ISE 2026: What Organizations Said About the Future of Meetings, AI and Collaboration

Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) is the world's leading annual trade fair for audiovisual technology and systems integration. Every year, everything comes together here: from displays and meeting room solutions to software, AI and integrated collaboration technology. With thousands of exhibitors and visitors from all over the world, it is the place where you can see where the market is heading.

Yet ISE remains special to me (Femke Cornelissen) mainly for another reason. Not because of the size of the fair or the amount of technology you see, but because of the conversations that arise when you walk around with customers. It is precisely there, between the innovations and demos, that the focus shifts. This year, those conversations were remarkably little about devices and increasingly about how work is fundamentally changing.

Together with Boskalis, Bravis Hospital, Mileway, Buitenhuis Advies, Ahold Delhaize, Nationale-Nederlanden, Dell and Team Eiffel, we visited ISE 2026 in Barcelona. Different sectors, different roles, but remarkably the same questions. How do meetings develop? What does AI mean in practice? And how do you ensure that technology actually helps to work better together?

What struck me most was that everyone saw the same movement. Technology is becoming less and less visible, but at the same time increasingly important for how we work together.

Hardware remains essential, but innovation is shifting

One of the observations that came up in several conversations was the continued role of hardware. Good cameras, reliable audio and well-equipped meeting rooms still form the foundation of hybrid collaboration. Without that basis, digital collaboration simply does not work.

At the same time, it is clear to see that the real innovation is moving. Where ISE used to be mainly about new devices and hardware updates, the focus is now mainly on software. 

André Nouws of Boskalis put it aptly:
"The hardware remains important to keep up in this day and age. But the real updates are now mainly seen in software. That's where the acceleration is."

Intelligence is increasingly being added on top of existing solutions. AI functionality, speech-to-text and smart meeting features are no longer separate additions, but are an integral part of existing solutions.

Timon Gerritsen of Team Eiffel said:
"AI is actually underneath everything. It is embedded as a service. Everything is built to do your job better."

AI is therefore no longer something you introduce. It is now part of how modern meeting and collaboration solutions function.

From technology to experience

What I liked to see is that the conversations were less and less about technique and more and more about experience. No longer the question 'what can the technology do?', but 'what do you notice in practice?'. What does a meeting feel like? Does a space work by itself? And does technology help to have better conversations?

Jean-Charles Agazzi of Mileway mainly saw how different disciplines come together:
"You see that light, camera, audio and software are increasingly becoming one whole. It's no longer about individual products."

This shift also brings a clear challenge. Technology must not only work well today, but also in a few years' time still match how people work together. Reliability and future-proofing are thus becoming at least as important as innovation. 

André Nouws (Boskalis) put it sharply:
"The power of technology is great, but you don't want to give people stuff that after a while no longer does what they are supposed to do."

It is therefore not surprising that lifecycle management of meeting rooms was a much-discussed topic. Not replacing for the sake of replacing, but consciously continuing to develop with an eye for use, management and long-term value.

AI and agents feel close, but still require direction

AI and agents were everywhere at ISE. At the same time, I noticed in conversations that many organizations are still looking for what this means in concrete terms for their own work.

Sietse Beukenkamp and Wendy Groffen of Bravis Hospital expressed this well:
"You notice that a lot is possible. It is inspiring to see and it helps to think about what we want to do with this further."

I recognize that. Agents feel close because they can already be deployed in concrete work scenarios today. But they sometimes feel far away, because organizations are looking for the right scenarios, priorities and investment choices.

What came back in almost every conversation was that the real value only arises when AI is linked to concrete outcomes. It becomes interesting when scenarios improve decision-making or deliver immediate value. That's what the board is looking at. 

Watching together gives different conversations

What always makes these days special for me is that you look differently when you are on the road together. You see not only technology, but also how different organizations look at the same development and what questions it raises for them.

Ellen de Vries and Job Sanders of Buitenhuis Advies were also inspired by ISE:
"You are taken into the story. That gives inspiration to look further in terms of content."

And yes, sometimes it just feels like big kids in a playground. Discovering new technology is always fun. But it is precisely in those informal moments that the best conversations often arise. 

The real next step: adoption and leadership

Perhaps what I take away most from ISE 2026 is that technology is no longer the biggest challenge. It is already there: mature, available and widely deployable. The real question is how organizations make this technology part of their way of working.

Timon Gerritsen of Team Eiffel put it bluntly:
"Adoption is necessary. You have to set it up fundamentally and really make it a transformation as an organization."

That's where he gets to the heart of the matter for me. Meetings don't change because technology gets better. They change because organizations make different choices: in how they work together, how they make decisions and how they deal with information and responsibility.

ISE 2026 showed that we are in the middle of that shift. The technology is ready. Now the real work begins.