BIG DATA CONFERENCE
EUROPE 2026
November 24-27
Vilnius & Online
Big Data Conference Europe History and Past Editions
Explore the history of Big Data Conference Europe from its first Vilnius edition in 2017 to the tenth edition in 2026, including dates, formats, attendance figures, programmes, archive pages, and conference recordings.
How Big Data Conference Europe Began
Big Data Conference Europe began in Vilnius in 2017 with a simple purpose: to bring together people who build, manage and use data systems and give them a place to share what works in practice.
The first two editions were called Big Data Conference Vilnius. As the speaker community and audience became increasingly international, the event adopted the name Big Data Conference Europe in 2019.
The technologies discussed on stage have changed considerably since those early years. Big Data and High Load systems were soon joined by cloud platforms, real-time data processing, modern data architectures, DataOps, MLOps, machine learning, generative AI and AI-ready data engineering. The practical character of the conference, however, has remained the same: experienced professionals sharing real projects, lessons learned and technical decisions with their peers.
Organised by UAB DATA MINER, the conference has taken place every year since 2017.
When the COVID-19 pandemic made it impossible to bring an international audience together safely in Vilnius, the conference moved online in 2020 instead of skipping an edition. It remained online in 2021 and 2022, allowing speakers and participants from around the world to stay connected during the pandemic years. In 2023, the conference finally returned to Vilnius while keeping online access for those unable to travel.
Big Data Conference Europe 2026 will be the tenth edition of the conference.
Past Editions at a Glance
| Edition | Dates | Location and format | Main highlights |
|---|---|---|---|
| Big Data Conference Vilnius 2017 | – | Vilnius | The first edition, centred on Big Data, High Load systems, Data Science and Machine Learning |
| Big Data Conference Vilnius 2018 | – | Vilnius | 40+ international speakers, 3 tracks, 8 workshops and 450+ participants |
| Big Data Conference Europe 2019 | – | Vilnius | 47 talks, 5 workshops, 4 tracks and 800 attendees |
| Big Data Conference Europe 2020 | – | Online due to COVID-19 | 44 talks across 4 technical tracks |
| Big Data Conference Europe 2021 | – | Online | 40+ talks, 4 tracks and a separate workshop day |
| Big Data Conference Europe 2022 | – | Online | 1,927 registrations, 48 speakers and 40+ talks |
| Big Data Conference Europe 2023 | – | Vilnius and online | Return to Vilnius with 1,000+ attendees, 60+ talks and 4 tracks |
| Big Data Conference Europe 2024 | – | Vilnius and online | 700+ attendees from 35+ countries; first edition co-located with RPA Europe |
| Big Data Conference Europe 2025 | – | Vilnius and online | 700+ attendees, 60+ talks and co-location with RPA Europe and AI Summit Europe |
| Big Data Conference Europe 2026 | – | Vilnius and online | Tenth edition, co-located with AI Summit Europe, with 90+ planned talks, 7 workshops and 6 tracks |
The Story of Each Edition
2017: The First Big Data Conference Vilnius
The first Big Data Conference Vilnius took place on –. It brought together developers, data engineers, data scientists and other professionals working with Big Data, High Load systems, Data Science and Machine Learning.
Speakers represented organisations including IBM, Microsoft, Exacaster, Logical Clocks, GetInData and Clever Cloud. The programme was already strongly technical, with talks and workshops focused on the challenges practitioners were dealing with in their everyday work.
The original programme and speaker information can still be found in the Big Data Conference Vilnius 2017 archive. Slides and supporting materials from the first edition are available in the 2017 presentations archive.
2018: A Growing Data Community
One year later, the conference had grown to more than 40 international speakers, three technical tracks, eight full-day workshops and over 450 participants.
The 2018 programme covered data engineering, real-time processing, predictive analytics, deep learning, TensorFlow, machine learning, cloud technologies and the realities of running data systems in production.
The Big Data Conference Vilnius 2018 archive preserves the programme, workshop information and speaker line-up from the second edition.
2019: Becoming Big Data Conference Europe
The change from Big Data Conference Vilnius to Big Data Conference Europe reflected what the event had already become: an international conference based in Vilnius but serving a much wider European data community.
Held on –, the 2019 edition welcomed 800 attendees for 47 talks, five workshops and four technical tracks.
The programme covered deep learning, cloud computing, predictive analytics, real-time stream processing, data science and large-scale production systems. It also developed the combination of technical learning, international networking and a cinema-style conference experience that would become familiar to returning participants.
The complete programme and speaker line-up remain available in the Big Data Conference Europe 2019 archive.
2020: Moving Online During COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic changed plans for conferences around the world, and Big Data Conference Europe was no exception. With international travel restricted and a large onsite gathering no longer possible, the – edition moved entirely online.
