Information is no longer the bottleneck. Decision-making is. DPW Amsterdam 2026, taking place September 30–October 1 at RAI Amsterdam, is being completely redesigned to help procurement leaders make faster, better decisions, with a bigger Expo Hall, an all-new circular Startup Pitch Arena, live in-app "Unpacked" analytics and networking woven throughout the experience for 2,500+ attendees and 150+ sponsors.
AMSTERDAM, Sept. 1, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- DPW, the most influential tech event in procurement and supply chain, today officially announced a completely redesigned experience for DPW Amsterdam 2026, taking place September 30–October 1 at RAI Amsterdam.
Now in a new venue and reimagined from the ground up, DPW Amsterdam 2026, built around this year's theme RECODE, will bring together more than 2,500 attendees and 150+ sponsors for two days designed to help procurement and supply chain leaders discover technology, exchange ideas, build meaningful connections and move from information to action.
The redesign comes at a moment when access to information and technology is no longer the primary constraint facing procurement organizations. With AI rapidly expanding the range of tools and possibilities available to businesses, the harder challenge is determining what matters, what works and what to do next.
"We reshaped how procurement events work in 2019, when DPW launched with 400 people who believed procurement deserved better than another trade show. In 2026, we're doing it again," said Matthias Gutzmann, founder of DPW. "AI has changed the conversation. There's no shortage of technology, information or ideas. The challenge is making the right decisions quickly and turning them into progress. That's why we've redesigned DPW Amsterdam to help attendees eliminate what isn't relevant, validate what matters and accelerate the decisions that count."
ELIMINATE. VALIDATE. ACCELERATE
DPW Amsterdam 2026 introduces a new venue, layout, programme, content formats and activations, all designed around a more intuitive way to learn, discover technology, meet people and participate.
The event's redesign is guided by a simple principle: every element should create a better outcome for the attendee. Eliminate what isn't relevant. Validate what matters. Accelerate the conversations and decisions that move procurement forward.
The expanded Expo Hall, for example, moves beyond rows of conventional exhibition booths. DPW will feature approximately 22 custom-built sponsor activations, compared with approximately seven in 2025, including immersive structures, demo environments, customer case studies, fireside conversations and sponsor-led programming. Selected sponsors will host live demos and content within their environments, with some programmes running for up to four hours each day.
The result is a deeper way to evaluate technology, moving beyond a brief booth conversation toward hands-on demonstrations, customer experiences and practical discussion.
DPW's largest and most immersive Center Stage to date will anchor the new experience. The startup environment gets its own redesign: the traditional booth grid gives way to an open layout built for browsing, with closer contact with founders, live demos on screen, and design details that nod to the host city.
The Startup Pitch Arena will also take on a new circular format, placing startups at the center of the audience and turning technology discovery into a more immediate and engaging live experience.
CONTENT YOU CAN ACT ON
The 2026 programme expands the ways attendees can interact with ideas, technology and speakers.
A new dedicated Podcast Stage will create a more intimate setting for live podcast recordings, with approximately 30 seats and selected sessions followed by opportunities for audience questions and direct interaction with speakers.
New workshop formats will give attendees the opportunity to move beyond listening and start experimenting. The programme includes interactive technology workshops, roundtable-style sessions and a three-hour hackathon designed around hands-on problem solving and experimentation with emerging tools and workflows.
Sponsored roundtables will also increase from two in 2025 to six in 2026, creating more opportunities for smaller-group discussion across areas including indirect spend, contract lifecycle management, source-to-pay and other procurement transformation priorities.
Rather than simply providing more content, DPW is creating more ways for attendees to test ideas, challenge assumptions and learn directly from peers.
NETWORKING DESIGNED INTO THE EXPERIENCE
At DPW Amsterdam 2026, networking is being treated as part of the event infrastructure rather than something attendees have to create for themselves.
The meeting area will sit at the heart of the event, while longer breaks between sessions will give attendees more time to continue conversations instead of rushing to the next presentation. Roundtables, smaller content environments and dedicated meeting spaces will create additional opportunities for peer interaction.
DPW is also expanding the ways attendees can connect outside the formal programme, with opening and closing experiences at Strand Zuid, a bowling social following Day 1 and a 75-square-metre gaming zone featuring informal competition and leaderboards.
AI-powered matchmaking is also evolving beyond static profile and interest matching. In 2026, DPW's system will incorporate behavioural signals, including the content attendees engage with and their activity during the event, to help surface potentially relevant connections that attendees may not have known to seek out themselves.
A new mentorship layer will allow attendees to indicate both areas where they can share expertise and subjects they want to learn about, creating opportunities for more purposeful knowledge exchange.
The goal is simple: help people meet the people they did not know they needed to meet.
MAKING THE VALUE OF THE EVENT VISIBLE
DPW is also changing how attendees experience and measure the value of their time at the event.
DPW Unpacked, previously delivered after the event, will become a live experience within the DPW app in 2026. Attendees will be able to see elements of their personalised activity while the event is happening, including connections made, content attended and comparisons with peer activity. The experience is designed to help attendees understand where they are getting value from the event and identify opportunities to make the most of the time they have left.
Additionally, DPW is expanding its awards programme from two categories to four, adding a Digital Innovation Award and an Influencer/People's Choice-style award alongside its existing Early Stage and Growth Stage categories. The awards will recognize both technology innovators and procurement practitioners, giving attendees the opportunity to learn from organizations and individuals demonstrating what strong digital procurement looks like in practice.
A NEW DPW AMSTERDAM
The changes represent a significant shift in how DPW approaches its flagship event.
The move to RAI Amsterdam provides the physical space to rethink the attendee journey, with a new layout, expanded Expo Hall, new stages, dedicated meeting areas and more room for interactive experiences.
But the objective is not simply to make DPW bigger.
It is to make the experience more useful.
As procurement organizations face a rapidly expanding technology landscape, the value of bringing the ecosystem together is increasingly measured not by how much information attendees can absorb, but by what they can do with it. DPW Amsterdam 2026 is designed to help attendees spend less time navigating noise and more time discovering relevant technologies, validating ideas with peers and accelerating the decisions that can move their organizations forward.
DPW Amsterdam 2026 takes place September 30–October 1, 2026, at RAI Amsterdam, Europaplein 24, 1078 GZ Amsterdam, Netherlands.
To learn more about DPW Amsterdam 2026 and register for the event, visit conference.dpw.ai.
About DPW
DPW is the global platform for procurement & supply chain leaders navigating the next era of procurement.
We bring together procurement practitioners, technology companies, startups, investors and innovators to help the industry make better decisions about AI, technology, operating models and transformation.
Through its flagship events and broader ecosystem, DPW connects leaders with the people, technologies and real-world evidence they need to challenge assumptions, validate what works and move forward with greater confidence.
Journalists, bloggers and media professionals interested in attending DPW Amsterdam 2026 can apply for press credentials here.
Media Contact:
Laura Garcia
Media Relations Lead
DPW
[email protected]
+1 365 737 3343
https://dpw.ai/
SOURCE DPW
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