ICT Leadership Awards 2025
14 Oct, 2025
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About Cloud Connect
Cloud in the intelligence era
AI is creating new demands on infrastructure, while sovereignty, cost, resilience, and workload location are becoming harder to separate from the wider technology conversation.
Cloud Connect 2026 will look at how these pressures are changing the way enterprises think about cloud. Public cloud remains central, but organisations are also weighing private infrastructure, sovereign environments, and edge computing as they decide where data, applications, and AI workloads should run.
Bringing together CIOs, technology leaders, and providers, the event will examine the infrastructure choices shaping enterprise cloud strategy in 2026.
The evening will also feature the Cloud Connect Awards 2026, recognising outstanding enterprise cloud projects, technology leaders, and solution providers that are delivering measurable impact across cloud, AI, and digital infrastructure.
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Agenda
Agenda 2026
November, 2026
9:45 AM – 10:30 AM
Registration & Networking
10:30 AM – 10:45 AM
Welcome Address
10:45 AM – 11:05 AM
Opening Keynote: Cloud in the Age of Agents
As AI moves from copilots that assist users to agents capable of taking action across enterprise systems, the demands on cloud infrastructure are changing.
This keynote will examine what agentic AI means for architecture, identity, security, data access, governance, and resilience.
Discussion points:
- Preparing cloud infrastructure for autonomous AI workloads
- Identity, security, and governance for AI agents
- Data access, orchestration, and observability at scale
- Cost, resilience, and operational control as agents move into production
11:05 AM – 11:25 AM
Executive Session: Sovereign AI: Where Should Intelligence Live?
With AI becoming embedded in critical business and government operations, organisations face new decisions over where models, data, and agents should reside.
This session will explore how enterprises can balance access to AI innovation with control, compliance, and sovereignty.
Discussion points:
- Where models, data, and AI workloads should reside
- Public cloud, sovereign cloud, and private infrastructure choices
- Balancing innovation with compliance, control, and data residency
- Avoiding fragmentation as sovereign requirements grow
11:25 AM – 11:45 AM
Coffee & Networking Break
11:45 AM – 12:25 PM
Panel Discussion: Beyond the Cloud: Intelligence at the Edge
Intelligence is moving closer to where data is generated and decisions are made, making enterprise infrastructure more distributed.
This panel will explore how edge AI is changing cloud strategy and what CIOs need to consider as compute, data, and intelligence spread across a wider technology estate.
Discussion points:
- What should run at the edge, and what should remain in the cloud?
- How distributed intelligence changes enterprise architecture
- Security, sovereignty, and governance beyond centralised environments
- The economics and operational realities of scaling edge AI
12:25 PM – 1:15 PM
Cloud Connect Awards 2026
1:15 PM onwards
Lunch & Networking
Who Should Attend
- CIOs and senior technology decision-makers
- Leaders responsible for enterprise cloud and infrastructure strategy
- Executives overseeing AI, data, security, governance, and digital transformation
- Technology leaders evaluating public, private, sovereign, and edge infrastructure
- Cloud, infrastructure, AI, security, and digital technology providers
Why You Should Attend
- Examine how AI is changing enterprise infrastructure requirements
- Explore where workloads, data, models, and AI agents should run
- Compare public cloud, private infrastructure, sovereign cloud, and edge approaches
- Discuss the practical implications of sovereignty, resilience, cost, and control
- Hear how organisations are approaching agentic AI and distributed intelligence
- Exchange perspectives with CIOs and senior technology leaders facing similar infrastructure decisions
- Connect with technology providers working across cloud, AI, infrastructure, security, and edge computing
Speakers
2025 Speakers
Himanshu Niranjani
CTO
Property Finder
Damir Jaksic
CIO
KEO International Consultants
Dr. Abrar Abdulnabi
Director of AI
saal.ai
Hani Nofal
SVP and Regional Head
MEA Technology Solutions, NTT DATA
Scott Robertson
Senior Sales Engineer
Commvault
Sponsorship Packages
Why Sponsor Cloud Connect 2026
Cloud Connect 2026 gives technology providers the opportunity to engage directly with senior enterprise leaders responsible for cloud, infrastructure, AI, data, security, and digital strategy.
As organisations reassess where workloads should run and how infrastructure must evolve for the intelligence era, the event creates a focused environment for providers to contribute to the conversations shaping enterprise technology investment.
Presenting Partner
$10,000
Gold Partners
$7,500
FAQs
Cloud Connect Awards nominations are open to:
- CIOs, CTOs, and equivalent senior technology leaders
- Cloud, infrastructure, architecture, and digital transformation leaders
- Enterprise teams responsible for significant cloud and infrastructure initiatives
- Technology and solution providers delivering measurable customer impact across cloud, AI, and digital infrastructure
Nominations may be submitted by individuals, organisations, or peers.
All nominations are reviewed and evaluated by CXO Insight Middle East through a structured assessment process. The selection focuses on the scope of the initiative or leadership contribution, quality of execution, strategic relevance, and evidence of measurable impact.
Final award recipients are determined solely by CXO Insight Middle East, based on the information provided and the overall impact demonstrated in each submission.
To support a thorough evaluation, nominations should include:
- Clear details of the nominee, project, or solution being submitted
- Context on the organisation, business requirement, or infrastructure challenge
- Details of the approach, implementation, or leadership contribution
- Evidence of measurable outcomes and organisational impact
- Information reflecting work undertaken or results achieved over the past year
All submissions are treated confidentially.
- There is no fee to submit a nomination
- Multiple nominations may be submitted
- Shortlisted nominees may be contacted for clarification
- Winners will be announced at the Cloud Connect Awards 2026
2026 Sponsors
Event partners
