About the Event

Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo is Gartner's flagship global event for CIOs and senior IT executives, with the Barcelona edition being the largest IT leadership gathering in Europe. The 2026 edition takes place November 9-12 at the Centre de Convencions Internacional de Barcelona (CCIB) and draws approximately 6,000 attendees from across Europe and internationally. The event combines a multi-day conference programme driven by Gartner's proprietary research with an Xpo - an exhibition component where leading technology solution providers showcase products and services during daily receptions. Other editions of the same event run in Orlando (US), Sydney, and Tokyo. The Barcelona edition is the definitive European venue for CIO peer benchmarking, technology investment validation, and strategic planning for the year ahead.

Audience & Attendees

Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo is designed exclusively for CIOs, CTOs, CDOs, VPs of IT, and senior IT executives from large enterprises across all industries and sectors. The event draws both Gartner clients and non-clients; all paid registered full conference attendees have access to the complete programme, analyst one-on-one meetings, and post-event session materials. Specialist programmes within the event include the CIO Programme - an application-required executive experience for CIOs focused on digital transformation leadership - the Women in Technology Programme providing targeted networking and sessions for women in technology leadership, and a dedicated midsize enterprise track for organisations with different scale and complexity profiles. The Xpo component runs alongside the conference programme and is open to solution providers exhibiting their products to the attending IT executive audience.

Programme Structure

The four-day programme combines plenary keynote sessions on the main stage - featuring Gartner analysts and prominent guest speakers - with a multi-track breakout session programme, hands-on workshops, pre-registerable roundtables, peer Meetups, and structured networking. Daily receptions in the Xpo provide attendees with dedicated time to engage with solution providers. Private 30-minute one-on-one analyst meetings are bookable in advance through the Gartner Conference Navigator app and are available exclusively to full conference pass holders. The Conference Navigator app serves as the primary agenda management tool, enabling session pre-registration, peer connection, and real-time notifications throughout the event. A full 2026 agenda and speaker list had not been published at the time of entry creation.

Main Topics

The 2026 programme is shaped by Gartner's current CIO research priorities and direct feedback from the technology leadership community. Confirmed thematic areas include: agentic AI - autonomous AI agents redefining automation and digital work, requiring staged autonomy roadmaps and governance-by-design; AI technology architecture - resilient data foundations, composable design, and security-centric AI infrastructure; cybersecurity and resilience as enterprise-wide strategic imperatives; IT operating model evolution for digital business scale; strategic planning and execution integrating AI for measurable outcomes; digital transformation leadership and C-suite partnership; cloud architecture and platform modernisation; IT financial management, Technology Business Management (TBM), and FinOps for cost transparency and optimisation; talent development and the future of the IT function; and enterprise architecture supporting AI-ready infrastructure.

Closing Session

The conference concludes on November 12. Session documentation and materials are made available to attendees through the Gartner Conference Navigator app following the event.

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