11 December 2026
Join us on 11 December 2026 for another edition of TH/NGS in CRCL Park Amsterdam. We will update this page soon with more program news, but early-bird ticket sales are already open.
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If you never have been to a TH/NGS conference (the first edition was in 2014), check our past impressions, like the one of 2025.
The ingredients will be similar: inspiring workshops and keynotes, a lively exhibition, and plenty of interesting people to connect with! Bringing together the best of designers and makers, as academics or professionals, in the Internet of Things, connected environments, and physical and embodied AI.
Our theme in 2026: Things That Care
| For over 10 years, ThingsCon has been the platform for makers, designers, who design, create, and question responsible technology for the hybrid physical-digital world. We are witnessing major shifts in both technology and society today: with the rise of ‘physical AI’, we are increasingly living alongside ‘things’ that are not only supposedly intelligent, but also, more and more often, autonomous. Artificial intelligence is leaving the screen and entering the physical world: buildings, infrastructure, cars, objects. This is creating an important new design space in which critical makers and thinkers play a crucial role. With ‘Things that Care’, we aim to explore this space and play a leading role in shaping the agenda. How can physical AI be designed and used so that it becomes ‘caring’ towards local communities and the planet as a whole? Together with makers and thinkers, we want to make the possibilities and risks of this field tangible and open to discussion. The aim is to sharpen the debate on, and the design process for, intelligent and autonomous things before these systems are embedded in code, infrastructure and society. With this theme, we build upon the themes and path of the last few years. With the focus on regenerative strategies, we think we make this even more concrete in the things we design, aiming to do more than function. We hope to inspire our community to sharpen the theme during the TH/NGS 2026 conference for hopefully follow-up programs and explorations. |
Program outline
The definite program will be communicated later, but expect a program from 9:30-19:00 with:
- Opening keynote
- Morning workshops
- Lunch with exhibition
- Afternoon workshops
- Break with exhibition
- Pitches from community
- Closing keynote
- Drinks
Our call for proposals for workshops and exhibition entries is always open for ideas. Please use this form to send your suggestions.
We will make an initial selection based on entries received before 13 October.
We welcome students!
As always, we especially welcome students. We collaborate with design schools and universities that present work, such as the Master of Digital Design at UAS Amsterdam. We also welcome individual projects, such as graduation work, to our exhibition.
Use this form if you like to propose your project!
Make Edgy Things
In collaboration with Cities of Things, we organise a make-a-thon parallel to the workshop slots (11:00-16:00 hours. Let’s create edgy things (things with edge AI to get agency) that care for the community and vibe-code a prototype.
Secure you ticket!
The regular ticket will be 145 euros this year. This includes everything from coffee to lunch and drinks. Our early bird price until 11 November is 90 euros. Students pay 50 euros.