Forward Data & AI Conference 2026

Welcome to the CfP page of the third edition of Forward Data Conference, an event dedicated to accelerating careers, growing teams, and shaping the future of the French Data & AI community.

If you build data platforms or ship AI systems, the ground has already moved under you: what you build, who consumes it, how you write the code. Forward brings together the people doing this work, with the depth the subject demands.

Forward is the crossroads where these shifts meet: data, engineering, product, and business in the same room, built for practitioners and for entire teams who want to navigate the shift together rather than one silo at a time.

That is also why we believe in the T-Shape approach: go deep in your craft, then expand into the neighboring ones, because the borders between them have never been this open. Bring what you built, what broke, and what you measured. The best talks here teach the rest of the community what they could not have learned inside their own silo.

CfP and Talk Rules

• We welcome CfPs in both English and French.
• The required level for any talk is intermediate to advanced. Our audience is practitioners: assume they know the basics, and take them further.
• Talks are organized in four themes. Pick the category that best matches your story, and if it sits between two,
  pick the closest one and say so in your submission.
• We are looking for talks grounded in real-world experience: what you built, what broke, what you measured, and what you would do differently.
• No product pitches. Vendors are welcome as speakers when they defend an architectural thesis or share genuine field lessons.
• First-time and diversity speakers are welcome. We are happy to provide guidance and help in preparing your talk for a limited number of proposals.

Review Process

• Your submission will be reviewed by the Forward Data Program Committee, composed of members of Hymaïa, Modern Data Network, Christophe Blefari, and other Data & AI Leaders from the ecosystem.
• Provide as much detail as possible. Knowing one of the organizers is not a shortcut: there is no substitute for a clear, impactful proposal.