#416 - European Identity and Cloud Conference 2026 Preview with Warwick Ashford

Jeff and Jim are joined by Warwick Ashford, senior analyst at KuppingerCole and returning MC of the European Identity and Cloud Conference, for a full preview of EIC 2026. The conference runs May 19-22 at the Berlin Congress Center and is expecting around 1,500 attendees with roughly 250 speakers across 200 sessions. Warwick walks through the 2026 tagline, Digital Trust Through Intelligent Identity, and unpacks the five parallel content streams covering identity governance, real-world IAM use cases, emerging tech, enterprise infrastructure, and privacy and compliance. The conversation covers how AI and agentic identity have moved from theory to a central agenda theme, what to know about the quantum-safe identity block, why EU digital wallets and digital sovereignty are getting serious keynote time, and why EIC records everything so you never have to pick the wrong session. Jeff also shares his take on where EIC fits in the broader conference calendar alongside Identiverse and Gartner, and why he is thoroughly done hearing that identity is the new perimeter.

Connect with Warwick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/warwickashford/

Attend European Identity and Cloud Conference 2026 (use code idac25mko for a 25% discount): https://www.kuppingercole.com/events/eic2026?ref=partneridac26

Secure Remote Access: The Foundation of Industrial Cybersecurity (KC Analyst Chat Video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqpNg-ogEv4

Connect with us on LinkedIn:

Jim McDonald: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmcdonaldpmp/

Jeff Steadman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffsteadman/

Visit the show on the web at http://idacpodcast.com

00:00:00 Intro and AI Cybersecurity Discussion

00:04:00 EIC 2026 and Discount Code

00:05:47 Introducing Warwick Ashford

00:07:00 Warwick's Recent Work: MDR, SRA for OT/ICS, and TPAG

00:10:16 The History and Evolution of the EIC Name

00:11:00 Tagline: Digital Trust Through Intelligent Identity

00:12:10 How AI Has Elevated the EIC Agenda

00:14:49 Sessions vs Workshops at EIC

00:17:57 EIC as a Community and Networking Conference

00:18:00 Jeff's Conference Circuit: EIC, Identiverse, and Gartner

00:25:28 EIC 2026 Keynote Highlights

00:31:55 Virtual Attendance and Session Recordings

00:34:34 Hidden Gem: The Quantum-Safe Identity Block

00:36:15 Logistics: 1500 Attendees and 250 Speakers

00:38:00 The Five Parallel Content Streams

00:43:31 Is Identity the New Perimeter?

00:48:13 Fun Segment: Most Memorable Theater Moments

Keywords: EIC 2026, European Identity Conference, Warwick Ashford, KuppingerCole, digital trust, intelligent identity, agentic identity, non-human identities, ITDR, quantum-safe identity, EU digital wallets, identity fabric, identity control plane, IAM, zero trust, Berlin, conference preview, IDAC, Identity at the Center, Jeff Steadman, Jim McDonald, Warwick Ashford