large-scale AI systems. Announcements made here often shape what cloud services companies choose to build on for the following year.

• How important is it for a company's leadership to understand cloud infrastructure, even if they're not technical themselves?
• What are the risks of a business depending heavily on a single cloud provider?

South by Southwest, or SXSW, takes place in Austin each March and is unusual in that it combines technology, film, music and interactive media under one event. It has a history of launching ideas that later became mainstream — Twitter famously gained early attention here. Today, the technology track increasingly overlaps with creative industries, with sessions exploring how AI tools are changing the work of designers, musicians and filmmakers.

• Can you think of a tool or app that changed how you work, the way Twitter changed communication after SXSW?
• Does combining technology with creative industries like film and music make for better innovation, or does it dilute an event's focus?

The RSA Conference, held each spring in San Francisco, approaches cybersecurity from a business and policy angle rather than purely technical research. Chief information security officers, government officials and enterprise leaders attend to discuss how organizations should manage digital risk at scale. In recent years, a major theme has been how artificial intelligence is simultaneously a powerful defensive tool and a dangerous new weapon for attackers.

• Should governments regulate how companies use AI in cybersecurity, or should the industry manage this itself?
• As a leader, how would you decide how much to invest in defending against a risk that may never actually happen?

GITEX Global, held every October in Dubai, has grown into one of the largest technology exhibitions in the world, with entire halls dedicated to artificial intelligence, startups, cybersecurity and smart cities. It reflects the region's ambition to become a major player in the global technology economy, attracting government delegations alongside private companies. The sheer scale of the event — dozens of exhibition halls — makes it almost impossible to see everything in a single visit.

• Why do you think governments are increasingly investing in hosting major tech events like this?
• If you could only visit three exhibition halls out of dozens, which topics would you prioritize, and why?

COMPUTEX, held annually in Taipei, is where the companies that build the physical components of modern technology — processors, chips and computing hardware — showcase what's coming next. Because so much of the world's advanced chip manufacturing happens in Taiwan, the event carries extra significance for understanding where the global tech supply chain is heading, especially as demand for AI computing power continues to grow faster than factories can produce it.

• How aware are you of where the hardware behind the software or apps you use every day is actually made?
• What would happen to global technology companies if chip production in one region was suddenly disrupted?

LEAP, held in Riyadh, has rapidly become one of the largest technology events on the planet, drawing hundreds of thousands of attendees and thousands of exhibiting companies. It's part of Saudi Arabia's broader push to diversify its economy away from oil and position itself as a serious technology and investment hub. Global tech leaders use the stage to make major product announcements, while the event itself signals how quickly the center of gravity in tech can shift toward new regions.

• What do you think it takes for a country to successfully build a reputation as a "tech hub"?
• Should major tech companies expand into new markets like this quickly, or take a slower, more cautious approach?