About it-sa Expo&Congress
Nuremberg's it-sa Expo&Congress is an annual trade fair and conference devoted entirely to IT security, held at Exhibition Centre Nuremberg each autumn. Organised by NürnbergMesse, the event grew out of a security forum at the Systems fair in Munich and became an independent exhibition in 2009.
The exhibition covers cyber security in its many forms: data and network security, cloud security and management, identity and access, security for industrial and critical infrastructure, and the services that support them. Exhibitors range from specialist German and European software houses to large international vendors, which gives visitors a broad view of the market in one place.
Visitors are trade professionals: IT security experts and decision makers, IT managers, security leaders and public sector buyers, many with direct responsibility for budgets and procurement. The show is especially important for vendors targeting the German-speaking DACH market, where it is one of the main gatherings of security buyers each year.
The Congress@it-sa programme complements the exhibition with in-depth sessions on specific challenges, and the exhibition halls host talks and presentations. NürnbergMesse also runs it-sa 365, an online platform launched in 2020 that extends the community through the year with company profiles, product information and online presentations.
For exhibitors, the attraction is a concentrated audience of security specialists who arrive with defined problems and are ready to discuss solutions in technical detail.
Next edition
it-sa Expo&Congress 2027: what to expect
it-sa Expo&Congress 2027 takes place at Exhibition Centre Nuremberg from Tuesday 5 to Thursday 7 October, several weeks earlier than the 2026 edition. Opening hours are 09:00 to 18:00 on the first two days and 09:00 to 17:00 on the Thursday, and the it-sa CONFERENCE runs on the same three days, with more information still to come from NürnbergMesse.
NürnbergMesse reported 1,005 exhibitors and more than 33,000 trade visitors from over 70 countries for 2026, with visitor numbers up by around 20 per cent on the previous year and the exhibitor total passing 1,000 for the first time.
Booking early gives a wider choice of hall and position at a show that keeps growing. German-speaking staff and bilingual literature remain valuable, and an enclosed meeting area helps when buyers want to discuss confidential security requirements away from the aisle.