N-SIDE joins the AI Loop Summit to discuss AI strategy and software sovereignty

On Thursday, November 19, 2026, N-SIDE is joining the AI Loop Summit at La Sucrerie in Wavre. Organized by The POD alongside Digital Wallonia and local ecosystem partners, the event brings together around 250 CTOs, software engineers, and researchers for an honest look at what building with AI actually means in production.

N-SIDE’s Francisco Ortega, VP of Engineering, will join a lineup of industry professionals to break down the choices technical teams are facing right now.

What you can expect

The conversation around AI in software development often gets stuck in extremes, either blind enthusiasm for the newest tool or dismissive skepticism. The reality for engineering organizations is somewhere in the middle: practical, messy, and full of trade-offs.

The summit will center on a few clear dilemmas:

• Where value actually lands
• Data and IP boundaries
• Avoiding vendor lock-in

You can also check out the full agenda directly on the AI Loop Summit website.

Who to expect

The event was designed by practitioners who wanted an alternative to vendor-sponsored trade shows. The agenda focuses on interactive sessions, architecture breakdowns, and honest retrospectives on what hasn’t worked.

Alongside Francisco, the speaker lineup includes:

• Pieter den Hamer (VP at Gartner Research)
• Hélène Guillaume Pabis (AI Sovereignty Expert)
• Xavier Lombard (Leexi)
• Dominique Pellegrino (Vertuoza)
• Technical leaders from Artefact, Monizze, Elium, Wonka, and Pyxis

Rather than walking away with a list of new tools to implement, the goal is to leave with a clear decision framework for your own stack.

Practical details

When: Thursday, November 19, 2026 | 09:30–17:00

Where: La Sucrerie (Chemin de la Sucrerie 2, 1301 Wavre)

Organizers & Partners: The POD, Digital Wallonia, Agence du Numérique (AdN), Wallonia.be, N-SIDE, Monizze, invest.bw, DevDay.be, and Elium.

Language: The majority of the event will take place in French, with a couple of talks delivered in English.

Explore the agenda & register