Touchdown Middle East 2026 brought to you by KEZAD Group in Abu Dhabi

Touchdown Middle East 2026 is a two-day business conference in Abu Dhabi devoted to the data centre industry. It is presented as the first annual conference of its kind for the Gulf region, and it is aimed at people who build, run, finance and regulate the facilities that keep digital services working.

The event was developed by the Gulf Data Centre Association (GDCA), a trade association set up to give the Gulf data centre sector a platform for growth and investment. The audience includes industry leaders, C-level executives, decision-makers, operators and influencers from across the Middle East. The programme combines keynote sessions led by industry experts with panel discussions featuring leading voices from the sector. The talks focus on the trends, developments and opportunities shaping the regional data centre market, and there is time set aside for business development and building contacts.

The conference takes place at Conrad Abu Dhabi Etihad Towers, a five-star hotel in the Etihad Towers complex on the Corniche, Abu Dhabi's waterfront road. The area faces the Arabian Gulf and sits close to Emirates Palace and the city's main hotels, restaurants and Corniche promenade, which makes it a convenient base for a business visit. For anyone living in Dubai, Abu Dhabi is a drive of roughly an hour and a half by car, so the conference can be treated as a day trip or combined with an overnight stay.

This is a professional event rather than a leisure outing. It suits data centre operators, investors, developers, technology and infrastructure specialists, and anyone who follows how the Gulf's digital infrastructure is developing. Expect a conference format with scheduled sessions and networking in between, running across two days in November 2026. The theme of the event is the future of data centres in the region, and the aim is to put the people behind that future in one room to share ideas and make connections.