TechWeek 2026 Christchurch — AI Conference at EPIC Innovation
TechWeek NZ is New Zealand's largest technology festival — a nationwide series of events each May bringing together founders, researchers, executives, and technologists across Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and beyond.
This year, Christchurch AI is hosting an official TechWeek 2026 conference event right here in Canterbury. It will be held at EPIC Innovation Centre — the same venue where we run our monthly meetups — and it will be our biggest event of the year.
What Is TechWeek?
TechWeek NZ runs every May and draws thousands of attendees to hundreds of events around the country. Events are independently organised under the TechWeek banner — which means the Christchurch AI conference is curated specifically for Canterbury's community, not a watered-down copy of what happens in Auckland.
Our TechWeek event will focus on practical AI — real applications, honest lessons from deployment, and the tools and approaches that are actually working in 2026. Less hype. More signal.
What to Expect
- Multiple speakers across a full afternoon/evening programme
- Live demos — AI tools in action, not slides about AI tools
- Industry perspectives from builders, researchers, and practitioners
- Networking with Canterbury's AI community and visiting technologists
- Free to attend — as always, Christchurch AI events are open and free
When and Where
Call For Speakers
Speaker applications are open now. We are looking for people working in AI who have something concrete to share — a project, a finding, a hard lesson, a live demo.
This is a higher-profile opportunity than our regular monthly meetups. TechWeek draws attention from national media, investors, and the broader NZ tech ecosystem. If you have been waiting for the right moment to put your work in front of a bigger audience, this is it.
We welcome applications from:
- Researchers at Canterbury universities and Crown Research Institutes
- Founders and engineers building AI products
- Business leaders who have deployed AI at scale
- First-time speakers with something genuine to say
Submit your proposal through Sessionize. We review all applications and aim to confirm speakers by late March 2026.
Submit on Sessionize →Stay in the Loop
Full programme details, registration links, and speaker announcements will be shared through our Meetup group as they are confirmed. The best way to stay updated is to join the community.
In the meantime, our regular monthly meetups continue at EPIC Innovation Centre — so if you want to get a feel for the community before TechWeek, come along. We would love to see you.