#IOTDAY 2026
The global IoT Day was started by the #IoT Council in 2010, with the goal to brainstorm on emerging IoT topics. IoT Day in April has since been held annually and with a wide range of participants, growing to hundreds of locations across the world, with a variety of gatherings in places ranging from conference halls, online meetings, bars and cafes, Meetups, classrooms and parks.
The point of the IoTDay exchanges is to bring IoT/AI Trends out into the open to and with citizens and industry experts to collaborate on developments across borders. Every year IoTDay is an open invitation to the wider Internet of Things Community to set up an event, a lunch, a talk with the neighbourhood on what #IoT is about and what it means in everyday life for all of us now. IoT Council runs a local IoT Meetup in Gent.
Participate!
No matter where you are in the world, you can participate on IoTDay!
Organize a meeting, workshop, panel, follow an activity online, participate in a real live event, have a coffee and talk about iot, …
Examples
IoTDay Woman with Sudha Jamthe and Roxy Stimpson
#IoTDay — What Does it Really Mean for Your Business?
IBM Why celebrate World IoT Day? We can start with Industry 4.0
IoTDay theme 2026:
The conversation we need now
The death of IoT as a term has been proclaimed a number of times, still it is very much alive. As IoT is a horizontal operation tuned to the quality of data gathered from sensors and sensing it influences both the choice of connectivity as well as the environment in which analysis is taking place.
The theme of IoTDay 2026 is set by Kai Hackbarth. Kai is voicing that as a personal opinion:
“Regarding the focus: while the ‘death of IoT’ is often debated, I believe we are seeing a massive rebirth. I’d love to see a focus on how we can make IoT more relevant again through the lens of AI and Digital Sovereignty. By combining AI-driven intelligence at the edge with a strong framework for data and infrastructure sovereignty, we can move from simple connectivity to truly resilient, autonomous systems. This feels like the right conversation for 2026!”
I intend to be part of this conversation.
What about you?
Stefanie Hane suggests that a strong focus on global research & teamwork is still essential in Times of Device AI.
As Gerald Santucci, former Head of Unit RFID and IoT at the European Commission says:
“It’s a good idea to look into the next 15 years. By then, technology will have profoundly moved towards AI, LLMs, an integrated ‘internet of everything’, nature-based solutions for reinventing the production model in favor of a nature-positive economy, disposable identities, new governance of not only tech but also societies, and so forth! Therefore, let’s find a way to talk about the IoT not as an ‘island’ but as an essential subsystem of something that will have to combine and synergies solutions for Nature/Biodiversity, Living Organisms, Human Beings, and all sorts of Objects.”
Gerald Santucci will be part of a webinar with Andrea Servida and Gwendal Le Grand on the latest developments of privacy regulations and views on data protection and data sharing.
I’d like to insist that as the founder of the IoT Council and the IoTDay, Rob has been at the forefront of shaping Europe’s IoT discourse since 2009, influencing both corporate strategy and government policy across sectors.
My 32-year journey in the European Commission, with its ups and downs, its greatest glories (AIM, eGovernment, RFID/IoT) and its small failures (semiconductors, trust & security) reached a climax during the period 2008-2012 when, thanks to few people like Rob van Kranenburg, the Internet of Things moved from idea to reality, surpassing in resilience similar concepts like Ambient Intelligence, Industrial Internet, Pervasive Computing, Ubiquitous Networking, Cyber-Physical-Systems, Industry 4.0, and some more.
We hope to see another epic event: Sudha &Roxy’s Womens Day, showcase global collaboration and EU-US project successes and see the latest developments from China.
“It’s intriguing to see how the technology continues to adapt and thrive despite the discussions around its obsolescence. The emphasis on global research and collaboration is crucial as we navigate these advancements. I’m excited to see where IoT Day 2026 will take us and how it will shape the future of connectivity and smart environments.” Antonio Vieira Santos
This edition we collaborate with TechEx Global.
The idea is simple. IoT Day starts the conversation locally, and IoT Expo gives the community a place to keep it going at a global level.
TechEx offers complimentary IoT Expo Gold Passes (worth £1,000 each) to IoT Day communities.
Each pass includes:
Full access to all conference talks
Entry to networking areas and hosted networking drinks
The option for organisers to host a dedicated IoT meetup on site, if they wish
The idea is simple: IoT Day starts the conversation locally, and IoT Expo gives the community a place to continue it on a global stage.
Upcoming editions where complimentary Gold Passes are available:
IoT Tech Expo North America (San Jose, California)
18–19 May 2026
👉 Apply for a complimentary Gold Pass: https://eventdata.uk/Forms/Form.aspx?FormRef=TEN56Comp&FormMode=IoT&trackingcode=IoTDay
IoT Tech Expo Europe (Amsterdam)
20–21 October 2026
👉 Complimentary Gold Pass Link Coming Soon
For any conversations around expo support or community involvement, please contact Lukasz at lu****@***********nt.com
Contact:
Rob van Kranenburg on Linkedin with any questions/suggestions…
Watch the interview on IoT history with Rohit Bohara from asvin.io
Read the interview with oneM2M
