Top Middle East tech conferences for 2022

The Middle East is home to an ever-expanding number of technology conferences, but not all of them are geared toward IT decision makers. To cut through the clutter, CIO Middle East has compiled a list with some of the most important and exciting technology events in the region, curated especially for IT leaders working in private enterprise and public administrations. This list will be updated as more events are confirmed throughout the year.

We recommend that you double-check the status of any in-person event you want to attend before committing to travel. Check back for update

May 2022

13-14 May: IDC CIO Summit, Sapanca, Turkey. The event will explore the increasing pace of innovation, examine the region’s evolving technology landscape, and present best-practice strategies that will help organizations transform themselves into digitally resilient future enterprises, IDC says.

18 May: IDC CIO Summit, Manama, Bahrain. IDC says the summit will explore Bahrain’s changing technology landscape and present strategies that will help organizations evolve into digitally resilient enterprises and secure their rightful place in the ‘Next Normal’.

18-19 May: Middle East Banking AI & Analytics Summit, Dubai, UAE>The summit brings together executives from major Middle Eastern banks, consultants and fintech companies to examine how how big data, AI and analytics impact the financial services sector.

22-24 May: AI Cloud Summit, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The conference showcases speakers from business and government, exploring how AI plays a transformational role in business in a wide variety of sectors.

25 May: IDC CIO Summit, Kuwait City. The summit will focus on building resilient digital infrastructures to meeting the unique demands of managing distributed workforces, and explore Kuwait’s changing tech landscape.

June 2022

22-23 June: Digital Transformation Summit, Dubai. Organizers say that the event is bringing together UAE’s CTOs, CIOs, CISOs, heads of digital transformation, IT infrastructure, cyber security, information and communication technologies and other experts in the domain, to examine best practices and strategies for digital transformation.

August 2022

10 August: Digital Transformation Summit Saudi Arabia, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The conference will bring together more than 150 technology executives with keynote presentations, fireside chats, panel discussions and live Q&A sessions.

September

14-15 September: Hybrid Middle East Enterprise AI & Analytics Summit, Dubai. The conference brings together representatives from private and public enterprises, government and industry experts to discuss how AI and analytics are reshaping business models.

October 2022

18-19 October: Techspo, Dubai, UAE. Techspo showcases a variety of technologies, including mobile and SaaS apps, but has a marketing and advertising flavour, with organisers calling out advertising tech and marketing tech as primary themes.

10-14 October: GITEX, Dubai. GITEX is the biggest tech event in the Middle East, and one of the largest in the world. GITEX has not yet put out a full agenda for the 2021 conference, but sessions will likely replicate to some extent the focus topics for 2020, including:  5G, smart cities, AI, and healthcare.

GITEX is now the anchor event for GITEX Week, which in 2020 included the GITEX Future Stars start-up conference, Marketing Mania, and Future Blockchain Summit (see below).

10-13 October:  Future Blockchain Summit, Dubai. Future Blockchain Summit, once again part of GITEX Week, bills itself as “the world’s largest blockchain festival.” Speakers come from academia, business, stock exchanges, government, and tech vendors. 

March 2023

14-16 March: GISEC, Dubai. The Gulf Information Security Expo and Conference, more popularly known as GISEC, is the biggest security conference in the Middle East. Organizers in 2021 expected more than 8,500 attendees, and offeed 300 lectures and workshops in addition. The conference covers trends including AI, IoT, 5G and cloud technology.