Some announcements are worth making slowly. This is not one of them.
The platform for ORAM Next Gen Festival 2026 is live. Tickets are open. The first speakers are announced from 13 April. And the organisations shaping the program alongside us are being confirmed now.
Here is what we are building and why it is structured the way it is.
The program is built on what the region has already decided.
The Wennink report, the Dutch AI Deltaplan and the Draghi report do not leave much room for debate. The Amsterdam Metropolitan Area faces concrete, non-optional choices: on technological autonomy, on a labour market that can absorb the pace of change, and on decarbonising the port and logistics infrastructure that underpins the regional economy.
The research is done. The conclusions are drawn. What the region now needs is not more analysis — it is organised acceleration. That is the only thing ORAM Next Gen Festival is trying to be.
The program is structured around four live dilemmas that sit directly at that intersection: how the region stays technologically independent and competitive, how it becomes climate-resilient and liveable, how the port remains an economic engine in a decarbonising world, and how the labour market keeps pace with the transitions already underway. Not themes. Problems that practitioners in the room are navigating right now.
The format is the point.
Every panel has an empty chair. A young professional from the room is invited, on the spot, to take a seat and take a position. Two Pressure Cooker sessions run simultaneously in the evening — participants work on live dilemmas and deliver concrete recommendations before the night is over. The festival does not close with a summary. It closes with a room full of people who know exactly what they are taking back to their organisations.
"The empty chair is not a gimmick. It is the whole point. You can have the best speakers in the room, but if the people sitting in the audience never have to take a position, nothing moves."
— Renko de Vries, organiser
Get involved.
Tickets are available now at nextgenfestival.eu/tickets. Speakers announced from 13 April.
For organisations that want to do more than send people: a select group of ecosystem partners actively support the program, contribute to the conversations on the day, and connect directly with the professionals in the room. More at nextgenfestival.eu/partners.
For group registrations, get in touch at nextgenfestival@oram.nl.
Ready to be there?
ORAM Next Gen Festival · August 28, 2026 · UP Events Amsterdam