The GCC Journal

Six Events at ADNEC Abu Dhabi Worth Watching in 2026

Manufacturing, infrastructure, fintech, livability, food security, and healthcare: a calendar that maps Abu Dhabi’s economic diversification in real time

ADNEC Center Abu Dhabi, the largest events venue in the MENA region, is hosting over 190 events across its UAE-based venues in the first half of 2026 alone. But it’s the breadth of the calendar that tells the real story. The events listed below span manufacturing, infrastructure, finance, real estate, food systems, and healthcare, and together they function as a live map of what Abu Dhabi (and the wider UAE) considers strategically important. Here are six worth paying attention to.

Make It in the Emirates

May 4 to 7

Now in its fifth edition and held under the theme “Emerging Stronger,” Make It in the Emirates is the UAE’s flagship industrial platform. Hosted by the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology (MOIAT) and organized by ADNEC Group in strategic partnership with the Ministry of Culture, Abu Dhabi Investment Office, and ADNOC, the event is tied directly to the UAE’s “Operation 300Bn” strategy, which aims to grow the industrial sector’s contribution to GDP to AED 300 billion.

Since relocating to ADNEC in 2025, the event has experienced remarkable growth: a 20-fold increase in visitors, a 16-fold rise in exhibitors, and a fivefold expansion in floor space. The 2026 edition will feature discussions on the future of manufacturing, advanced technology, competitive financing, and industrial sustainability. For investors and developers looking to understand where the UAE’s industrial policy is heading, this is the essential calendar date.

Abu Dhabi Infrastructure Summit (ADIS)

May 12 to 14

Coming just days after Make It in the Emirates, the Abu Dhabi Infrastructure Summit brings together stakeholders across construction, transport, utilities, and urban planning. With the UAE in the middle of one of the largest infrastructure build-outs in the world (from the $35 billion DWC airport expansion to new transit networks, smart city projects, and renewable energy installations), the timing is intentional. ADIS is positioned as the platform where policy, procurement, and private sector capability connect. For companies operating in the Gulf construction and engineering ecosystem, this is the room where the next wave of contracts is discussed.

Money Expo Abu Dhabi

July 8 to 9

Money Expo Abu Dhabi brings together investors, traders, fintech innovators, and financial institutions to explore the future of finance. The event fosters networking and collaboration across global financial markets, with a particular focus on digital assets, trading platforms, and cross-border financial services. With Abu Dhabi’s ADGM rapidly growing as a financial center and the UAE’s broader regulatory landscape evolving around digital assets, open banking, and ESG-aligned investing, the expo provides a concentrated view of where the region’s financial services industry is heading. It pairs well with the broader fintech narrative being driven out of both Abu Dhabi and Bahrain.

Livability & Investment Exhibition

September 29 to October 1

As the Gulf’s cities compete increasingly on quality of life rather than just economic opportunity, the Livability & Investment Exhibition addresses one of the region’s most important emerging themes: how to build cities and communities that people genuinely want to live in. The event brings together real estate developers, urban planners, government bodies, and investors around the concept of livability, covering housing, green spaces, community infrastructure, smart city technology, and the kinds of social amenities that determine whether a city retains its talent or loses it. For a region spending billions on new communities, the question of livability is no longer abstract; it is the differentiator between projects that succeed and those that don’t.

Global Food Week

October 6 to 8

Held under the patronage of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan and organized in partnership with the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority (ADAFSA), Global Food Week is where food security policy, agritech innovation, and international procurement converge. The UAE imports roughly 90% of its food, making food security a genuine strategic priority rather than a conference talking point. The event includes the Global Food Security Summit, which brings together government leaders, researchers, and industry pioneers to address challenges around sustainable production, climate-resilient agriculture, and equitable food systems. For companies in the agritech, food logistics, and sustainable agriculture sectors, this is one of the most significant platforms in the Middle East.

Future Health Summit

October 20 to 22

The Future Health Summit is the flagship event of Future Health, a global initiative launched by Abu Dhabi’s Department of Health under the directives of Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed. The initiative has transformed what was previously Abu Dhabi Global Health Week into a year-round platform focused on longevity, precision medicine, digital health, life sciences, and sustainable health systems. The 2026 summit is themed “To Sense is to Predict,” reflecting a focus on early detection technologies, AI-driven diagnostics, and preventive health models.

The event draws over 16,000 attendees from 100 countries, including policymakers, CEOs, researchers, and healthcare professionals, alongside 175+ global exhibitors. Abu Dhabi’s healthcare ecosystem, which includes PureHealth, M42, Mubadala Health, and Burjeel Holdings, is one of the most active in the GCC, and the Future Health Summit is where that ecosystem interfaces with global innovation.

The Bigger Picture

An events calendar as economic blueprint

Read together, these six events tell a coherent story about Abu Dhabi’s economic priorities. Manufacturing and industrial policy (Make It in the Emirates) sit alongside the physical infrastructure needed to support them (ADIS). Financial services and investment (Money Expo) provide the capital. Livability addresses whether the communities being built will actually work for the people living in them. Food security (Global Food Week) confronts a genuine strategic vulnerability. And healthcare (Future Health) reflects a bet on life sciences and wellness as growth sectors, not just public services.

ADNEC itself, as the MENA region’s largest events venue and a Modon company, is an infrastructure play in its own right: a physical platform that generates business tourism, facilitates deal-making, and positions Abu Dhabi as the place where the Gulf’s most important conversations happen. Whether you attend one of these events or simply track what’s on the calendar, the lineup is a useful lens on what the UAE considers worth building next.