What to expect from ABBYY Ascend 2026
The Computer Weekly Developer Network is off to Nashville, Tennessee for ABBYY Ascend 2026 on April 16 this year.
Held in Virgin Hotels Nashville (hello Sir Richard), this year’s theme is “Turning Complexity into Clarity”… a mission that the company says take attendees from AI experimentation to delivering measurable results.
The events team say that ABBYY Ascend will showcase how to transform business-critical documents into business insights (actionable ones, obviously) that drive operational efficiency, enhance workforce productivity and elevate customer experiences.
We will see ABBYY talk about how its approach o what it calls “purpose-built Document AI” today turns business-critical documents into trusted, actionable data powering intelligent automation, informed decision-making and next-generation AI use cases.
Immersive in-person immersion
Attendees are promised the chance to experience these progressions through an immersive, in-person event as they also connect with peers.
“ABBYY Ascend 2026 isn’t just another event – it’s where the future of enterprise AI takes shape. From groundbreaking advancements in Document AI to hands-on experiences like the hackathon, we’re giving attendees the tools, insights and inspiration to tackle their biggest challenges head-on,” said the company’s Maxime Vermeir, vice president of AI strategy and product marketing
ABBYY (hereafter written as Abbyy) says that attendees can learn how to streamline operations with high-performing agentic workflows across key industries. The company will explain how to boost accuracy and cut costs with its latest Document AI technology (and it promises no more hallucinations or wasted tokens) with the ability to stay compliant with forward-thinking AI governance and open source standards.
“The Ascend 2026 agenda transforms unstructured data into the clarity required for autonomous automation. Start your day with a unified experience featuring an inspiring keynote and customer spotlight, then choose the path that best fits your goals,” notes the company, in its event preview.
But who attends an event like this? Abbyy says its content is aligned for automation leaders, developers (to build, test and deploy Abbyy-powered solutions fast in hands-on hackathons and labs) and business owners, who can learn from real customers how Document AI reduces risk.
ABBYY Vantage 3.0
The company will no doubt use the event to recap on recent news. As such, we can note that this year has seen the arrival of ABBYY Vantage 3.0, the latest version of the company’s Document AI platform, now offering direct integration with LLMs.
Built on a completely new, modernised tech stack, Vantage is designed to adapt as AI evolves and delivers new advancements faster and with more flexibility. It also introduces an analytics dashboard, built-in sophisticated compliance and redaction capabilities and an expanded library of pre-configured AI models that enable organisations to gain real-time insights, protect sensitive information and accelerate process transformation.
“We know that context matters when it comes to data extraction. With ABBYY Vantage, you can control exactly how data is sent to the LLM and choose between sending the document image or the structured, precise text output from ABBYY’s highly acclaimed OCR,” said Vermeir. “Furthermore, you can tract where data was extracted from within the document for auditability and transparency that’s essential for compliance.
The company says it wants to further fuel autonomy – because software is evolving from assisting to acting. The promise here is a chance to dive into how purpose-built AI equips AI agents with the context and cognitive foundation needed for autonomous workflows.
In critical operations, ‘good enough’ simply isn’t enough. So the company wants to explain how its purpose-built AI outperforms generic models (so it claims) and delivers accuracy and smarter automation. Plus of course, enterprise technology needs a foundation of safety, so the company will explain how governance frameworks and standards ensure transparency, auditability and security, transforming compliance into a competitive advantage.
Developer hackathon
As noted above new at each event now is the expansion of the ABBYY Hackathon to European and North American Ascend locations due to its popular demand and success at ABBYY’s Bangaluru competition.
This year’s competition will challenge developers to push the boundaries of what’s possible to solve real-world business problems using ABBYY’s cutting-edge technologies. Interested participants must complete an online submission with a video of their solution at least 10 days prior to the event they plan to attend.
Software application developers can visit ABBYY Ascend 2026 · Hackathon to register.
