Workshops Overview
The ADRF26 Conference offers a variety of hands-on workshops designed to give participants practical skills, new insights, and opportunities to collaborate. Workshops are led by experts and cover topics ranging from data governance and privacy to advanced analytics and evaluation methods.
The European AI, Data, Robotics Forum (ADRF) is the annual community gathering event organised by the AI, Data and Robotics Association (Adra) in collaboration with the European Commission. This event serves as an arena for inspiration and matchmaking of actors and stakeholders in Europe with the goal of promoting research, innovation and deployment of AI, Data, and Robotics (ADR) towards boosting competitiveness and improving technological leadership and welfare across Europe. The call for workshops is thematically open to any topic at the crossroads between AI, Data and Robotics.
What to Expect
Diverse Topics: Sessions span data science, ethics, technology, and evaluation practices.
All Levels: Options for beginners, intermediates, and advanced participants.
Interactive Format: Each workshop is designed to be practical and collaborative.
Expert Instructors: Learn from leaders across research, government, and industry.
Workshop Sessions Condensed Agenda
Day 1, 13 October, 2026
| Time | Session Title | Room |
|---|---|---|
| 08:30 - 09:00 | Opening: António Gouveia Santos, (executive director of Alfândega do Porto), Pedro Teixeira (Rector of the University of Porto), João Claro (President and CEO, INESC TEC), Emanuela Girardi (President of ADRA) and Roberto Viola (Director of DG CNECT, European Commission). The State of the Union for ADR (Opening Ceremony). | Nascente 2nd floor (Plenary) |
| 09:00 - 10:00 | Panel 1: European Renaissance 2.0: Kristina Knaving (Swedish Post and Telecom Authority), Nicolas Schneider (AIRBUS), João Claro (President and CEO, INESC TEC) | |
| 13:15 - 14:00 | Plenary 2: Pooling Capital to Scale - Davide Rota (Generative Bionics), John Blankendaal (Brainport Industries), Reet Pärgmäe (Taltech), Steve Smith (Dewhurst.tech) | |
| 17:30 - 18:30 | Plenary 3: The geopolitics of trust: Strengthening Europe's global position - Jung Hoon Lee (AI Advisor to ROK government), Mallory Durran (Executive Director of Nesta's Applied Research and Methods), Emilia Tantar (Chief AI Officer at Luxembourg House of Cybersecurity), Stephen MacDonell (Professor and Co-Director of the Centre for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, Victoria University of Wellington) | |
| 10:30 - 11:30 here | GenAI4EU Central Hub | Porto (European Strategy Track) |
11:30 - 12:30 | Building Europe's Next Technology Advantage | |
14:00 - 15:15 | Apply AI - GenAI in Robotics and Manufacturing | |
15:15 - 16:30 | Technology Foundations: Robotics and Trustworthy AI - With the participation of EU-Funded projects: MANiBOT, RoboSAPIENS, EXTRA-BRAIN, AIXPERT | |
| 10:30 - 11:30 here | Beyond Pick-and-Place: Advanced Robotic Manipulation in Dynamic and Unstructured Environments | Arrábida |
| 11:30 - 12:30 here | Measuring Europe’s ADR Capabilities: From Sovereignty Policy Actions to Observatory KPIs | |
| 14:00 - 15:15 here | Data and AI for Circular Industrial Equipment: Re-use, Remanufacturing, Re-build and Upcycling Across Device, Data and Material Levels | |
| 15:15 - 16:30 here | AI for Circular Materials: From Hyperspectral Perception to Autonomous Sorting | |
| 16:45 - 18:00 here | Multimodal perception: from mature technologies to industrial deployment | |
| 10:30 - 11:30 here | European Gateway for Trusted AI in Digital Health: Orchestrating Innovation from Data to Deployment | D. Luis |
| 11:30 - 12:30 here | Beyond the Pilot: How European Robotics Reaches Certified Industrial Deployment | |
| 14:00 - 15:15 here | Manufacturing-as-a-Service. Powering Europe's next Industrial model and Standardization Pathways in the EuroMaaS Projects Cluster | |
| 15:15 - 16:30 here | A European co-design workshop on developing successful humanoid robotics projects for healthcare. | |
| 16:45 - 18:00 here | Digital Twins as the Operational Layer for AI, Data and Robotics in European Industry | |
| 10:30 - 11:30 here | AI-Driven HMI Design for CCAM: Methods, Tools, and Human-Centred Validation | D. Maria |
| 11:30 - 12:30 here | Data and AI infrastructures to power a sovereign and trustworthy Physical AI in EU Manufacturing and Robotics Ecosystems | |
| 14:00 - 15:15 here | Human-Robot Interaction In Europe: Building Trustworthy Collaboration from Lab to Deployment | |
| 15:15 - 16:30 here | From Task Intentions to Reliable Multi-Robot Work in Human-Centred Environments | |
