Gartner’s EMEA flagship, IT Symposium/Xpo, takes place at the CCIB in Barcelona from November 9 to 12. More than 6,500 CIOs and senior IT executives are expected.
The 2026 theme is Ignite Intelligence. The opening keynote, Reaching Escape Velocity, is about shaping an effective enterprise AI economy. Put simply: most companies have run AI pilots, few have made them pay, and Gartner wants to show what the ones getting returns are doing differently.
There’s a dedicated session on strategic technology trends for 2027, and guest keynotes come from Naomi Bagdonas and Felipe Gomez. As in Orlando, analyst one-on-ones and peer roundtables are where much of the real value sits.
For European IT leaders, Barcelona is the year’s main checkpoint. It’s where you find out whether your AI plan, your cloud costs and your security posture look normal or worrying next to your peers.