CIO Day | Dubai

Name: CIO Day | Dubai
Start: 2026-11-19T04:30:00.000Z
End: 2026-11-19T12:45:00.000Z
Location: Dubai, UAE, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

The Autonomous Enterprise: Strategic Leadership for the Modern CIO

Thursday 19 November 2026

Dubai, UAE, United Arab Emirates

Hosted by Factor

2 attendees
8 hours

Overview

In 2026, the CIO has emerged as the primary architect of corporate strategy and enterprise value. As organizations transition from experimental AI to autonomous operating models, leadership requires a sophisticated realignment of capital, infrastructure, and governance.

This summit explores the shift toward agentic workflows, sovereign cloud strategies, and the optimization of compute as a core business asset. We examine how CIOs balance aggressive innovation with predictive security and regulatory agility to build an anti-fragile organisation. By integrating data liquidity with high-leverage orchestration, this event provides the roadmap for leaders to drive long-term resilience and define the digital soul of the enterprise toward 2030.

What we will cover

Agentic Workflows Evolving from supportive chatbots to autonomous agents that execute complex business logic.
Capital Realignment Transitioning budgets from experimental AI pilots into high-margin, scalable production systems.
Sovereign Cloud Navigating global regulatory complexity by leveraging regional and localized cloud architectures.
Compute Currency Managing high-performance GPU portfolios as strategic corporate assets for continuous innovation.
Platform Consolidation Reducing infrastructure complexity by moving from best-of-breed tools to unified platforms.
Predictive Defence Shifting from reactive security to automated prevention to build a lasting trust moat.
Data Liquidity Establishing high-speed data fabrics to provide instant insights for humans and agents.
Regulatory Agility Turning new AI standards and compliance requirements into a framework for rapid scaling.
Workforce Orchestration Leading elite, high-leverage IT teams that achieve exponential output through machine collaboration.
Edge Innovation Unlocking real-time opportunities through localized processing and industrial robotics at the edge.
Enterprise Anti-fragility Designing systems that get stronger under stress to ensure uninterrupted global operations.
Strategy Architecture Defining the enterprise’s digital soul by aligning technology frameworks with long-term corporate vision.

