Conferences & Events
This calendar brings together the main conferences, summits and plug-test events of 2026 that touch the work of the major digital technical standards bodies: ETSI, 3GPP, IEEE, IETF, W3C, ITU-R, ITU-T and ISO/IEC JTC 1. Each entry shows who is hosting, which SDOs are on the agenda, the dates and the location, and the event name links straight to the official page.
You can use it to see the year at a glance, search by SDO, organiser or city, and find the meetings worth your time, whether you are planning to attend, getting more involved in standards work, or looking for partners. We update the list regularly, but there are many standards events worldwide to catch them all. Working-group sessions, regional gatherings and late additions are especially likely to be missing, so if you know of one we should include, please tell us.
| # | Conference / Event | Date(s) | Organiser(s) | SDO(s) Covered |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MWC Barcelona 2026 Barcelona, Spain Annual |
2–5 Mar 2026 | GSMA | ETSI, 3GPP, ITU-R, ITU-T |
| 2 | UK Digital Standards Summit Glasgow, UK One-off |
17 Mar 2026 | Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT) | Cross-ISDO (ETSI, IEEE, IETF, W3C, ITU-R, ITU-T, 3GPP, ISO/IEC JTC 1) |
| 3 | IETF 125 Meeting Shenzhen, China Recurring |
14–20 Mar 2026 | Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) | IETF (direct) |
| 4 | ETSI AI and Data Conference 2026 Sophia Antipolis, France Annual |
2026 (date TBC) | ETSI | ETSI, ISO/IEC JTC 1 (SC 42) |
| 5 | ETSI/IQC Quantum Safe Cryptography Conference Ottawa, Canada (Carleton Univ.) Annual |
16–18 Jun 2026 | ETSI & Institute for Quantum Computing | ETSI, ISO/IEC JTC 1 |
| 6 | ITU World Telecommunication Policy Forum (WTPF-26) Nassau, The Bahamas Multi-year |
9–11 Jun 2026 | International Telecommunication Union (ITU) | ITU-R, ITU-T |
| 7 | ICE/IEEE ITMC 2026 – 32nd Int’l Conf. on Engineering, Technology & Innovation Porto, Portugal Annual |
22–24 Jun 2026 | ICE Conference / IEEE TEMS | IEEE |
| 8 | IETF 126 Meeting Vienna, Austria Recurring |
18–24 Jul 2026 | Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) | IETF (direct) |
| 9 | IEEE SusTech 2026 – 13th Annual Conf. on Technologies for Sustainability USA (TBC) Annual |
2026 (date TBC) | IEEE (Region 6, IEEE SA co-sponsor) | IEEE |
| 10 | ETSI Security Conference 2026 (20th Edition) Sophia Antipolis, France Annual |
19–22 Oct 2026 | ETSI | ETSI, 3GPP, ISO/IEC JTC 1 |
| 11 | W3C TPAC 2026 (Annual Conference) Dublin, Ireland Annual |
26–30 Oct 2026 | World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) | W3C (direct) |
| 12 | ETSI SNS4SNS – Software & Standards for Smart Networks & Services Sophia Antipolis, France One-off |
2026 (date TBC) | ETSI | ETSI, 3GPP |
| 13 | ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 2026 Doha, Qatar Multi-year |
9–27 Nov 2026 | International Telecommunication Union (ITU) | ITU-R, ITU-T |
| 14 | IETF 127 Meeting San Francisco, USA Recurring |
14–20 Nov 2026 | Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) | IETF (direct) |
| 15 | Web Summit 2026 Lisbon, Portugal Annual |
Nov 2026 (dates TBC) | Web Summit | W3C, IEEE (tangential) |
| 16 | ITU World Radiocommunication Seminar 2026 (WRS-26) Geneva, Switzerland Multi-year |
7–11 Dec 2026 | International Telecommunication Union – ITU-R | ITU-R (direct) |
| 17 | 3GPP Working Group Meetings (Calgary) Calgary, Canada (+ rotating) Recurring |
2026 (quarterly cycle) | 3GPP / ATIS (North American host) | 3GPP (direct), ETSI |
| 18 | GITEX Global 2026 Dubai, UAE Annual |
Summit 7 Dec; Expo 8–11 Dec 2026 | Dubai World Trade Centre / DWTC | IEEE, ITU-T (tangential) |
| 19 | AI Standards Hub Global Summit 2026 SEC Glasgow, UK (hybrid) Annual |
16–17 Mar 2026 | AI Standards Hub (NPL, BSI, Alan Turing Institute) / DSIT | ISO/IEC JTC 1 (SC 42), ETSI, IEEE |
| 20 | IEEE ICC 2026 – Int’l Conf. on Communications SEC Glasgow, Scotland, UK Annual |
24–28 May 2026 | IEEE Communications Society | IEEE (direct), 3GPP, ETSI |
| 21 | IEEE Sections Congress 2026 SEC Glasgow, Scotland, UK Multi-year |
21–23 Aug 2026 | IEEE Member & Geographic Activities Board | IEEE (direct) |
| 22 | ETSI EAA Plugtests™ (EU Digital Identity Wallet) Remote One-off |
4 May – 1 Jun 2026 | ETSI Centre for Testing & Interoperability | ETSI, ISO/IEC JTC 1 |
| 23 | ETSI NG eCall Plugtests™ 2026 Ljubljana, Slovenia One-off |
1–5 Jun 2026 | ETSI CTI / EENA / Sintesio Foundation | ETSI, 3GPP |
| 24 | ETSI 10th MCX Plugtests™ (Mission Critical Services) Sophia Antipolis, France One-off |
2026 (date TBC) | ETSI Centre for Testing & Interoperability | ETSI, 3GPP, IETF |
| 25 | EAIE Glasgow 2026 (European Assoc. for Int’l Education) SEC Glasgow, Scotland, UK Annual |
8–11 Sep 2026 | EAIE | Cross-sector (HE engagement) |
