Digital Samba at TECH 2026: Connecting with Europe's Tech Leaders

From 31 May to 2 June 2026, Digital Samba CEO Robert Strobl attended TECH 2026 by Handelsblatt in Heilbronn, Germany, one of Europe's most influential gatherings of technology, business, and political leaders.

Held in the heart of Heilbronn's rapidly growing AI ecosystem, TECH 2026 brought together more than 2,000 participants and over 300 speakers from across Europe. The conference focused on some of the most important topics shaping the continent's future, including artificial intelligence, digital sovereignty, cybersecurity, defence technology, quantum computing, robotics, and industrial innovation.

 Table of contents  

1. A gathering of Europe's decision-makers
2. Valuable conversations for Digital Samba
3. Digital sovereignty moves to the forefront
   
4. Looking ahead

Organised by Handelsblatt, Germany's leading business newspaper, and Schwarz Digits, the technology arm of the Schwarz Group behind Lidl and Kaufland, TECH has quickly established itself as a premier platform for connecting decision-makers from industry, technology, politics, academia, and the startup ecosystem. Heilbronn itself is emerging as one of Europe's most important innovation hubs, driven by major investments in artificial intelligence and deep-tech initiatives.

A gathering of Europe's decision-makers

This year's conference attracted an exceptionally high-level audience. According to organisers and partner reports, between 1,800 and 2,000 senior leaders, founders, executives, investors, policymakers, and innovators attended the event, creating a uniquely curated environment for strategic discussions and business networking.

The speaker lineup reflected the conference's growing importance within Europe's technology landscape. Among the featured speakers were senior government officials, leading technology executives, and business leaders from organisations such as Deutsche Telekom, Volkswagen Group, E.ON, Airbus Defence and Space, Cohere, Schwarz Group, Hapag-Lloyd, UniCredit, and many others.

Across keynote presentations, panel discussions, and private meetings, conversations repeatedly returned to several critical themes: Europe's technological competitiveness, sovereign digital infrastructure, AI adoption, cybersecurity resilience, and the need for stronger collaboration between startups, established enterprises, and policymakers.

Valuable conversations for Digital Samba

For us, the conference provided an opportunity to engage directly with many of the people shaping Europe's digital future.

Throughout the three-day event, Robert participated in numerous meetings with technology executives, startup founders, investors, policymakers, and innovation leaders from Germany and across Europe. These conversations offered valuable insights into the challenges organisations face when balancing innovation, security, compliance, and digital sovereignty.

One theme emerged consistently throughout the conference: European organisations are increasingly looking for technology partners that can provide not only innovation but also trust, transparency, and control over data.

As discussions around AI, cloud infrastructure, and digital sovereignty continue to accelerate, many decision-makers are reassessing their technology stacks and evaluating whether critical communications infrastructure should remain under European jurisdiction and governance. These are areas where Digital Samba's long-standing commitment to European hosting, GDPR compliance, and privacy-first video communication resonates strongly with organisations operating in regulated industries.

Digital sovereignty moves to the forefront

A particularly notable aspect of TECH 2026 was the prominence of digital sovereignty as a strategic priority.

Across multiple sessions and discussions, industry leaders examined how Europe can strengthen its technological independence while remaining globally competitive. The conversation extended beyond AI and semiconductor technologies to include cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, communications platforms and the broader digital ecosystem.

Open source featured prominently in many of these discussions, and rightly so. Transparency, auditability and freedom from vendor lock-in are important building blocks of digital sovereignty. Yet software transparency is only one piece of the sovereignty puzzle. For video communications, true sovereignty depends not only on the code itself, but also on where the infrastructure is hosted, who operates it, which sub-processors are involved and under whose legal authority the service falls. Open source can be an important enabler of sovereignty, but it is not a guarantee of it.

This broader understanding of sovereignty was reflected throughout the conference. Organisations are increasingly evaluating technology providers not only on features and pricing, but also on governance, jurisdiction, operational control and long-term strategic alignment.

For Digital Samba, these discussions align closely with a mission that has guided the company for years: providing organisations with secure, privacy-focused video communication technology built and operated in Europe.

Looking ahead

TECH 2026 demonstrated that Europe is becoming increasingly serious about investing in its own technological future. The combination of established enterprises, ambitious startups, government representatives, investors, and technology providers created an environment focused not only on innovation but also on practical collaboration.

For Digital Samba, the event was an excellent opportunity to strengthen existing relationships, establish new connections, and gain first-hand insight into the priorities of European technology leaders.

As Europe continues to invest in AI, cybersecurity, digital sovereignty, and next-generation infrastructure, Digital Samba looks forward to contributing to this transformation by providing secure and trusted video communication solutions for organisations across the continent.

We would like to thank the organisers, Handelsblatt Media Group and Schwarz Digits, for bringing together such an impressive community of innovators, leaders, and decision-makers in Heilbronn. We look forward to continuing many of the conversations that began at TECH 2026.