ADIPEC 2026 has confirmed a lineup of global technology chief executives for its November gathering in Abu Dhabi, with AI set to run as a central theme across its conferences, exhibition and closed-door roundtables.
Roland Busch of Siemens AG, Vimal Kapur of Honeywell, Olivier Blum of Schneider Electric, Jack Hidary of SandboxAQ, Caspar Herzberg of AVEVA, Girish Rishi of Cognite, Christian Bruch of Siemens Energy and Dennis Jol of AIQ are among the speakers confirmed for the Strategic Conference, running 2–5 November.
The case for AI in energy is substantial on paper. According to the International Energy Agency, widespread adoption of existing AI applications could deliver up to $110 billion in annual power generation savings by 2035, while unlocking as much as 175 gigawatts of additional transmission capacity from existing infrastructure. At the same time, the rapid growth of AI data centres is placing new strain on electricity systems, tightening the interdependence between the two sectors.
“Industrial AI delivers the most value for energy systems when intelligence is engineered into infrastructure at its core, including the grids, industrial systems and buildings that keep economies running day to day. These systems need to perform reliably under pressure, whether they were built decades ago or are under construction today. Scaling that requires sustained investment, deep engineering expertise and closer collaboration between the energy and technology sectors. ADIPEC brings those partnerships together, turning technological progress into resilient, real-world performance,” Roland Busch, President and CEO of Siemens AG said in a statement.
“AI is opening up significant opportunities for the energy industry. The priority now is identifying which applications are worth backing and how to deploy them securely at scale. That takes more than technology; it requires engineering expertise, investment and commercial discipline. ADIPEC connects the people setting strategy and committing capital with those responsible for delivery, helping turn AI’s potential into measurable improvements across energy systems,” Christopher Hudson, President of dmg events, organiser of ADIPEC added.
The weight of the technical community appears to agree. The event’s Technical Conferences attracted a record 7,261 abstract submissions this year, with the AI and Digital Transformation category drawing 1,296 – the highest of any single technical category. More than 200 sessions and 1,100 expert speakers are scheduled across the technical programme.
On the exhibition floor, an expanded AI Zone co-hosted by AIQ will feature live demonstrations of reservoir modelling, autonomous upstream operations, grid management and subsea robotics.
Honeywell will showcase its Forge Upstream autonomous operations platform. EY, in partnership with Gecko Robotics, will display inspection robots capable of climbing, crawling, swimming and flying across pipeline and power plant assets.
Sinaha will exhibit autonomous mobile robots already operating in its warehouses, with UAE-based manufacturing of those robots planned from the first quarter of 2027.
Stone Ridge Technology is set to launch what it describes as the first AI-native pre- and post-processing and workflow orchestration layer built around its GPU-based ECHELON reservoir simulation software.
Invitation-only AI Leadership Roundtables will run alongside the main programme, offering a private setting for senior decision-makers to work through investment, governance and regulatory questions around AI adoption.
eADIPEC 2026 is hosted by ADNOC and held under the patronage of UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Organisers expect 239,000 attendees, more than 2,250 exhibiting companies and over 1,800 speakers across 13 conference programmes.
