Symposium 2026 on 01/12/2026

6th ICoBC Symposium 2026: Realizing Sustainable Impact

Agentic AI in Learning & Enablement – What Could Go Wrong?

Building on our previous symposiums—“From Theory to Practice,” “The Journey of the Champions,” “Connecting the Dots,” “Ensuring Equal Inclusion,” and “Building Global Capabilities”—the 2026 symposium connects digital credentials, micro-credentials, open badges, skill inventories, and digital wallets with the governance of increasingly autonomous systems.

Agentic AI: Opportunity Requires Accountability

AI agents can do more than generate content: they can use tools, coordinate workflows, and take actions within delegated permissions. In training, learning, and enablement, this opens up opportunities for personalised learning support, skills assessment, and coordination across organisational systems. It also makes clear boundaries and meaningful human oversight essential.

The scale of the potential change is significant. Gartner forecasts that 40% of enterprise applications will integrate task-specific AI agents by the end of 2026. In a separate forecast, Gartner predicts that over 40% of agentic AI projects will be cancelled by the end of 2027, citing escalating costs, unclear business value, or inadequate risk controls. These are forecasts—not evidence that those adoption or cancellation levels have already been reached.

For the digital credentialing community, the question is practical: What could go wrong—and what must we put in place to prevent it?

• Fabricated or misused credentials: What happens if an AI agent presents an invented micro-credential—or reuses a genuine credential outside its intended context—and a receiving system fails to verify it?
• “Ghost agents” and persistent access: How do organisations ensure that agents, service accounts, tokens, and delegated permissions lose access when an employee leaves or an authorisation expires?
• Identity spoofing and excessive permissions: How can systems distinguish the learner, the issuer, and the agent acting on someone’s behalf—and prevent unauthorised disclosure of learning records or proprietary content?
• Unreliable assessments and unclear responsibility: Who is accountable when an agent misrepresents competence, makes an inappropriate recommendation, or takes an action beyond its mandate?

These are risk scenarios for discussion, not claims of confirmed incidents at participating organisations. Addressing them requires more than a new technology: it requires trusted issuers, sound verification, controlled delegation, access lifecycle management, and clear responsibility.

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Verifiable Trust: Credentials, Identity, and Zero Trust

The symposium will explore how Verifiable Credentials (VCs), Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs), and zero-trust architectures can contribute to safer learning and enablement ecosystems. The focus is on connecting proof of achievement with reliable identity and explicit, limited authority to act.

• Verify the credential: Check its cryptographic integrity, issuer, validity, and status where supported, rather than trusting a badge image or an unverified claim.
• Establish whose identity is involved: Examine how identifiers, keys, and identity assurance can connect a credential to the intended subject and distinguish human users from software agents.
• Separate achievement from authorisation: Evidence of a skill does not automatically grant permission to access a system, disclose data, or act on another person’s behalf.
• Limit and review agent access: Apply least privilege, time-limited delegation, policy checks, audit trails, and human approval for sensitive actions. Revoke access when the underlying authority ends.

Cryptographic verification can help detect tampering and establish who signed a credential. It does not, by itself, prove that an assessment was accurate, that an issuer is trustworthy, or that an agent is authorised to take a particular action. Sustainable trust depends on technical safeguards and institutional governance working together.

Digital Identity, Wallets, and Sovereignty

The European Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet and the updated eIDAS framework provide an important context for discussions about digital identity, credentials, and cross-border trust. We will examine their implications for educational and professional achievements, privacy-preserving sharing, and interoperability.

Digital sovereignty must also be meaningful when agents participate in these ecosystems. How can individuals retain control over what is shared, with whom, and for what purpose? How should delegated actions be recorded, limited, and withdrawn? The discussion will distinguish citizen identity and wallet use from the separate identity and authorisation requirements of AI agents.

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Quality Seals and Issuer Accreditation: Trust Beyond the Signature

Credentials must be more than technically verifiable: their meaning, assessment quality, and relevance must also be understood. The symposium will explore the role of global quality-seal approaches and issuer-accreditation frameworks in building confidence across education, employment, and public institutions.

• Quality seals: How can transparent criteria help organisations evaluate the assessment methods, currency, and relevance behind digital credentials?
• Issuer accreditation: What evidence and oversight are needed to assess an issuing organisation’s credibility and its competence to award particular credentials?
• AI-assisted assessment: How should quality frameworks address human oversight, assessment integrity, accessibility, and the limitations of automated judgements?

