Helena Mubiru from Soben part of Accenture attended Kickstart Europe 2026 to connect with peers across the data centre ecosystem and reflect on the conversations shaping the industry’s future.
The data centre industry is expanding rapidly, while facing a growing shortage of people and skills. At the same time, it has a perception challenge – often seen as complex, closed-off or difficult to engage with. Events like Kickstart Europe matter because they bring people from across the ecosystem together, creating the relationships and trust needed to meet that demand.
Padel: informal settings, better conversations
We kicked off Kickstart Europe 2026 with a padel tournament hosted by Soben part of Accenture, at Padel Next in Amsterdam, bringing together members of the DDA community and conference attendees. It’s something we’ve hosted before, and once again it proved its value.
I stepped in from the bench to play alongside Michael, and what followed was a surprisingly strong on-court partnership and, just as importantly, easy, honest conversations about the data centre space.
Once on the court, the usual barriers disappeared. Titles didn’t matter, conversations weren’t forced, and the mix of relaxed energy and competitiveness created space for more open dialogue. In an industry as relatively small as ours, that familiarity builds quickly – and it lasts.
It was a reminder that strong professional relationships often start with shared experiences. When people feel comfortable with each other, collaboration becomes easier long before any commercial discussion takes place.
Podcast: listening instead of broadcasting
While onsite at Kickstart Europe, we recorded a series of podcast episodes for the Inside Data Centre Podcast, hosted by Andy Davis and co-hosted by Pieter Schaap.
Andy brought a valuable perspective as someone deeply embedded in the data centre industry, including the talent and recruitment side. He has a clear view of how the market is evolving, where skills are in short supply, and what that means for delivery and growth across the sector. With Soben´s Data Centre expert Pieter bringing a consultancy lens and Andy drawing on market-wide experience, the conversation moved beyond surface-level commentary and into how decisions are actually being made – from resourcing to execution.
Attendees could tune in via silent headphones, creating space for focused, nuanced discussion rather than soundbites. It reinforced a simple point: in a fast-moving industry, listening carefully is often more valuable than talking loudly. Episode one can be found here.
Power: designing for speed, scale and intelligence
On Wednesday, Pieter Schaap moderated a panel on Smart Data Centres for Rapid AI Expansion, and the message was clear: the rules are changing.
AI-driven workloads are pushing density, power demand and delivery timelines to levels that would have felt unrealistic even five years ago. The discussion quickly moved beyond what a smart data centre is, to how we build and operate at this pace without losing control of performance, reliability, and community impact.
A recurring theme was the trade-off between optimisation and speed to market. In many cases, standardisation and rapid deployment are being prioritised over perfect design. In what some described as an AI arms race, waiting for ideal conditions isn’t an option. At the same time, complexity is increasing. Power, cooling, networking, and community impact can no longer be considered in isolation. “Smart” is no longer about individual components, but about intelligence across the entire system – using real operational data to adapt, optimise and scale in real time.
In a market defined by rapid expansion, the ability to work across disciplines – and across organisations – is becoming a differentiator in itself.
Kickstart Europe 2026 showed that the data centre industry’s biggest challenges – rapid growth, talent shortages and infrastructure constraints, can’t be solved in silos. They require stronger collaboration and real relationships across the ecosystem. Creating space for people to connect isn’t a nice-to-have; it’s how we keep pace with demand.
Thank you to Stijn, Zoë, Claire and the KickStart team for a great few days.
About Soben and Accenture
Soben is part of Accenture’s Infrastructure and Capital Projects practice, bringing together hands-on data centre delivery expertise with Accenture’s digital and industry capabilities across the project lifecycle.
For more insight into how the sector is evolving, explore our latest Data Centre Trends Report, or learn more about Accenture’s Data Centre Services.