Amsterdam, January 22, 2026 – On February 3 and 4, the ninth edition of Kickstart Europe will draw more than 2,000 visitors from nearly 40 countries to the RAI Amsterdam. The team at the Dutch Data Center Association (DDA), which organizes Kickstart Europe 2025, is presenting a strong, content-rich program built around the central theme Unlocking Growth. New this year is Kickstart Invest, taking place on February 3.
Unlocking Growth was deliberately chosen as the guiding theme. The data center industry continues to grow, but at the same time faces significant challenges that will be discussed in depth during the conference. These include grid congestion, a shortage of space in traditional data center regions, the massive capacity growth required to enable AI applications, and Europe’s increasing need for digital sovereignty as a result of geopolitical tensions.
How does Europe become a digital leader?
This last topic will be central to the keynote that opens the conference on February 4. Michiel Vos will address the theme in his keynote, “Time to Act: Europe’s Digital Wake-Up Call.” Vos—an attorney, journalist, and U.S. correspondent—brings a transatlantic perspective to the Kickstart Europe Conference. He contrasts American decisiveness with the European approach and challenges the audience to rethink how Europe can take on a sovereign role as a leading digital power and infrastructure hub. Against the backdrop of geopolitical tensions and data-driven innovation, his keynote offers insights into what Europe can learn from the United States and what it will take to build a more resilient and competitive digital Europe.
Elements from Vos’s keynote are expected to resurface in the panel discussion “Defining Europe’s strategic position in the AI era.” Moderated by DDA Director Stijn Grove of the Dutch Data Center Association, industry specialists will discuss the structural challenges shaping Europe’s digital infrastructure. At the heart of the conversation is how Europe can develop a credible, future-proof strategy as the digital infrastructure market becomes increasingly global and dynamic. Policy ambitions, market realities, investment dynamics, and the operational implications for data center development will all be explored in depth.
Solutions for grid congestion
On the afternoon of February 4, grid congestion will be on the agenda in two sessions. First is the discussion “Power challenges throughout Europe.” As digital infrastructure continues to scale, the availability of electricity has become one of Europe’s most urgent bottlenecks, although the challenges vary widely by region. In this session, energy and infrastructure experts from across Europe will map grid congestion from a continent-wide perspective, comparing how different national systems deal with capacity shortages, grid modernization, and long-term planning.
A more technical angle will be covered by the panel “Powering data centers in congested Tier 1 markets.” In many Tier 1 markets across Europe, congestion on the power grid is one of the biggest barriers to data center growth—especially as AI workloads further drive demand.
The session “Why Decentralized Compute Is Essential for Agentic AI” is also expected to draw strong interest. As AI evolves from experimentation to everyday use, the focus is shifting to inference, where models run closer to the user and latency, responsiveness, and user experience are critical. This session explores how Europe’s distributed data center landscape supports that shift through the strategic spread of edge and regional facilities.
Kickstart Invest
For financial experts, the event begins on February 3 with Kickstart Invest, organized under the Kickstart Europebrand for the first time. This executive forum is designed to bring together the most influential decision-makers and help shape investment in digital infrastructure. This exclusive, invitation-only gathering connects C-level leaders from banks, investors, private equity firms, and data center operators for an afternoon of strategic dialogue, knowledge-sharing, and high-value networking opportunities.
About Kickstart / About DDA
Learn more about Kickstart Europe and the Dutch Data Center Association (DDA).