Rather than cancelling the conference, the team adapted its multi-track format for a remote audience. The three-day programme featured 44 talks across four technical tracks, allowing speakers and participants to join from different countries despite the disruption caused by the pandemic.
Sessions covered data observability, open-source databases, cloud platforms, predictive analytics, deep learning, data science and real-time data processing.
The full programme can be found in the Big Data Conference Europe 2020 archive.
2021: Keeping the Community Connected Online
COVID-related travel restrictions were still affecting international events in 2021, so Big Data Conference Europe remained online for a second year.
The – edition combined two conference days with a separate day of practical workshops. More than 40 talks were organised across four tracks: Data, Machine Learning, Cloud and Streaming, and Varia.
The workshops gave participants an opportunity to work more deeply with technologies including Kafka, Spark, Hadoop, ONNX and MySQL. Conference sessions covered data discovery, data lineage, serverless machine learning, DataSecOps, cloud security, data lakes, observability and production ML systems.
The full programme is preserved in the Big Data Conference Europe 2021 archive.
2022: The Largest Online Edition
By 2022, the online format had developed into a large international event in its own right. The – edition attracted 1,927 registrations and featured 48 speakers, six hosts and more than 40 talks across four tracks.
Topics ranged from PostgreSQL, Apache Spark, Kubernetes and data streaming to data quality, MLOps, AI and ML security, data engineering and responsible AI.
The Big Data Conference Europe 2022 archive contains the main edition information. The detailed 2022 programme and speaker profiles are also available through the event platform.
2023: Back in Vilnius
After three years online, Big Data Conference Europe returned to Vilnius in 2023. Online access remained available, creating the hybrid format that the conference continues to use today.
The – edition welcomed more than 1,000 attendees. Its four-day programme included over 60 talks, at least three practical workshops and four parallel tracks.
The programme reflected how quickly the field had expanded. Alongside data engineering, Kafka, Spark, cloud computing and streaming, participants could attend sessions on natural language processing, ChatGPT, deep learning, cybersecurity, Kubernetes, TensorFlow and IoT.
The Big Data Conference Europe 2023 archive provides an overview of the edition, while the 2023 programme and speaker profiles contain the detailed schedule.
2024: Big Data and Automation Under One Roof
Big Data Conference Europe 2024 brought more than 700 attendees from over 35 countries to Vilnius and online. The programme included more than 60 talks, at least five workshops and four tracks.
This was also the first year that Big Data Conference Europe was co-located with RPA Europe. The two programmes ran alongside each other, bringing the data and business automation communities into the same conference environment. One ticket provided access to both events.
The Big Data programme continued to connect data engineering and analytics with cloud platforms, machine learning, generative AI and enterprise automation.
The edition is documented in the Big Data Conference Europe 2024 archive, with the full 2024 programme and speaker profiles available separately.
The combined 2024 conference talks collection contains 77 recordings from Big Data Conference Europe and RPA Europe.
2025: Data, Automation and AI Communities Meet
The ninth Big Data Conference Europe took place in Vilnius and online on –. It continued the four-day structure of practical workshops followed by three days of conference sessions.
More than 700 attendees from over 35 countries joined over 60 talks across four tracks. The programme addressed Big Data, cloud technologies, data engineering, real-time architectures, analytics, modern data platforms and production machine learning.
RPA Europe was co-located with Big Data Conference Europe for the second year. AI Summit Europe was also co-located in the same Vilnius conference setting, bringing together professionals working across data, automation and applied artificial intelligence.
The Big Data Conference Europe 2025 archive contains the edition overview. Individual talks, timings and speaker profiles can be found in the 2025 programme.
The combined 2025 conference talks collection contains 101 recordings from Big Data Conference Europe, RPA Europe and AI Summit Europe.
Experiences shared by previous speakers and participants are available on the conference reviews and testimonials page.
2026: The Tenth Big Data Conference Europe
The tenth Big Data Conference Europe will take place in Vilnius and online on –.
The workshop day will be held in Vilnius on . Three conference days will follow on –, with both onsite and online participation.
The planned programme includes more than 90 talks, seven workshops and six tracks. More than 700 professionals from over 35 countries are expected to take part.
The main subject areas include:
- Data engineering, pipelines and DataOps
- Real-time data and streaming architectures
- AI-ready data engineering
- Data security and secure AI systems
- Cloud data platforms and infrastructure
- Analytics and production machine learning
- AI agents and autonomous workflows
- Scaling data and AI teams
Big Data Conference Europe 2026 will be co-located with AI Summit Europe. One ticket will give attendees access to both programmes, connecting technical subjects such as data engineering, analytics, cloud and machine learning with AI strategy, implementation and business use cases.