November 9, 2026
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The Europe Data Center Cooling and Thermal Management Forum 2026 is a focused two-day specialist conference held on 9 and 10 November 2026 in Frankfurt, Germany. Organised by ECV International, a consulting and conference company established in 2010, the forum brings together 20+ leading experts and 120+ senior decision-makers from hyperscale operators, colocation providers, cooling technology suppliers, engineering firms, and consulting organisations to explore the evolving cooling and thermal management landscape in the AI era. The event operates under the theme "Not Just Cooling, But Thermal Management," reflecting the industry's shift from conventional air cooling toward holistic, AI-integrated thermal management strategies. The forum is delivered in English, with sessions available both in-person in Frankfurt and via live broadcast for remote participants. Full video recordings of all sessions are provided to all registered delegates following the event.
The event draws a senior and technically focused audience from across the European data centre ecosystem. Attendee profiles include CEOs, CTOs, CIOs, and Vice Presidents; General Managers and Deputy General Managers; Heads of Infrastructure, Operations, Construction and Delivery, Cooling, HPC, and Sustainability and ESG; Technology, Engineering, and R&D Directors and Managers; and cooling engineers, researchers, and specialist advisors. Organisations represented span hyperscale cloud operators, colocation and carrier-neutral data centre providers, enterprise data centre owners, cooling solution vendors, modular data centre manufacturers, engineering and construction firms, and sustainability and ESG advisory organisations operating across Europe.
The two-day programme is structured around a main conference format combining keynote presentations, case study sessions, and moderated panel discussions, with over ten hours of dedicated networking breaks integrated throughout both days. Day One covers AI-driven data centre and cooling market dynamics, the operational response of data centre operators to high-density AI workloads, the reshaping of the thermal management market in the AI era, the thermal challenge of 100kW racks and beyond, and a panel on next-generation AI, next-generation data centres, and next-generation cooling. Day Two addresses next-generation data centre site selection and development, retrofitting strategies for legacy air-cooled facilities, data centre delivery challenges and the role of prefabricated modular designs, waste heat recovery pathways, PUE and WUE management under surging AI demand, the implications of next-generation AI chips for thermal management, cooling architecture choices from chip to data centre, and the application of AI to optimise cooling system performance. Sponsor presentations, exhibition booths, tea break sessions, and panel discussions provide additional formats for technology showcase and peer exchange across both days.
The agenda addresses the full spectrum of data centre cooling and thermal management in the context of rapid AI infrastructure growth across Europe. Key themes include the impact of AI workloads on data centre power density and the transition to rack densities of 100kW and beyond; liquid cooling deployment at scale including direct-to-chip and immersion cooling technologies and the strategic question of when each is appropriate; retrofitting existing air-cooled data centre infrastructure for high-density AI compute without full rebuilds; prefabricated and modular data centre architectures as a response to accelerating delivery timelines; energy efficiency optimisation including PUE and WUE management under regulatory and operational pressure; waste heat recovery as a revenue-generating and decarbonisation pathway for European data centre operators; water efficiency and decarbonisation policy compliance under evolving European Union sustainability regulations; AI-driven cooling optimisation tools and predictive thermal management systems; next-generation chip architecture, including Nvidia's Rubin platform, and its implications for data centre thermal design; hybrid cooling architectures combining air, liquid, and immersion systems for heterogeneous compute environments; and the broader European data centre market landscape, investment dynamics, and infrastructure development opportunities in the AI compute race.
The Europe Data Center Cooling and Thermal Management Forum 2026 concludes on 10 November in Frankfurt, bringing two days of expert presentations, panel discussions, case studies, and networking to a close. Full session recordings are distributed to all delegates within one week of the event, extending the forum's value beyond the in-person and live broadcast experience.
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