GITEX Vietnam: Dates, Tickets & Venue (Hanoi)

What GITEX Vietnam actually is

GITEX AI Vietnam is a technology exhibition and conference, and the Hanoi edition was set for October 1-2, 2026. It is organised by KAOUN International, the company behind the Dubai World Trade Centre’s GITEX franchise, working alongside Vietnam’s National Innovation Center (NIC).

That NIC partnership matters. Unlike a purely commercial trade show parachuted into a rented hall, this edition is tied into Vietnam’s own state innovation infrastructure, which shapes both the venue choice and the delegate mix toward government, policy and enterprise attendees rather than a general public crowd.

This was the inaugural Hanoi edition of GITEX, a brand with large-scale events in Dubai, Berlin and elsewhere. First editions of any GITEX spinoff tend to be smaller and more exploratory than the flagship Dubai show, with the exhibitor list and floor plan built out year over year rather than fixed from day one.

Dates and how the two days are likely structured

The event was set for October 1-2, 2026, a two-day format that is standard for regional GITEX editions outside the flagship Dubai show. Two-day tech conferences of this scale typically split into a heavier opening day of keynotes and ministerial or NIC-linked sessions, with day two leaning more into exhibitor floor time and smaller breakout panels.

That is the general pattern for the format, not a published agenda. Session times and stage assignments at an inaugural edition are usually the last pieces to settle, and no detailed day-by-day programme accompanied the date announcement.

Finding the venue in Hanoi

The organisers do not have a single long-running home for this event the way Dubai’s GITEX has the Dubai World Trade Centre. Given the National Innovation Center’s direct involvement, an NIC facility or an NIC-linked convention venue in the Hanoi area was the most plausible host site, and no exact street address accompanied the announcement.

Geography makes a real difference here. Hanoi’s older central districts, around Hoan Kiem, sit a long way from the newer NIC campus areas west of the city, and that gap changes taxi times and hotel choices considerably. Visitors who navigate Hanoi by landmark rather than address usually anchor themselves to one side or the other.

Tickets and registration

As a business and technology exhibition rather than a public festival, GITEX events generally use a registration model: visitor passes, conference passes and exhibitor packages priced differently, often with early-bird rates. Exact pricing and pass tiers for this Hanoi edition were not published alongside the dates.

• Registration was through the official GITEX Vietnam website, not third-party resellers
• Separate tiers usually apply to exhibition-floor access and to conference or keynote access
• Corporate and government delegations often register as groups through NIC or partner channels rather than individually

Early-bird deadlines are a normal feature of the GITEX registration calendar, with the cheapest tiers closing weeks ahead of the show.

Reading a first-year GITEX floor

Compared with an established GITEX event in Dubai or Berlin, a first-year edition is leaner: fewer exhibitor halls, a tighter list of keynote speakers, and a programme shaped by the launch itself rather than the sprawling multi-hall format the Dubai flagship has built over years.

That is not a downside for anyone making direct contacts. Smaller first editions tend to have a higher ratio of decision-makers to browsers, since attendance skews toward companies and officials with a direct stake in Vietnam’s tech and innovation policy rather than general industry tourism.

Getting to Hanoi and around it

Most international visitors arrive through Noi Bai International Airport, roughly 25-30 minutes from central Hanoi by car depending on traffic, longer during rush hour. Airport taxis and ride-hailing apps (Grab is the dominant one locally) are the standard way in; the metered or ride-hailing option avoids haggling over a fare.

Within the city, Grab is also the easiest way to reach a conference venue, with drivers working from a dropped pin rather than a street number. Hanoi’s traffic is dense and lane discipline is loose, so real journey times run longer than a map estimate suggests, particularly in the morning.

Badge etiquette and the business-conference rhythm

Business cards still carry real weight at Vietnamese and broader Southeast Asian tech conferences, and the basic courtesy is to present and receive them with both hands. Dress skews business formal or smart business casual for keynote sessions, looser on the exhibition floor itself.

Networking at events like this tends to happen in the gaps: coffee breaks between sessions, the exhibitor floor during lulls, and organised evening receptions where the programme includes one. For business development rather than keynotes, day two floor time is usually the higher-value window, since that is when exhibitors are set up for longer conversations rather than delivering a scheduled talk.

First editions also keep the logistics simple: a single badge desk, one floor plan, and far fewer parallel tracks than the Dubai or Berlin shows, where the programme spans several halls at once.