FabCon and SQLCon Europe 2026, held in Barcelona, concluded with a record attendance of nearly 5,000 data professionals. The event featured over 130 sessions, 10 full-day tutorials, and numerous community meetups, highlighting the growing importance of data and AI in business intelligence.
Arun Ulag, Executive Vice President of Azure Data, emphasized the unique knowledge every organization possesses. He introduced several key innovations, including the general availability of Fabric IQ in Microsoft Copilot, which integrates insights from trusted Power BI semantic models into workflows. Observability in Fabric was also launched, helping teams shift from reactive troubleshooting to proactive operations.
The event also marked the general availability of SQL Server on Azure Local, offering organizations greater flexibility in running mission-critical workloads. Other advancements included IQ Sharing in Fabric, app creation in Power BI, and Database Hub in Fabric, all aimed at connecting governed data with trusted business context to AI applications.
Beyond the announcements, the event fostered meaningful conversations among customers, partners, and executives. A consistent theme emerged: organizations seek a trusted foundation that unifies data, AI, and business context securely. The community aspect was a highlight, with the DataViz World Championship and Power Hour sessions showcasing the vibrant engagement of participants.