The Section on Business Archives (SBA) of the International Council on Archives (ICA) invites submissions for its 2026 conference, titled “The Company We Keep: Navigating Brands, Borders and Boundaries”. This conference gathers leading professionals to explore the evolving landscape of corporate memory in a complex, globalized environment. In a world where companies constantly change in structure and in ownership, the history and stories they hold – and how they keep them – have never been more important.

This international event will be held in Brussels, at the Royal Library of Belgium (KBR), on September 21-22, 2026, and is hosted by three institutions from the Benelux region.

Argument

The 2026 Section on Business Archives Conference, titled “The Company We Keep : Navigating Brands, Borders and Boundaries”, will be hosted in Brussels as a collaborative initiative between organizations from Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands : Expertisecentrum voor Technisch, Wetenschappelijk en Industrieel Erfgoed (ETWIE), Vereniging Bedrijf & Historie (VBH), Archives nationales de Luxembourg (ANLux)

This conference gathers leading professionals to explore the evolving landscape of corporate memory in a complex, globalized environment. In a world where companies constantly change in structure and in ownership, the history and stories they hold – and how they keep them – have never been more important. This conference dives into the fascinating potential of corporate memory. We will explore how these layered legacies – even the sensitive bits – contribute to operational success and as invaluable cultural heritage allow us to connect wider audiences across cultures, countries, and even competing brands.

Globally, the number of professional business archives and company collections continues to grow, reflecting their indispensable role in corporate identity, competitive intelligence, and heritage management. These professional repositories serve strategic business needs. This is one of the key aspects that sets them apart from public archives and collections. They focus on documentation, yes, but more importantly emphasize the strategic utilization of these materials to advance business interests, providing critical insights that inform decision-making, competitive intelligence and brand identity.

This conference serves as a vital forum for archivists, curators, historians and various corporate professionals (from legal and communications to management and more) to engage in dialogue, share innovative projects and strengthen international collaboration. Thus ensuring that business archives remain dynamic repositories for future generations. The Steering Committee of the Section on Business Archives is calling for papers, which explore the above outline through four distinct themes, which all represent a particular facet of the companies we keep :

• Theme 1 – Layers and legacies. Keeping corporate memory in a fragmented, globalized world of subsidiaries, spin-offs, mergers and divestitures.
• Theme 2 – Connections and cooperation across international, cultural or brand divides through company collections and business archives.
• Theme 3 – Conflicted custodians, dealing with sensitive histories in corporate collections.
• Theme 4 – Show and tell. Share projects, outputs, collaborations and cases that inspire and spark enthusiasm in 7 minutes or less.

Submission guidelines

The abstract must be submitted in English and not exceed 300 words (excluding the title, authors, affiliations, acknowledgments).

Presentations for themes 1, 2 and 3 must be in English and not exceed 20 minutes.

Presentations for theme 4 aim for 7 minutes, presented in English.

Please send the abstract for your paper to info@icasba2026.com by 28 February 2026. In preparation for the review, additional questions might be asked.

After abstract submission closes, the ICA/SBA Steering Committee and conference organizers will review them and make a selection for the program. The reviewers may suggest for an abstract to be condensed into a poster to include it in the conference. After notification of acceptance, the presenting author(s) need(s) to register for the conference before 30 March 2026 to confirm participation.

• Abstract submission open : 22 October 2025
• Abstract submission close : 28 February 2026
• Notification of acceptance : 22 March 2026
• Program announced & registration open : 30 March 2026
• ICA/SBA 2026 conference : 21-22 September 2026

For more information : https://icasba2026.com

Organization

The conference is organized by the Section on Archives of the International Council on Archives (ICA/SBA).

However, 3 institutions/associations from Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg will host this conference :

• ETWIE (Expertisecel voor technisch, wetenschappelijk en industrieel erfgoed, Ghent, BE)
• VBH (Vereniging Bedrijf & Historie, NL)
• ANLux (Archives nationales de Luxembourg)

Representatives from the four institutions and associations will review the proposals.