A two-day enterprise AI and automation trade show and conference at the Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, 28 and 29 October 2026, with a VIP opening evening on 27 October.
AI Expo Africa is an annual in-person trade show and conference on enterprise artificial intelligence and intelligent automation, held in Johannesburg, recorded in the database as a medium-scale event. The 2026 edition is the ninth; the organiser says it launched in 2018 and calls itself Africa's largest business-focused AI trade event, a self-description that has no independent audit behind it. It combines a vendor expo, a four-track speaking programme of 52 talks and panels, CPD-accredited workshops and private CxO roundtables.
28 to 29 October 2026, with the main show open 8.30am to 5pm on day 1, followed by an extended networking evening to 8pm, and 8.30am to 5.30pm on day 2. A private VIP opening event for sponsors, exhibitors and VIP ticket holders runs on the evening of 27 October. Level 2 of the Sandton Convention Centre, Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa. One third-party listing names the Hilton Sandton instead (unverifiable information); the organiser's own pages all say the Sandton Convention Centre.
AI Media Group, which operates through AI Media PTY Ltd, registered at The Watershed, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town. The group also runs Synapse Magazine, the AI TV channel and the South African AI Association, which it says has 4,300+ members. The event's co-founder and the group's CEO is named on the site as Dr Nick Bradshaw. The event database had no organiser on record; this fiche supplies one.
The organiser expects about 3,500 unique delegates, 80%+ of them decision makers (organiser figure). For the 2025 edition it reports 3,400 delegates from 1,800 unique companies, 84% senior decision makers, and 100 AI exhibitors. The organiser describes the audience as enterprise decision makers and CxOs, cloud platform providers, tier 1 and tier 2 deployment and service providers, AI startups, investors, educators and government. It says it welcomes delegates from over 45 countries and the event is open to the public with a ticket.
The 2026 edition is the ninth. The organiser's programme adds a Women in AI Pavilion, a South African AI Association Pavilion, a Robot and Drone Zone, an R&D Zone and a Startup Zone with investor matchmaking; the Gauteng and Western Cape AI Startup Pavilions and a French Embassy pavilion are listed among exhibitors. The theme list now names HPC, AI factories, digital public infrastructure and sovereign AI. A year-on-year comparison against 2025 beyond the organiser's published figures is not available.
The organiser's programme has 2 plenary keynote sessions, 8 track keynotes, 52 talks and panels in four tracks, 8 CPD-accredited workshops, 8 private CxO round tables and vendor briefing sessions, and 8 networking sessions. The four tracks are Innovation and Strategy, Platforms and Process, Case Studies and Technology Demos. Themes include enterprise AI adoption, intelligent automation, AI in financial services, AI in retail, AI in healthcare, conversational AI and data analytics, plus generative and agentic business solutions, RPA, ML Ops, edge AI, AI security, responsible AI and policy, smart cities and venture investing. A detailed session-by-session timetable is not published on the pages read.
Published roster on the official speakers page as of 16 October 2026, with "more to be announced soon" stated on the page:
Four formats run side by side on Level 2 of the venue: the vendor and startup expo with networking sessions; a four-track conference with 52 talks, panels and keynotes; CPD workshops, 8 sessions of 90 minutes each seating 200; and CxO Board Rooms, 8 invite-only 90 minute sessions of 32 seats. Workshop and talk seating is first come, first served, with no reserved seats. CPD credits are issued through the South African AI Association, listed as an approved provider via The CPD Group UK.
A private VIP opening reception on the evening of 27 October (6pm onwards for VIP ticket holders; the programme page gives 5.30pm), and an extended evening networking reception on 28 October from 5.30pm to 8pm. On the show floor: a Startup Zone with investor matchmaking, a Women in AI Pavilion, a South African AI Association Pavilion, an R&D Zone with academic posters, a Robot and Drone Zone, an AI TV media lounge, a VIP lounge, the Meetup Bar and the Networking Boma.
