Digital Solutions 2026
From 6 to 10 October, the National Centre RUSSIA is hosting the IT Forum “Digital Solutions 2026”. I attended this forum last year as well, so I can compare the two in both scale and the nature of the topics discussed.
The first thing that strikes you at the forum is the considerably larger number of visitors and participating organisations. It is almost impossible to reach the stands, and some sessions have no seats left, so people have to stand. The statistics bear out this impression: every significant figure has increased since last year.
- More than 120 sessions (up from over 90 in 2025);
- 700+ speakers (up from 600+ in 2025);
- 20,000+ visitors (up from 14,000+ a year earlier).
Beyond the higher numbers, there is also a qualitative shift in the topics discussed at the forum. The conversation has moved from standalone IT systems to platforms and ecosystems, from APIs that integrate different systems to interfaces for AI agents, and from pilot AI projects to industrial-scale deployment of agentic AI systems.
As a CDTO, I was pleased by an idea I heard several times at the forum: speakers repeatedly stressed that the focus on digitalising processes is fading, giving way to the transformation of business models.
I would also like to highlight a trend that was almost entirely absent last year: robotics. The forum is actively discussing robots combined with AI, flexible robotic production lines and the economics of robotics, including total cost of ownership, productivity and evidence of tangible economic benefits.
It is also impossible not to notice the significant change in attitudes towards cybersecurity. The model in which a system is built first and an information-security layer is added afterwards is no longer working. Cybersecurity is now becoming a property of the entire architecture.
It was valuable to exchange experiences with colleagues, since everyone working in digital transformation faces more or less the same set of challenges.
