Connected Plant @ ARC EIF 2026

ARC’s European Industry Forum is part of our successful series of worldwide conferences in Europe, America and Asia. The next European Forum will be held in Sitges (Barcelona), Spain on May 4-6, 2026 and focus on “Achieving Resilient Operations through AI, Digitalization, and Sustainability”. Participants are invited to attend exclusive presentations and workshops on strategies and case studies from the digital front lines. 
ARC industry analysts and experts from the end user and supplier communities will analyze and discuss trends and drivers covering the currently relevant industry topics

Cybersecurity, Architectures and Communication

The Connected Plant/Smart Manufacturing track at this year’s EIF will explore important topics that have been identified by ARC’s analysts, resulting in the following sessions: “Industrial Cybersecurity 2026 – Navigating IT-OT Security Challenges”, “Edge, Cloud & Software-Defined Automation: How Automation Architectures are Evolving” and "

Industrial Cybersecurity 2026 – Navigating IT-OT Security Challenges
In 2025, industrial companies are confronted with unparalleled challenges such as digitalization, increased connectivity, and the merging of information technology (IT) with operational technology (OT). While these advancements drive greater efficiency, flexibility, and innovation, they also introduce new vulnerabilities to critical infrastructure and production environments. Traditional security approaches centered on IT alone are no longer adequate, as cyber attackers are now exploiting gaps in OT systems to disrupt core industrial processes. Recent data underscores the urgency: 30% of cyberattacks now impact both IT and OT domains simultaneously, and 70% of ransomware incidents specifically target production operations. The consequences are significant, including operational disruptions, financial losses, increased compliance challenges, and potential reputational harm.

The session will provide participants with a comprehensive overview of today’s threat landscape and the evolving regulatory demands impacting industrial cybersecurity across Europe while equipping them with actionable strategies to enhance resilience, maintain operational continuity, and leverage external expertise to complement their internal teams.

Edge, Cloud & Software-Defined Automation: How Automation Architectures are Evolving
The IT/OT convergence is quickly driving developments in plant architectures as users adopt edge/cloud architectures and solution providers deploy software in virtual machines and containers. While there are numerous benefits to software-defined automation architectures, there are also caveats. Many machine builders lack the necessary IT skills to implement them, and some may not yet have the necessary IT infrastructure in place to support software-defined automation. Moreover, virtualized solutions may not (yet) offer the performance needed for hard real-time control.

In this session, AUDI will present its Edge Cloud 4 Production (EC4P) concept, that allowed the carmaker to eliminate countless industrial PCs on the shopfloor and consolidate plant software on standardized servers, improving the monitoring and management of these valuable software assets. In its latest initiative, Audi has added virtual PLCs to the EC4P architecture, including a vPLC with TÜV safety certification.

Industrial Wires, Protocols, and Power: Rethinking Industrial Communications
The Industrial Communications session focuses on how OPC UA enables interoperability and Ethernet‑based industrial networks like CC-Link IE are becoming the foundation for scalable and interoperable industrial systems, while legacy fieldbuses continue to coexist in brownfield environments. Speakers will emphasize the growing importance of converged IT/OT networks, deterministic Ethernet (e.g., TSN), and standardized data models to enable AI, edge computing, and cross‑vendor interoperability; showing how success is less about choosing a single protocol and more about governance, lifecycle management, and cybersecurity in increasingly complex, multi‑vendor industrial networks.

ARC’s European Industry Forum 
Join us at ARC’s European Industry Forum to speed up your AI, digitalization and sustainability initiatives with strategies and use cases, benefitting you whether you are a technology end user or supplier. Discover what your peers and industry leaders are doing today and what steps they are taking to prepare for the future. 

Registration for the forum includes full access to the ARC Content Hub, including approved presentations of the upcoming 2026 forum, uploaded after the event. Many resources like recordings from past forums and ARC reports are also accessible free of charge through a simple registration even without forum participation. We invite you to explore the available resources and benefit from the insights shared.

For more information about attending, speaking, and sponsoring, please contact Ann-Kathrin Blech (mailto:[email protected])