| 16:45 - 18:00 here | From Policy to Action — Europe's Tech Sovereignty Roadmap | |
| 10:30 - 11:30 here | Sovereign Physical AI for Europe's Energy Resilience through Autonomous Robot Inspection and Maintenance | Infante |
| 11:30 - 12:30 here | AI + Robotics for maintenance at scale: Turning data into actions and operational value | |
| 14:00 - 15:15 here | Futuring AI Skills in the European Union: Exploring Skills Gaps in key strategic industrial domains | |
| 15:15 - 16:30 here | From Lab to Industry: Scaling Highly Autonomous Robots Under Regulatory Uncertainty | |
| 16:45 - 18:00 here | From Cutting Table to Finished Garment: Robotic Automation in European Apparel Manufacturing | |
| 10:00 - 10:30 | Qualcomm speaking session - Platinum Sponsor | Arquivo (Exhibition / Pitching) |
| 12:30 - 13:30 | AMD (1), Citeve (2) / BDVA (3) / speaking session - 1 x Platinum, 1 x Diamond + 1 x Gold Sponsor | |
| 16:30 - 16:40 | LOBA speaking session - Gold Sponsor |
Day 2, 14 October, 2026
| Time | Session Title | Room |
|---|---|---|
| 09:00 - 10:00 | Opening Day 2: Ricardo Bento (VP of North Region Coordination Commission - CCDR-Norte). Keynote speech from Manuela Veloso (Carnegie Mellon University) The geopolitics of trust: Strengthening Europe's global position. Plenary 4: ADR in mission-critical environments - Francisco Marques (EDP), Manuela Veloso (Carnegie Mellon University), Luis Sarmento (CTO, A12) | Nascente 2nd floor (Plenary) |
| 13:45 - 14:30 | Plenary 5: Competitive edge: Winning the global scale-up race - Joaquim Sérvulo Rodrigues (CEO and Founder Armilar Venture Partners), Piotr Mieczkowski (Chariman of AI Poland), Rayan El Idrissi (Co-Founder & CTO of Pulsar Robotics), Bernado Almada-Lobo (Founder & Partner of LTP Labs) | |
| 17:30 - 18:00 | Plenary 6: The Catalyst Manifesto (Closing) - Fireside with Emanuela Girardi (President of ADRA) and Arlindo Oliveira (President of INESC Holding) | |
10:00 - 11:15 | AI in strategic sectors: Manifacturing, Energy, Climate & Environment, Healthcare - With the participation of EU-Funded Projects: DMaaST, COSMIC, TURING, PRIMI | Porto (European Strategy Track) |
11:30 - 12:45 | AI for impact: Human centricity, Circularity, Sustainability - With the participation of EU-Funded projects: AI4REALNET, AMALTEA, iBot4CRMs, MERLIN | |
14:30 - 15:45 | From Projects to Policy – Feedback Session Roundtable discussion with ADRA, European Commission and DIH Oceanopolis | |
| 16:15 - 17:30 | SRIDA - SUPPLY CHAIN | |
| 10:00 - 11:15 here | When Robots Learn to Interact: Foundation Models for Human-Robot Collaboration and Dexterous Manipulation in Healthcare and Industry | Arrábida |
| 11:30 - 12:45 here | European Physical AI for Strategic Autonomy in Field Robotics | |
| 14:30 - 15:45 here | Physical AI , Robotics and Computational Biology as a Compass for Europe Competitiveness | |
| 16:15 - 17:30 here | What is the future of science in the world of AI? | |
| 10:00 - 11:15 here | Resilient by Design: Securing Europe's Physical AI and Robotics Supply Chain | D. Luis |
| 11:30 - 12:45 here | Embodied AI- Challenges and Success Stories | |
| 14:30 - 15:45 here | UAVs for Autonomous Logistics in the Factory - Deep Reinforcement Learning, Applications and Challenges | |
| 16:15 - 17:30 here | Robotics and AI for Inspection of Critical Infrastructures in Extreme Underwater Environments | |
| 10:00 - 11:15 here | Designing Ecosystem Governance for ADR: From Governance Gaps to Action | D. Maria |
| 11:30 - 12:45 here | Trustworthy and Sovereign Industrial Agentic AI: Digital Twins, Standards and Governance | |
| 14:30 - 15:45 here | From Industry Needs to Research Priorities: Developing a European Defence Technology Outlook | |
| 16:15 - 17:30 here | AI for Freight Transportation: From Predictive Models to Technology Transfer | |
10:00 - 11:15 | From Sustainability Challenges to ADRA Action Lines: Connecting Robotics, AI and Data | Infante |
| 11:30 - 12:45 here | Designing the European Hospital of the Future: A Community Roadmapping Workshop on AI, Data & Robotics for Resilient Healthcare | |
| 14:30 - 15:45 here | AI, Data and Robotics for Construction 5.0: From European Pilots to Industrial Deployment | |
| 16:15 - 17:30 here | Operational Robotics for Quality Control, Inspection, and Assisted Maintenance for Defense | |
| 11:15 - 11:25 | TNO - 1x Gold Sponsor speaking session | Arquivo (Exhibition / Pitching) |
| 12:45 -13:45 | AI on Demand- Deploy AI (1)/ IDENER (2) / TUE (3) / PAL Robotics (4) - 1x Diamond Sponsor & 3x Gold Sponsors | Arquivo (Exhibition / Pitching) |
| 15:55 - 16:15 | AGT Robotics (1) & ADRA (2) - 2 x Gold sponsors | Arquivo (Exhibition / Pitching) |