Two Weeks to Go Until Our Sector Comes Together at ITEC 2026

0​3 March 2026

B​y Alyson Scurfield, Chief Executive Officer, TSA

I am genuinely excited as we head into these final two weeks before ITEC 2026. Every year, there comes a moment where all the planning, the conversations, the programme building, and the quiet preparation suddenly feel real. That sense that we are about to come together again as a sector, in the same place and at the same time, to learn, share, and support one another.

With just two weeks to go now, it feels like we have reached that familiar point where everything suddenly becomes real. Diaries are blocked out, train tickets and flights are booked, and more than a few of us have just remembered how many people we promised we would “definitely catch up with properly” once we got to Birmingham!

Over the two days, we are expecting around 1,200 people to join us across the two days, which still feels remarkable to me. People from our sector travelling from across the world to spend time learning from each other, sharing experiences, and helping to shape the future of technology enabled care together.

ITEC 2026 is almost here, and there is a real sense that people are ready for it. You can feel that people are ready to step away from screens for a couple of days and be in a room with others who understand the same pressures, and have honest conversations about what is working, what is not, and what still feels harder than it should in 2026.

This year’s programme reflects that mood. So much of it is focused on how technology enabled care actually plays out in real life, in homes, in supported housing, in stretched services, in teams trying to keep things going while systems change around them and expectations continue to rise.

There is space to talk openly about digital transformation, about integration across housing, health and care, about the A2D switch and what it really means on the ground, about data and assurance, about workforce confidence, and about the everyday reality of making all of this work in a way that supports people rather than exhausting them.

Alongside the conference itself, I am really looking forward to coming together for the gala dinner and the ITEC Awards, which are always a special part of the event. It is always a perfect opportunity to celebrate excellence, recognise innovation, and properly acknowledge the people and teams who go above and beyond for the people and communities they serve.

Across the two days, you will hear from people who shape national policy and from people who spend most of their time dealing with delivery - from leaders who sit in strategy meetings, to managers solving problems at ten past three on a Tuesday afternoon. That mix of voices really matters, because both perspectives are needed if we are going to keep improving as a sector.

There will be sessions that make you think, sessions that give you something practical to take back, and conversations in corridors that end up being just as valuable as anything on stage. That has always been one of the real strengths of ITEC - the willingness to talk properly, to share honestly, and to learn from each other rather than simply presenting polished versions of our work.

It is that combination of ambition and realism, of confidence and humility and of wanting to do better for the people who need it most while recognising the real constraints people are working within, that keeps people coming back to ITEC year after year.

In two weeks’ time, the ICC will be full of familiar and not so familiar faces, new contacts, half-finished conversations from last year, notebooks, coffee cups, and probably a few sore feet by the end of day two, and that is exactly how it should be.

On behalf of the whole TSA team, I am truly looking forward to welcoming you to Birmingham. I look forward to catching up, listening, learning, and spending two days together talking about this work in a way that feels honest, supportive, and genuinely useful.