The aim is to strengthen mutual trust without treating any seal, accreditation, or digital signature as a universal guarantee of competence or security.

From Risk Awareness to Sustainable Impact

Realizing sustainable impact means using technology to expand opportunity—not simply deploying more automation. The symposium will connect agentic AI governance with holistic competence, inclusive learning, and cross-border recognition of skills. The goal is to support systems that recognise what people can do while protecting their rights and keeping responsibility visible.

We will explore how ICoBC’s strategic partnership models can bring public institutions, education providers, employers, technology companies, and international networks together. Discussion will focus on shared trust requirements, interoperable approaches, and practical ways to scale credentialing ecosystems responsibly and equitably.

Join colleagues working across credentialing, learning, workforce enablement, digital identity, cybersecurity, policy, and quality assurance to examine the opportunities, challenge the assumptions, and identify actionable next steps.

Programme: 2:00 p.m.–6:00 p.m.

The symposium programme runs from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. (Berlin local time). The detailed agenda, session formats, and speakers will be announced shortly.

Planned discussion themes include agentic AI in learning and enablement; credential misuse and agent access risks; verifiable credentials and delegated authority; digital wallets and sovereignty; quality assurance and issuer accreditation; and partnerships for sustainable impact.

Registration and Payment

Registration details and payment links will be published here once available. For enquiries about attending or contributing to the symposium, contact the ICoBC team.

Partners, Sponsors, and Supporters

Become a Sponsor of the 6th ICoBC Symposium 2026

Support a conversation that connects responsible AI, trusted digital credentials, and inclusive workforce development. Sponsorship offers organisations working in learning, enablement, digital identity, credentialing, and security an opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to sustainable impact and engage with an international community.

Previous sponsors and supporters include Accenture, Microsoft, LinkedIn, Speexx, Lightcast / Emsi Burning Glass, Dataport, and relevantive. Sponsor benefits include:

• Two complimentary registrations for the symposium
• Company name and logo, with a hyperlink, on the official 2026 symposium webpage
• Company name in promotional emails
• Logo or listing in the ICoBC onsite programme as an official sponsor
• Logo displayed on the event entrance banner
• Logo displayed in event video recordings, where produced

To discuss sponsorship of the 2026 symposium, email the ICoBC team.

Participants at Previous Symposiums

Previous symposiums have brought together representatives from education, industry, government, technology, and international organisations. The following historical list does not imply attendance at or endorsement of the 2026 event.

Organisations:

Access Microfinance Holding AG, AccessHolding, America Succeeds, Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation, Atlantic Technological University, Australian Catholic University, Badge Europe, Bayer, Bildungsplattform der WKO GmbH, Bloom Foundation, BMBF, Bookt, Brigham Young University, CanCred by Learning Agents, Certif-ID International OHG, CGFNS International, Concentric Sky / Badgr, Credential Engine, Credivera, CredShare, DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service), Digitary, Education Design Lab, Education in Motion, E-duProof UG, eLearning Africa, Emsi Burning Glass, Essential Skills Program, Fachhochschule Münster, FAO, Forever Day One (4ed1 GmbH), Gear Up, George Washington University, German Testing Board e.V., Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), ZDH, Hochschulforum Digitalisierung, Humanitarian Leadership Academy, ICDE, ICoBC, imc AG, Institute of Technology Sligo, International Organization for Migration (IOM), Jumia, kcg.edu, Knapp & Associates Int’l, Lightcast, LinkedIn, Microsoft, NAEC, The Open University (UK), Proctorio GmbH, RANDA Solutions, Regione Emilia-Romagna, relevantive GmbH, Seneca College, Speexx, SRH Berlin University of Applied Sciences, Stifterverband, Studieorganisasjon Folkeuniversitetet, T3 Innovation Network, Technical University of Applied Sciences Lübeck, Technische Universität Berlin, TÜV Rheinland International GmbH, University of Huddersfield, University of Kentucky, University of Maine System, UNSSC, VDI/VDE Innovation + Technik GmbH, Visions, Western Governors University, World Bank

Roles represented:

University leaders, professors and researchers; founders and executive leaders; policy advisers; credentialing and certification specialists; digital identity and authentication experts; learning designers and workforce development professionals; product managers and engineers; strategic partnership and business development leaders; project and programme managers; and specialists in skills intelligence, assessment, and credential integrity.

Venue and Practical Information

The symposium will take place in Berlin. The venue and event date will be announced here once confirmed. The programme runs from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. (Berlin local time).

For attendance, partnership, or sponsorship enquiries, please contact info@icobc.net.