Join us in Geneva for the IRF 2026 Annual Conference from 16 – 18 November 2026
This November, the IRF 2026 Annual Conference will convene the global road community in Geneva to explore the big questions shaping the sector’s future. At a time when road agencies and transport leaders are being asked to do more with greater scrutiny, tighter budgets and rising public expectations, the conference arrives with an agenda that is both timely and necessary. Click the titles for more details.
IRF 2026 Annual Conference
The IRF 2026 Annual Conference will be held in Geneva from 16–18 November 2026 under the theme “The Road Ahead: Trust, Delivery and Innovation”. It will bring together the global road community, uniting decision-makers, industry leaders, international organisations and technical experts at the intersection of policy, practice and innovation.
Over the three days, the conference will examine some of the most pressing questions facing the road sector today: how to build public trust, how to deliver more resilient, inclusive and financially viable road systems and how to harness innovation to prepare roads for the future.
The opening day will centre on a challenge that is becoming increasingly important for road authorities and infrastructure providers everywhere: trust. Not only trust in institutions, but trust in the value of road investment itself. In many parts of the world, roads remain the backbone of economic activity and social access. Yet road projects today are also judged through a wider lens: inclusion, environmental performance, financial credibility and responsiveness to community needs. The programme will open with the conference’s plenary session before moving into sessions on designing roads for everyone and ensuring evidence-based planning to advance road safety.
Discussions will move beyond ambition to execution. The programme features an Agency Executives Roundtable on Delivering Roads for the UN Decade, alongside sessions on resilience, future roads funding safer roads, circularity, greening road projects and a new paradigm for asset maintenance.
The final day will explore how to enhance the readiness of roads for a fast-changing technological future, with sessions looking at automation, smarter traffic operations, safer traffic systems, technology in changing user behaviour and digital infrastructure.
Join the IRF 2026 Annual Conference and our global community to discuss where the road sector is heading and the leadership it will require to get there.
Message from IRF Leaders
Dimitrios Mandalozis
President
Gonzalo Alcaraz
Director General
Dear colleagues and friends,
It is with great pride and a deep sense of purpose that we invite you to join the IRF 2026 Annual Conference, taking place in Geneva from 16 to 18 November under the theme “The Road Ahead: Trust, Delivery and Innovation.”
Over three days, we will come together as a global community to examine the most pressing questions facing our sector. We will hear from decision-makers, technical experts, researchers and innovators who are translating ambition into action on the ground. We will explore how to close the funding gap, how to embed resilience and inclusion into planning and design, how digital tools are reshaping operations and safety and how emerging technologies can be harnessed responsibly for the roads of tomorrow.
We look forward to welcoming you to Geneva and to the conversations, connections and commitments that will emerge from these three days together.
