DPW Amsterdam 2025: The future of procurement is here

Innovation lives in DPW’s DNA.

Never satisfied to settle, Matthias Gutzmann, Herman Knevel, and their team, are constantly pushing the possible in procurement. And with good reason – DPW’s growth journey over the past six years has been remarkable since its launch event in 2019.

This year was its biggest conference yet. More than 1,700 people from 65 different countries and 37 industries made their way through the Beurs van Berlage doors for DPW Amsterdam 2025. With 129 sponsors involved in the event, over 100 speakers across 70+ sessions filled the expo space with lively discussion and invaluable insights. Every seat was filled, all tickets sold out. There is a demand for DPW unlike any procurement conference out there today. Procurement wants DPW.

And it is a key reason why organisers have made the decision to swap their much-loved Amsterdam home in favour of a bigger venue – RAI Amsterdam Convention Centre – next year at the slightly earlier date of 30th September to 1st October, 2026. “Moving into the RAI shows just how much we’re growing as a conference,” founder Gutzmann exclusively tells CPOstrategy after this year’s DPW Amsterdam. “It will allow us to get more creative, build more things from scratch and be even more immersive. It’s an opportunity to reimagine DPW.”

2025 marked DPW’s second year juggling both its New York City and Amsterdam conferences, with its US event certainly growing larger and now closely resembling its flagship Amsterdam event. For Gutzmann, he was impressed with the work his team put in to ensure both events thrived and had a great response. “We had to coordinate and work across both events at the same time so although we have more staff it was still a stretch,” explains Gutzmann. “But it shows us how we’re becoming a global player. The idea of DPW was born and bred in New York so being able to bring some of the sponsors over from Amsterdam was great. Procurement is a global function and I think having both events allows us to better serve our customers worldwide.”

In Amsterdam, there was no doubt what the buzz was about this year. AI is quickly transforming procurement and reshaping company strategies at scale. It is forcing procurement leaders to rethink what they thought they knew and pivot quickly amidst an AI boom. This was underpinned by the 2025 conference theme ‘Put AI to Work’, which builds off the back of 2023’s ‘Make Tech Work’ and last year’s ‘10X’ focus. Agents were by far the most popular topic of discussion, with the key difference being an emphasis on showcasing real use cases instead of simply hype. Leveraging and scaling it is not optional, as Gutzmann tells us.

“People have to get moving,” he says. “It was a call to action to say, stop talking and start doing. For the first time, we bundled that theme across both our New York City and Amsterdam events. The thinking was that we could compare how both audiences thought about the theme, and we know we got it right because there’s nothing bigger or more important than AI in procurement today.” 

Despite the excitement of what new technologies can offer procurement, one thing that always shines through at DPW is the foundation of human connection. For many, DPW Amsterdam is like coming home. Some attendees only meet one another at this event every year so it acts not only as a hub for business but for friendship and connection. This is amplified and encouraged through the many side events offered by DPW from canal cruises to opening parties, padel tournaments and a morning 5k run. Even as AI develops and grows in maturity, people hold the key to making technology work properly. 

Another highlight of a DPW conference is always the level of speakers it attracts. On stage this year were the likes of former CEO of Unilever Paul Polman, Bertrand Conqueret, Chief Procurement Officer at Henkel and Jennifer Moceri, Chief Procurement Officer at Google, among dozens of other big names from global organisations. Attendees were treated to vital insights and discussion across the biggest topics in procurement today including the likes of agentic AI, how to make better use of data and developing more robust sustainability strategies via advanced technologies, among many other essential themes.

The future of DPW and the wider procurement industry is incredibly bright. Moving forward, DPW is keen to meet more regularly with its network and has recently introduced the DPW Connect series which is bringing tech leaders and practitioners together in cities globally. Having started in October 2025, there are gatherings scheduled in San Francisco, New York City and London over the coming months, opening up spaces for the community to come together to connect, exchange and grow.

“We run two events per year across three days which means our product is live for just six days a year,” Gutzmann explains. “We felt we needed to offer something else for the rest of the year. The future of events is all around driving meaningful human to human connection and we want to connect our community and engage with them all year round. It’s not necessarily about scaling, but more around intimacy and driving these connections. That’s what’s most important to us.”

Procurement’s transformation journey is well underway. No longer are procurement innovators hidden away, they are at the heart of an organisation’s strategy and are now equipped with unprecedented levels of technology at their disposal to make life easier for them and their teams. And events like DPW Amsterdam help showcase the journey the function is on while shining a light on what is coming down the track. “People always say that it’s the most exciting time to be in procurement but I truly believe it,” enthuses Gutzmann. “Armed with the amount of innovation coming through, the next generation of leaders are so inspiring. I believe the future of procurement is being written at DPW Amsterdam.”

Check out the article in the DPW Amsterdam Takeover Edition here.

Find out more about DPW Amsterdam here.