The Call For Content for SAS Innovate 2026 just wrapped—and wow, the response was incredible! As part of the content review team, I’m blown away by the creativity, expertise, and passion in nearly 550 proposals from across the globe. The SAS community never fails to impress. Now comes the tough (but exciting) challenge: curating the very best ideas to shape an agenda that will inspire, educate, and energize us all!
Of the topics that we're reviewing, here are the themes that are emerging:
Agentic AI and Automation: The rise of autonomous, explainable, and orchestrated AI agents is a defining trend, with a focus on blending automation with human oversight and governance.
Modernization & Migration: Moving from legacy SAS 9 to Viya, cloud-native architectures, and open integration with Python/R are central to many submissions.
Responsible AI & Governance: Trust, transparency, and regulatory compliance are top priorities, with practical frameworks for AI risk management and model validation.
Synthetic Data & Privacy: Synthetic data generation is enabling innovation while meeting privacy and compliance needs, especially in healthcare and financial services.
Industry Transformation: Real-world case studies show SAS solutions driving measurable impact in banking, healthcare, manufacturing, public sector, and retail.
User Empowerment: Self-service analytics, low/no-code tools, and AI copilots are democratizing advanced analytics for business users and non-technical audiences.
Visualization & Communication: There’s a strong emphasis on storytelling, custom visuals, and making analytics actionable for decision-makers.
This year, my particular focus is in the SAS Programming and SAS 9 area, and I'm pleased to say that there are many strong entries! If you’re a SAS 9 user, you’ll find practical tips, modernization roadmaps, and inspiring customer stories that meet you where you are—while opening doors to what’s next.
Stay tuned for the final agenda—coming your way in early 2026! If you submitted a proposal, keep an eye on your inbox; the committee will be reaching out before the winter holidays. In the meantime, what topics are you most excited to see on the agenda? Let’s get the conversation started below! (And don't forget, registration for the conference is open, with a great price for early action!)
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