Agenda

8:30 am Networking Breakfast(CIO Day - Plenary)
9:15 am Welcome Address(CIO Day - Plenary)
9:25 am Driving Business-IT Strategy Alignment: The 2027 Executive Playbook(CIO Day - Plenary) The ultimate evaluation of the CIO as a core business strategist. This opening keynote outlines how leading technology executives are moving past rigid annual roadmaps in favour of trigger-based, dynamic reprioritisation frameworks that align technology capital directly with broader corporate growth and agility metrics.
9:45 am Modernising Core Platforms: Refactoring the Enterprise Architecture(CIO Day - Plenary) High-density workloads and autonomous architectures require a highly flexible foundational layer. This session explores the practical steps required to decouple rigid legacy monoliths, scale hybrid configurations securely, and prepare enterprise architectures for future computing demands.
10:05 am Strategic Cost Optimisation: Advanced FinOps for Enterprise Tech(CIO Day - Plenary) Managing technology spend requires moving from reactive monthly budgeting to continuous, proactive governance. This presentation introduces advanced FinOps methodologies designed to embed cost accountability directly into the technology pipeline, eliminating architectural waste.
10:25 am The Power of C-Suite Convergence in Building Resilience That Boards Support(CIO Day - Plenary) Join an expert, cross-function C-Suite panel as they explore how partnerships among top executives are essential for addressing today’s global megatrends. Moving beyond the buzzwords of fusion teams, this discussion will focus on the importance of collaborative leadership in navigating shifts in technology, governance, and market dynamics, showcasing how integrated strategies across business functions can bolster organisational resilience and agility.
10:55 am Networking Break & Morning Tea(CIO Day)
11:25 am Peer-Driven Debate(CIO Day)
11:55 am Remediation of Data Debt: Transitioning from Aggregation to Preservation(CIO Day) High-quality outcomes rely on a pristine data foundation. This session addresses the critical need to eliminate historical "data debt", siloed, redundant, or poor-quality records, and outlines how to implement clean data lifecycles that protect high-value assets while reducing operational complexity.
0:15 pm Navigating Digital Sovereignty: Geostrategic Sourcing in a Global Economy(CIO Day) Evolving regional data protection laws and shifting global capacities mean geographic neutrality is no longer an option. This conversation details how technology leaders are architecting sovereign-ready systems and balancing regional vendor ecosystems to ensure continuous market compliance.
0:35 pm Establishing Adaptive AI Governance: Balancing Safety, Ethics and Velocity(CIO Day) As advanced software tools and automated logic handle increasingly critical workflows, building robust oversight structures is paramount. This session details how to create adaptive governance frameworks that monitor algorithmic compliance, legal safety, and ethical boundaries without suffocating business innovation.
0:55 pm Operationalising AI for Measurable ROI: Moving to Production(CIO Day) Moving beyond initial proofs-of-concept, the focus has shifted entirely to deploying production-grade, autonomous workflows that deliver definitive fiscal value. This luncheon keynote provides an objective look at the infrastructure, metrics, and processes required to scale advanced automation successfully.
1:15 pm Lunch Break & Peer Connect(CIO Day)
2:15 pm CIO Exchange(CIO Day)
2:45 pm Cyber Resilience: Proactive Enterprise Threat Defense(CIO Day) The modern threat landscape requires a fundamental shift from basic reactive protection to comprehensive cyber resilience. This session explores how corporate networks can be hardened to maintain continuous operations during an incident, protect critical assets, and satisfy rising global regulatory disclosure rules.
3:05 pm Transforming the Tech Operating Model: Shifting to Product-Based Delivery(CIO Day) To drive true business agility, technology departments must move away from traditional ticket-taking structures. This session demonstrates how to redesign the internal operating model toward product-based delivery, forging a co-ownership model where technology teams and lines of business are deeply integrated.
3:25 pm Workforce Redesign: Human-AI Collaboration and the Future of Work(CIO Day) Maximising enterprise productivity requires a comprehensive evaluation of how humans and technology interface. This deep dive focuses on the strategic upskilling of the existing workforce, defining operational parameters for digital tools, and redesigning roles to enhance collaborative efficiency.
3:45 pm Leadership Longevity: Fostering Sustainable Tech Cultures(CIO Day) The demanding nature of leading large-scale corporate operations requires deliberate strategies for sustainable leadership. This transparent discussion addresses executive decision fatigue, team burnout, and how to cultivate resilient operational cultures within high-stress environments.
4:05 pm The Closing Panel: The 2027 Horizon: Macroeconomic Trends Shaping Tech Strategy(CIO Day) A comprehensive closing debate featuring the region's prominent tech executives to synthesise the day's mandates. This heavyweight panel steps away from specific systems to analyse global macroeconomic indicators, such as talent migration, trade flows, and hardware availability, that will directly shape technology strategy heading into 2027.
4:35 pm Closing Vision: The CIO as Strategy Architect(CIO Day) Looking toward 2030. Defining the new boundary of leadership where the CIO designs the enterprise's "Digital Soul" and serves as the primary architect of corporate strategy.

Speakers

Saleem AlBlooshi · Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Du
Jasim Al Awadi · Chief ICT Officer, Du
Khalid Murshed · Group COO / CEO, e& enterprise
Miguel Rio-Tinto · Group CDIO, Emirates NBD
Divyesh Vithlani · Group Chief Technolog & Transformation Officer, First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB)
Mohamed Abdel Razek · Group Head of Technology, Information, and Transformation, Mashreq Bank
Olivier Busolini · Group CISO, Mashreq Bank
Noman Rasheed · Chief Information Officer, Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB)
Sean Langton · Chief Information Officer (CIO), Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank
Pedro Sousa Cardoso · Chief Information Officer (CIO), Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank
Shameek Kundu · Chief AI Officer, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank
Dena AlMansoori · Group CTIO, ADNOC Group
Mohammed Al Rais · CEO, Al Rais Investment
Frank Meyer · Chief Digital Officer, Etihad
Himanshu Shrivastava · Chief Technology Officer (CTO/CIO/CDO), Ai-Futtiam
Veresh Sita · Chief Digital Officer, Emaar
Oliver Skagerlind · Group CTO, Dubai Holding
Krishnan Gopi · Group Chief Distruption Officer, Aldar
Antonietta Mastroianni · CIO, e& UAE
Xi Liang · Chief AI Officer, Mashreq Bank