All 2026 #GartnerAPPS Sessions

The 2026 agenda dives deep into key topics for enterprise application and software engineering leaders around AI, leadership, modernization, cost optimization and more to help address your organization’s mission-critical challenges.

2026 Applications Conference Theme

Deliver the Future: Innovate, Lead, Act.

Applications and software engineering leaders are at a turning point where foresight must meet execution and business disruption is forcing dramatic changes. The 2026 conference empowers you to go beyond admiring the AI-enabled promising future — it's about actively building and delivering it. Learn how modern technology, visionary leadership and decisive action can transform your organization’s aspirations into reality. 

Explore our conference sessions below, all developed with this theme in mind. Join us to grow the skills and insights needed to deliver an adaptive and autonomous transformation journey.

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There are hundreds of sessions happening each day. Filter to see sessions that align with your role and interests. After registering for the conference, craft your agenda and book priority sessions — all through Gartner Conference Navigator.

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Monday, 14 September, 2026

11:00 AM - 11:20 AM BST

Magic Quadrant for AI Application Development Platforms
C.A. Swan, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
Software engineering leaders' top priority is infusing AI into products. AI application development platforms streamline the process of building AI agents, assistants and multimodal applications. Use this evaluation to identify suitable vendors based on your organization’s needs. ... Show More Show Less

11:00 AM - 11:30 AM BST

Top Strategic Trends in Software Engineering for 2026
Joachim Herschmann, VP Analyst, Gartner
Thriving in times of intense economic and social volatility requires organizations to find new ways to empower their software engineering teams to increase productivity, efficiency and effectiveness. This session will provide Gartner's latest and best guidance on the actionable trends' software engineering leaders and their teams should be tracking in 2026 and beyond. ... Show More Show Less

11:45 AM - 12:15 PM BST

Creativity Is the New Productivity: A Software Leader's Playbook to Build Intrapreneurial Software Teams
Frank O'Connor, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
The future of software engineering lies in creativity and innovation rather than productivity. This playbook guides leaders in redefining success metrics, cultivating a founder’s mindset, and aligning AI-powered ideation and rapid prototyping with business goals. By prioritizing creative potential over traditional throughput, organizations unlock sustained value and reshape the next era of software engineering. ... Show More Show Less

02:00 PM - 03:30 PM BST

Workshop: How to Build the Business Case for AI in the SDLC
Tigran Egiazarov, VP Analyst, Gartner
Keith Holloway, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
AI in the SDLC is becoming more expensive as most vendors move to consumption-based pricing. While it is a long-term investment, many organizations are falling short in realizing how to scale AI across the SDLC. This session will focus on building the business case for AI in SDLC use cases. ... Show More Show Less

02:30 PM - 03:15 PM BST

Ask the Analyst: Coding Agents
C.A. Swan, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
AI coding agents are designed to carry out agentic, multistep development workflows with minimal manual intervention. They have replaced AI coding assistants as the state of the art for AI-enabled software engineering. Join this session as we explore AI coding agents including Claude Code and OpenAI Codex. ... Show More Show Less

02:30 PM - 03:15 PM BST

Roundtable: Does Digital Sovereignty Stifle Digital Innovation?
Nitish Tyagi, Sr Principal Analyst, Gartner
In an AI-native era, speed of innovation is of utmost importance. Yet, rising geopolitical tensions are forcing "Digital Sovereignty", pushing us back to data centers and building everything from scratch. This session will foster a discussion among enterprise leaders and software engineering leaders, if digital sovereignty is holding back the speed of innovation required in the AI era. ... Show More Show Less

02:30 PM - 03:00 PM BST

The System Engineering Renaissance: How System Design, Context and Documentation Unlock Real AI Impact
Erin Khoo, Director Analyst, Gartner
The next frontier of AI value isn't found in more code assistant automation, but in the disciplined application of systems engineering, strategic curation of context and the elevation of documentation from an afterthought to a primary fuel to drive AI alignment, enabling AI agents to accomplish more for your business. ... Show More Show Less

04:00 PM - 04:30 PM BST

Magic Quadrant Power Session: Enterprise AI Coding Agents and AI Application Development Platforms
Philip Walsh, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
C.A. Swan, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
AI-augmented software engineering tools are context-aware, data-driven and increasingly autonomous tools, enabling faster delivery of higher quality products. We discuss findings from Gartner's Magic Quadrants for agentic coding and AI Application Development Platforms. Learn how Gartner defines these markets, the mandatory and common product features, the best vendors for your organization, the main use cases, and how complementary these solutions are. ... Show More Show Less
Tuesday, 15 September, 2026

09:00 AM - 09:45 AM BST

Gartner Keynote: Pushing the Boundaries of AI
Chris Howard, Distinguished VP Analyst, Gartner
The continued investment in AI has led to accelerated investment in related technologies. This opens up groundbreaking possibilities for those with ambition and imagination. In this keynote address, Chris Howard looks at the convergence of multiple trends that point to a post-AI world and their implication for [IT Professionals]. From the digital twin of the earth to quantum entanglement, there are inspirational futures in our midst today. (this session will draw from futures lab trends, our quantum research, healthcare examples, and data from our Board and CEO surveys) ... Show More Show Less

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“The discussion around AI agents and their practical applications was particularly engaging, providing a solid foundation for understanding how these technologies can be integrated into existing IT architectures. The session also did a great job of highlighting real-world use cases and anticipating future industry shifts, which made the material even more impactful.”

Federica Cavazzini
Solution Architect, Barilla

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