Top Middle East tech conferences for 2022

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 for updates!

January 2022

17-19 January: Future Sustainability Summit, Abu Dhabi. Middle East tech leaders increasingly deal with sustainability initiatives. This conference hosts discussions on how advances in artificial intelligence, big data and IoT (internet of things) can accelerate sustainable development.

19-20 February: 3rd International Conference on IOT, Big Data and Security (IOTBS 2022), Dubai. The event is intended to act as a forum for the presentation of innovative ideas, approaches, developments, and research projects in the areas of IOT, big data and security. It will also serve to facilitate the exchange of information between researchers and industry professionals.

22-24 February: IDC CIO Summit/Middle East, Dubai. The 2022 edition of the IDC Middle East CIO Summit is a hybrid event. The first two days are in-person in Dubai, and the third day will be an online event, focusing on the GCC region. The conference 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.

24-27 January: Arab Health, Dubai. Arab Health is a medical equipment exhibition showcasing the latest innovations in healthcare, bringing a range of healthcare industry players together.

February 2022

9 February: IDC Directions 2022, Egypt. The Egypt edition of this IDC Directions event will examine in-country digital acceleration trends, aimed at providing essential guidance to the region’s foremost ICT vendors on proven best practices for transforming themselves into new-age digital partners for their customers.

15-16 February: Smart City Expo, Dubai. The event combines a conference with what organisers bill to be a “state-of-the-art expo floor”, all aimed at business managers, directors, urban administrators, and international authorities responsible for developing urban policies. Conference topics include smart grid, transportation, health, building management systems, enterprise IoT, fog computing, gig data analytics, and smart governance. 

22-24 February: ISACA Conference Asia, Manama, Bahrain. This combination of in-person and virtual sessions on a wide variety of security topics.

March 2022

4- 16 March: IDC Security Roadshow (Turkey), in-person & online. The theme of the show is: Elevating the Security of the Future Enterprise. How can CISOs and senior security experts ensure the security of the company and at the same time promote the digital transformation in a compliant manner – or even accelerate it?

21-23 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.

April 2022

14- 15 April: International Conference on Vehicular, Mobile and Wearable Technology, Dubai. The conference has been organized for scientists, scholars, engineers and students from universities all around the world and the industry to present ongoing research activities, and foster research relations between the universities and industry.

October

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.

October: GITEX, Dubai. (Precise date in October 2022 has not yet been announced). 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).

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.