From Metadata Strategy to Practical Data Infrastructure
Metadata has become one of the most important—and least understood—foundations of modern digital infrastructure.
Every organization depends on metadata to make data discoverable, understandable, trustworthy, reusable, and FAIR. As organizations work to implement data spaces, meet new regulatory requirements, strengthen digital sovereignty, and prepare data for AI, metadata has become the connective tissue that enables systems, organizations, and communities to work together.
Yet many organizations continue to face the same challenge: how do we build metadata ecosystems that are simpler to implement, easier to govern, and capable of supporting the next generation of data-driven applications?
Metadata Summit 2026 brings together the communities tackling these questions every day. Convened by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) with European and international partners, the summit provides a neutral forum for practitioners, policymakers, standards organizations, researchers, and technology leaders to exchange ideas, challenge assumptions, and develop practical approaches.
Rather than another conference about metadata standards, this summit focuses on implementation—what works today, what needs to evolve, and how organizations can apply existing and emerging approaches to real-world challenges.
Advancing Global Collaboration
Metadata collaboration has a long and successful international history. Metadata Summit 2026 builds on that foundation by bringing together communities that often work in parallel to share implementation experiences, identify common approaches, and accelerate adoption across sectors.
Following the European summit, a complementary event hosted by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) will take place in November 2026 (dates and venue to be announced), extending the discussion with additional regional perspectives, technical collaboration, and implementation experiences.
Together, these events will strengthen the international community advancing interoperable, FAIR, sovereign, and AI-ready data infrastructure.