Prices are in South African rand, per person, until 25 October 2026 when they rise. Trade Show Delegate 1 Day Pass for 29 October: R900, rising to R1,500. Business Delegate 2 Day Pass: R4,800, rising to R6,500. VIP Delegate 2 Day Pass, which includes the VIP opening event and lounge: R9,600, rising to R11,600. Business team package of 5 tickets for the price of 4: R19,200, rising to R26,000. VIP team package of 5 for 4: R38,400, rising to R46,400. Tickets can also be bought at the venue by card only, for individuals and groups up to 5; team packages are not sold at the venue. Invoice payment is possible only for groups of 6 or more, paid in advance.
Apply through the speaker application process on the official Speakers page. The organiser says it welcomes submissions from all end-user sectors, industry and academia, and judges talks on merit and relevance, segmented by vendor, buyer, academia and entrepreneur. A third-party listing gave 30 September 2026 as the call deadline (unverifiable information); the official pages read do not state a deadline, and a speaker roster is already published.
Use the Sponsor page form or write to enquiries@aiexpoafrica.com; the full prospectus, with floor plan, is available on request. Costs are not published and vary with the sponsorship tier and exhibition package. The organiser offers nine value pillars, from pre-show promotion to delegate analytics and an opt-in delegate list, and year-round digital marketing through Synapse Magazine and AI TV. The expo hall is described as 10,000 sq ft with about 100 vendors. Exhibitor tiers on the site are Platinum, Silver Plus and Silver, plus a Startup Zone.
Roster as shown on the official home page on 16 October 2026 (logos only; names taken from page labels and image names).
Platinum exhibitors and partners: Huawei, NiCE, ECOBLOX, Stratos Lab, HDRT, DJI Enterprise, French Embassy in South Africa, South African AI Association.
Silver Plus: Zoho, Cassava (AI), Liquid Cloud, NITheCS, iNOVO AI, Creatio, First Technology, Microsoft Solution Partner, SUSE, SailPoint, Interface, Yooz, Zendesk.
Silver: Skywalk Innovations, MLAB, AUDA-NEPAD, Obsidian, Youth Employment Service, KWC EvolveSchool, afrAIca, Retro Rabbit, Netsurit, Altron, StrideShift, Bonisa AI (a Matogen AI company), Get AI, Sauce Code, Safricloud, Varonis, Dentsu, Clickatell, DVT Software, Red Hat, Bowmans, HSRC, Snapplify.
Host city and event partners: City of Johannesburg, Sandton Convention Centre, SA Tourism. Government partners: Department of Communication and Digital Technologies, the dtic, Western Cape Government, Wesgro. Further partners include ITU, AI for Good, CPD Group, Zindi, Edge AI Foundation, AIESEC, Sw7 and Manjaro Marketing. Startup Zone exhibitors: 20 logos, plus 10 in the Gauteng AI Startup Pavilion, 10 in the Western Cape AI Startup Pavilion and 3 in the French Embassy pavilion; they are not named individually here.
The organiser says the audience is mostly enterprise buyers and decision makers, and the exhibitor base is global and regional technology vendors: the sponsor roster is led by cloud, networking and software vendors (Huawei, NiCE, Zoho, SUSE, SailPoint, Red Hat, Zendesk, Clickatell), local integrators and consultancies (Netsurit, Altron, DVT Software, Dentsu), and AI startups in the pavilions. A breakdown of attending companies by sector or size is described as available in the organiser's prospectus and is not public.
Press and media accreditation is required: the registration page links to a press pass application. Press requests go through enquiries@aiexpoafrica.com. For radio, TV, news and editorial requests from independent freelancers or journalists, the organiser asks for a short briefing note: publications, readership and timing; piece title and background; written questions in advance; sight of the draft or contributing names; and a focus aligned with Responsible AI. It says it has limited bandwidth for such requests.
