IJCAI-ECAI 2026 in Bremen: A Recap of the First Conference Days
The 35th IJCAI-ECAI 2026 conference once again brings together world-class researchers, scientists, and innovators from across the globe, this time in Bremen, Germany. As the world’s oldest conference on Artificial Intelligence, IJCAI continues its founding mission: providing a forum to discuss recent advances, debate emerging trends, and share diverse perspectives on where the field of AI should head next: this year held jointly with ECAI, the European Association for Artificial Intelligence’s annual conference.
IJCAI-ECAI 2026 kicked off on Saturday, 15 August, at the University of Bremen, which has been hosting the conference through Monday, 17 August. On Tuesday, 18 August, the conference moves to the Congress Center Bremen for the main conference program. From a busy weekend of scientific exchange and community-building to a Monday focusing on the next generation, IJCAI-ECAI 2026 continues to be a place where ideas, people, and generations of AI research come together.
Insights into AI: Science in Dialogue with the Public
Saturday set the pace with 13 workshops and 9 tutorials, alongside a diversity workshop Contemplating the Future of Queer AI. It was a great start to a weekend filled not only with technical exchange, but also with conversations about who is shaping AI and whose perspectives need to be part of its future.
Between corridor chats, long-overdue reunions, and casual evening dinners, the energy across the University of Bremen campus has been fantastic. At its heart, IJCAI-ECAI 2026 is all about community: reconnecting with old friends, welcoming first-time attendees, and sparking exciting new collaborations along the way.
The official conference app, Whova, offers far more than just schedule planning and agenda updates. By Monday, attendees created 55 community groups to connect with like-minded peers at IJCAI-ECAI 2026. From sharing job vacancies and ride-shares to forming impact-oriented networks, first-timer meetups, regional groups, and hobby circles (like climbing!), Whova makes it easy to spark meaningful in-person connections during the conference.
Sunday brought even more energy, with 18 workshops and 6 tutorials, as well as two diversity events: Accessible Aging AI: Building an Affinity Community for Diverse Human Abilities in AI and Beyond the AI Bubble: Inclusion, Networking, and the Future of AI.
Sunday evening, we also opened the conversation to the general public beyond the conference community with IJCAI-ECAI 2026 public panel, “New Directions for Safe AI Agents.” Moderated by Dr. Mark T. Maybury, the panel brought together Wolfgang Wahlster (DFKI), Stuart Battersby (Red Hat), Josephine (Yuyin) Liu (ACM), and Mihai Christodorescu (Google), to discuss trust, human-agent interaction, open-source approaches to AI safety, and the need for governance that can keep pace with rapidly evolving AI systems. The panel’s message was clear: building safe AI agents is not only a technical challenge. It also requires thoughtful governance, transparency, collaboration, and a continued dialogue between researchers, industry, policymakers, and society. Full recap and photos of the panel is available on our LinkedIn page.
Contact
IJCAI-ECAI 2026 Local Press Office
The Local Press Office of IJCAI-ECAI 2026 coordinates press relations for the conference in Bremen. It is supported by the U Bremen Research Alliance, the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), and the German Informatics Society (GI), as well as the Publicity Chairs Prof. Dr. Ralf Möller (University of Hamburg, German Informatics Society) and Prof. Dr. Rolf Drechsler (University of Bremen, German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence).
As the central point of contact for the media, the Press Office provides communications support for IJCAI-ECAI 2026 and is available to media representatives from Bremen and throughout Germany for inquiries both now and during the conference.
Media inquiries: press@2026.ijcai.org
About the U Bremen Research Alliance
The U Bremen Research Alliance brings together the University of Bremen and thirteen non-university research institutions from all four major German science organizations—Fraunhofer Society, Helmholtz Association, Leibniz Association, and Max Planck Society—as well as the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI). Together, these partner institutions shape a coordinated space for research, infrastructure, and innovation—“from the deep sea to outer space.”
Cooperating in U Bremen Research Alliance:
