--- type: verticale slug: hr-tech title: "HR Tech" canonical_url: "https://eventsindex.org/hr-tech.html" description: "The 2026-2027 professional events calendar for HR technology across Europe, the Middle East and Africa: recruitment and talent platforms, HRIS and payroll, learning and development, people analytics and the future of work." hero_tagline: "From the Paris Expo show floor to the Dubai World Trade Centre: the EMEA HR technology circuit for 2026 and 2027." events: - slug: hr-technologies-france - slug: hr-technologies-uk - slug: hr-technologies-spain - slug: learning-technologies-france - slug: learning-technologies-uk - slug: hr-tech-europe - slug: unleash-world - slug: hr-tech-world - slug: zukunft-personal-europe - slug: hr-festival-europe - slug: solutions-ressources-humaines - slug: talents - slug: cipd-festival-of-work - slug: hrse-hr-summit-expo - slug: hr-indaba - slug: gchra last_verified: "2026-07-09" language: "en" schema_version: "v6.0" --- # HR Tech: the 2026-2027 EMEA circuit HR technology is a crowded label covering several different professional gatherings. A CloserStill Media trade show floor where HRIS and payroll vendors demo software to buyers, a CIPD-run practitioner conference built around the profession rather than the vendors, a global marketplace like UNLEASH where thousands of exhibitors and CHROs meet under one roof, and a four-day pan-African conference tying HR leadership to policy and diaspora networks all sit under the same "HR Tech" heading. The 16 events tracked here span that range, from Paris Expo Porte de Versailles to the Dubai World Trade Centre and the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg. ## The milestone events A small number of events define the scale of the circuit. **Zukunft Personal Europe** in Cologne (15-17 September 2026) is Europe's largest HR trade fair by exhibitor and visitor count, with 600+ exhibitors and 25,000+ visitors across three days at Koelnmesse. **UNLEASH World** in Paris (20-22 October 2026) is the largest global gathering, reporting 8,500+ attendees, 400+ speakers from 140+ countries and 350+ exhibitors including L'Oreal, Walmart and Lloyds Banking Group; its 2027 edition moves outside EMEA to Miami, leaving a gap in the region's late-2027 calendar. **HR Indaba** in Johannesburg and **GCHRA** in Accra anchor the African side of the circuit, the former as the continent's largest single-day HR conference, the latter as a four-day pan-African and diaspora gathering partnered with SHRM. The CloserStill Media franchise runs the densest cluster of national trade shows: **HR Technologies France** and **Learning Technologies France** (co-located, Paris, 20-21 January 2027), **HR Technologies UK** and **Learning Technologies UK** (co-located, ExCeL London, 5-6 May 2027), and **HR Technologies Spain** (Madrid, 4-5 November 2026), each pairing an HR software floor with a learning and development track under one ticket. ## Who is in the room **HRIS, payroll and core HR software buyers** are the centre of gravity at the trade-show-format events: HR Technologies France/UK/Spain, Zukunft Personal Europe, Solutions Ressources Humaines and HR Tech World in Warsaw all build their exhibition floors around this population, alongside vendors such as Workday, SAP SuccessFactors, Cegid, Talentia and SD Worx. **CHROs and senior HR leaders** are the target audience of the conference-format events: UNLEASH World's Day One summits, HR Tech Europe in Amsterdam, and the CIPD Festival of Work all pitch their programming at this population rather than at a mass buyer floor. **Recruitment, talent and L&D specialists** cross both formats, concentrated at Learning Technologies France/UK, Talents! in Paris and the recruitment-focused sessions running through most of the trade shows. **African and diaspora HR leadership** is a distinct population served specifically by HR Indaba and GCHRA, neither of which overlaps meaningfully with the Western European vendor-floor circuit. ## The thematic map **HRIS, payroll and workforce administration** is the largest segment by exhibitor count, anchored by Zukunft Personal Europe, the HR Technologies national shows and HR Tech World Warsaw. **Recruitment and talent acquisition** runs through the same shows plus dedicated conferences like Talents!. **Learning and development** has its own co-located tracks in France and the UK (Learning Technologies) and its own trade show pairing in Solutions Ressources Humaines (bundled with Innovative Learning). **People analytics and the future of work** is the explicit focus of HR Tech Europe Amsterdam and a running theme across UNLEASH World's agenda. **HR Award and community formats** appear at HR Festival Europe (Swiss HR Award) and Talents! (7 award categories), pairing recognition ceremonies with the conference programme. ## The seasonal structure The EMEA HR tech year opens in **spring** with HR Technologies UK and Learning Technologies UK (early May), HR Tech Europe Amsterdam (April), Solutions Ressources Humaines (April) and the CIPD Festival of Work (June). **Summer** carries GCHRA in Accra (August) and Talents! in Paris (June). **Autumn** is the densest window: Zukunft Personal Europe (September), HR Tech World Warsaw (September), HRSE Dubai and HR Indaba (October), and UNLEASH World Paris (October). **Winter** closes the year with HR Technologies France and Learning Technologies France in January, and HR Festival Europe (formerly Personal Swiss) opening the following spring in early April. ## Geography **France** hosts the densest cluster: HR Technologies France, Learning Technologies France, Solutions Ressources Humaines, Talents! and UNLEASH World all run in or near Paris. **The United Kingdom** carries HR Technologies UK, Learning Technologies UK and the CIPD Festival of Work, all at ExCeL London. **Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Poland and Spain** each host one flagship national or regional event (Zukunft Personal Europe, HR Tech Europe, HR Festival Europe, HR Tech World, HR Technologies Spain). **The Middle East** is represented by HRSE in Dubai, the region's largest HR gathering. **Africa** is covered by HR Indaba (Johannesburg) and GCHRA (Accra), serving distinct Southern African and West African/diaspora audiences respectively. ## The 2026-2027 context Several of the events tracked here changed hands or brands during 2026: Personal Swiss rebranded to HR Festival Europe under HR Today/ALMA Medien AG; HR Tech Europe's Amsterdam operator now trades as Arc network rather than RX Global; Zukunft Personal Europe's German operating entity is CloserStill Media Germany GmbH rather than the earlier spring Messe Management branding; and HR Tech World in Warsaw is a brand-new 2026 inaugural edition from Ptak Warsaw Expo, unrelated to the earlier 2010s "HR Tech World Congress" that once ran in Amsterdam and Paris. UNLEASH World's move to Miami for 2027 also means the circuit's single largest global marketplace event leaves EMEA for that year, with no replacement EMEA edition confirmed as of verification. ## Related hubs By city, see [Paris](/paris.html) and [London](/london.html).