The organiser's Media and Press page claims a press list of 1,000+ journalists and approximate annual advertising value equivalence of $600k, and lists local, national and international brands that have covered or carried its news as logos. The organiser's own channels, Synapse Magazine and AI TV, publish much of the coverage. No independent news coverage of the 2026 edition was verified for this fiche.
Mostly organiser-originated. Synapse Magazine and AI TV belong to the organiser, press releases are issued by the organiser, and the advertising value equivalence figures ($600k on the media page, $753k for 2025 on the sponsor page) are organiser claims that differ between pages. No official media partner is on record in the event database. Treat coverage as promotional unless it comes from an outlet with no commercial tie to the event.
Researchers wanting peer-reviewed depth: the organiser says the programme targets applied business use. Visitors who want remote access: the event is in-person only, with no online content. Buyers who need a pre-scheduled one-to-one meeting programme with named counterparts: only networking sessions, roundtables and a startup matchmaking zone are described. Anyone outside Southern Africa without a reason to be in Johannesburg for two days of enterprise AI sales conversations.
It is held in late October in Johannesburg, the organiser's flagship event; the group runs year-round digital content around it. The organiser positions it as a regional trade and investment platform for Southern Africa and says it is the longest running AI event of its kind in the region (organiser claim). No sourced comparison with other AI events on the African or EMEA calendar is available.
No other physical edition is listed on the official site; the event is held annually in Johannesburg. The organiser mentions a past OnDemand show in earlier years, which is not a separate edition and which the 2026 FAQ no longer offers.
English. The official site, programme and ticketing are in English; no other language is mentioned.
No. The official FAQ states that AI Expo Africa 2026 is an in-person only ticketed event with no online content. Replay access is not announced.
Written cancellation must reach the organiser at least 7 days before the show opens. The delegate then gets a credit note for a future conference, valid for twelve months, or may substitute a colleague from the same organisation free of charge using a substitution code requested from enquiries@aiexpoafrica.com. Without written notice the full fee is due and no credit note is issued. If AI Media PTY Ltd cancels, payments are credited to a future conference; it does not cover travel or hotel costs.
Not publicly disclosed. The official site has a Diversity and Inclusivity page covering startups, women in AI, youth and a CPD workshop programme, but no accessibility statement for the venue, wheelchair access or assistance. The organiser describes the Sandton Convention Centre as offering 22,000 square metres of flexible space, with the whole show on Level 2.
The organiser says the venue is 15 minutes by the Gautrain rapid rail from OR Tambo International Airport to central Sandton, or about 35 minutes by road by Uber or airport-approved taxi. There are nearly 11,000 parking bays in the adjacent Sandton City and Nelson Mandela Square malls and 300 bays beneath the centre. Special event rates are offered at the connected Sandton Sun, reached by a covered bridge, and at the Garden Court Sandton City, a one minute walk away.
Because it puts enterprise buyers and vendors on one level for two days: the organiser publishes a floor of about 100 vendors, 52 talks, 8 CPD workshops and 8 private CxO round tables, and the published speaker list is mostly practitioners from African companies and regulators, such as Sasol, Nestle, Netcare, FirstRand, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority and Bowmans. That mix suits a buyer comparing local deployment options more than a reader after research results.
Every headline figure is the organiser's: 3,500+ delegates, 80%+ decision makers, 100 vendors, 4.9 stars on Google, and two different advertising value figures on two pages. The 2025 outcome it reports (3,400 delegates, 1,800 companies) is lower than the 2026 target, and none of it is audited in the sources read. The ticket structure is more checkable: a published rand price list that steps up on 25 October 2026.
Official site: https://aiexpoafrica.com, which responds and matches the organiser, venue and dates in the database. 2026 FAQ: aiexpoafrica.com/ai-expo-africa-2026-faq/. Contact: enquiries@aiexpoafrica.com. RSS: https://aiexpoafrica.com/feed/.