EIC 2026 Wrap-up

A sunny day in Berlin set the tone for a globally attended event that brings together identity and cybersecurity experts and vendors around KuppingerCole’s flagship European Identity and Cloud (EIC) conference. The gathering is positioned as a central meeting point for people working on identity and adjacent domains who want to advance toward a future that is both human-centric and secure, while also incorporating broader inclusion- and society-oriented themes.

The most urgent pain point highlighted is the rise of non-human identities, especially as AI expands capabilities and accelerates change. AI’s potential is framed as inseparable from secure implementation; otherwise, organizations accumulate unmanageable technical debt and risk while adversaries rapidly adopt AI. This creates a need to elevate security posture significantly and to govern increasingly proactive software.

The event also aligned with the release of a Leadership Compass focused on Privileged Access Management, adding timely depth to discussions, alongside sessions on privacy, consent, and shifting laws and regulations worldwide. A keynote focused on identity in the United States and its implications for the wider industry contributed to the conference’s described atmosphere: inspiring, vibrant, forward-looking, community-driven, and fun.

• The event took place in Berlin on a very sunny day.
• People attended from all over the world.
• KuppingerCole is described as having a strong reputation in the cybersecurity community.
• European Identity and Cloud (EIC) is described as KuppingerCole’s flagship event known in the IAM community.
• The conference is described as well attended by experts and vendors.
• Non-human identities are identified as a leading pain point.
• Attackers are already leveraging AI.
• Software is becoming more proactive and requires governance.
• The event coincided with the publication of a Leadership Compass on Privileged Access Management.
• Topics included privacy, consent, and changing laws and regulations globally.

• “KuppingerCole has a strong reputation in the cybersecurity community.”
• “The EIC event is really their flagship product that everyone knows about in the IAM community.”
• “You should meet if you really want to move forward into a future that is human-centric and secure.”
• “For me, the most important topic, which is my pain point so far, is the non-human identities.”
• “AI promises a lot of things to us today, but without doing that in a secure way, we are building up technical debts and risks that we can't manage.”
• “Attackers don't wait when it comes to leveraging AI.”
• “We have to really bring our security posture to a completely different level.”
• “It's moving forward into a world where software is becoming proactive and needs to be governed.”
• “There's a lot of good topics around privacy, consents, changing laws and regulations all around the world.”
• “I just finished my keynote, which was about identity in the United States and what it means for all of us in the industry.”