Free annual IT conference for the Emsland region at the IT-Zentrum Lingen, 4 September 2026. Brings together IT professionals, companies and decision-makers for talks, workshops and networking across three tracks: AI and data, technology and security, and digital business. Running since 2005.
cim lingen (community in motion) is a free annual IT conference for the Emsland region of Lower Saxony, Germany, held since 2005. The 2026 edition takes place on Friday 4 September at the IT-Zentrum Lingen and gathers IT professionals, IT managers, companies and decision-makers from the northwest of Germany. The programme runs across three thematic tracks: KI & Daten (AI and data), Tech & Sec (technology and security), and Business & Change (digital transformation and change management). Sessions are 30-minute talks delivered mainly in German, alongside workshops, a networking area and an after-party. The event is organised by it.emsland (IT-Dienstleistungsgesellschaft mbH Emsland), the regional IT services company. It sits within the developer and AI circuit tracked by Events Index.
cim lingen is a regional technology conference that operates at community level, serving IT practitioners in the Emsland district and the surrounding parts of Lower Saxony. In a region without a large metropolitan technology hub, it provides an accessible, one-day annual gathering for knowledge transfer and professional networking between IT specialists, regional companies and technology vendors. Attendance is free of charge, funded through active sponsorship, which lowers the barrier for local practitioners and small businesses. Places are capacity-limited and the organiser advises early registration. The 2026 agenda reflects current regional IT priorities: AI integration, data and infrastructure modernisation, cybersecurity, and digital business change.
The 2026 programme is organised into three tracks defined in the call for speakers:
Sessions run as 30-minute talks on multiple stages, delivered mainly in German with English accepted, supported by hands-on workshops and structured networking. Past editions have featured formats such as a World Café workshop on artificial intelligence in decision-making at the 2024 edition. For readers comparing this against larger German developer events, DWX 2026 in Mannheim and BASTA! Herbst 2026 in Mainz sit at a national scale on the same developer and AI circuit.
cim lingen is funded through sponsorship, which is what keeps attendance free. The 2026 site lists bluecue, hybridexperts, ROSEN Group and dataciders as commercial sponsors, alongside regional bodies including it.emsland, Lingen Wirtschaftsförderung and the IT-Achse network. The 2024 edition documented a tiered sponsorship structure that gives a sense of how the roster is organised:
Whether the 2026 edition retains this exact tier structure is not confirmed on the current site; the names above are the sponsors surfaced for 2026 at the time of verification. Being a company-backed regional event, cim lingen draws its speaker pool largely from these sponsors and from regional employers rather than from a national circuit of professional conference speakers.
cim lingen is a regional conference, so coverage comes from local and regional outlets rather than the national technology press. Two confirmed examples:
No national trade-press coverage or independent attendance audit was found for cim lingen as of this verification. This is expected for a free regional community conference and is not a gap in the event so much as a reflection of its scale.
The primary audience is from the Emsland region and the wider northwest of Lower Saxony, but the conference is open to anyone. Given its regional scale and mainly German-language programme, it is most practical for attendees within travel distance of Lingen.
cim lingen is a free, one-day regional community conference, not a national or international technology summit. Its value is practical content for local IT professionals and a networking function for regional businesses and service providers. Readers looking for a national-scale German event should compare DWX 2026 in Mannheim, and those wanting a large international AI and technology exhibition should look at GITEX Europe 2026 in Berlin. The full developer and AI circuit lists further options.
it.emsland (IT-Dienstleistungsgesellschaft mbH Emsland), the regional IT services company for the Emsland district. The organisation provides managed IT services to regional public authorities and has coordinated cim lingen as the region's IT community conference since 2005. Its CEO Michael Schnaider is the recurring public voice of the event.
No. Attendance has been free of charge in recent editions, funded through sponsorship. Places are capacity-limited and the organiser recommends registering early through the official site. Compare this with paid national developer conferences such as BASTA! Herbst 2026 or upcoming events across the developer and AI circuit.
cim lingen takes place at the IT-Zentrum Lingen, Kaiserstraße 10b, 49809 Lingen (Ems), Germany. Lingen is in the Emsland district of Lower Saxony, in the northwest of the country, roughly 40 km from Osnabrück. The town is served by direct regional trains from Osnabrück (about 30 minutes) and Münster (about 50 minutes). The IT-Zentrum hosts the talks across multiple stages, the workshop rooms, the networking area and the after-party in a single building, which keeps the one-day format compact.
it.emsland (IT-Dienstleistungsgesellschaft mbH Emsland) is the regional IT services organisation for the Emsland district. It provides managed IT services to regional public authorities and has organised cim lingen as the regional IT community conference since 2005. The company frames cim as a way to keep the regional Mittelstand connected to current developments in IT infrastructure, digitalisation and applied AI. CEO Michael Schnaider has described the conference as a platform where digitalisation decision-makers and IT professionals meet to exchange ideas on digital trends, network, and advance their organisations' digitalisation.
cim lingen is the Emsland region's anchor IT conference: a free, sponsor-funded annual forum that has given local technology professionals a place to discuss AI, security and digital transformation since 2005. It is deliberately regional and mainly German-language, so its value is proximity and practical exchange rather than national reach, which is exactly what sets it apart from the larger paid events on the developer and AI circuit.
Attendance is free of charge, funded through sponsorship. Registration is handled through the official site at cim-lingen.de; places are capacity-limited and the organiser recommends registering early. The after-party is included in attendance. There is no ticket price and no paid tier for the 2026 edition based on the current site.
Lingen is in the Emsland district of Lower Saxony. From Osnabrück Hauptbahnhof, take a regional train (about 30 minutes). From Münster Hauptbahnhof, a regional train takes about 50 minutes. The venue address is IT-Zentrum Lingen, Kaiserstraße 10b, 49809 Lingen (Ems).
Sessions are delivered mainly in German, with English accepted for individual talks. Attendees who need a fully English-language programme should consider an international event such as GITEX Europe 2026 instead.
| Official website | https://cim-lingen.de/ |
| Call for speakers (Sessionize) | https://sessionize.com/cim-lingen-2026 |
| Developer and AI circuit (Events Index) | /developer-ai.html |
| Upcoming EMEA events (Events Index) | /upcoming.html |