HCL Domino Momentum at Engage 2026: Product Management Highlights

This year, the HCL Domino community didn't just meet– we took over a stadium. Hosted at the Planet Group Arena in Ghent, Engage 2026 brought together 250 attendees for three days of learning, networking, and a firsthand look at the future of the Domino+ family.

Theme of the Year: Sovereignty and AI

Richard Jefts, EVP, HCLSoftware, set a clear pace for the year ahead in his keynote. The message was loud and clear: Data Sovereignty and AI are no longer a "topic to watch"—they are at the core of everything we do.

He noted that in just 12 months, AI is everywhere — in everything we do. From Agentic AI, Generative AI, to Vibe Coding. We aren't just talking about the future anymore; we’re building it in real-time. A perfect example is our newest innovation, the HCL’s Vibe Coding tool, Project Leona, demoed on stage by Jason Roy Gary, Divisional CTO, R&D, HCLSoftware. 

Deep Dives and Hands-on Workshops

Day 1 kicked off with 4 workshops - two led by our leaders and two by our business partners. 

Vibe Coding:

Suhas, Thomas, and Jason, HCL Domino experts, led an interactive workshop to show our customers, BPs, and Ambassadors how to use our HCL Project Leona in their Domino investments. HCL Project Leona, in Early Access, enables developers to create React apps using prompts. The smart piece is leveraging DRAPI. 

Business Partner Workshop: 

We connected with our business partner ecosystem to share updates to our programs and offerings. The session highlighted how partners can position and sell HCL Domino Workspace, our new sovereign collaboration platform, launching in June/July and provided details on the newly introduced Domino Expert Partner Program.

Day 2 and Day 3 continued with dedicated sessions and roundtable conversations focused on the HCL Domino+ family.

Who Joined Us at Engage 2026

• 250 Attendees: A growing community of passionate experts and users.
• 28 HCL Ambassadors: Our experts in the field, leading sessions and sharing deep technical knowledge and best practices.
• 11 Sponsors: A massive thank you to the partners; their continued presence and loyalty to the community are what make this event a success.

Spotlight on Our Major Announcements

We saw tremendous energy throughout the event as we shared innovations, strategic announcements, and the future direction of our portfolio.

The Launch of HCL Domino 2026:

A key milestone in the continued evolution of HCL Domino, which brings proven applications into the modern era. 

• Domino: The key announcements included our new Notes 2026 UI/UX improvements, Domino IQ with RAG support, and BSI certification. Tim wrapped the PM session after Richard’s keynote, a preview of the concept in the labs of “Notes IQ” powered by Domino IQ.
• Sametime: Sessions were well attended, with a primary focus on successful migrations and v12.0.4 upgrades. The v12.0.4 update introduced highly anticipated features, including Chat Edit, expanded Channel support, and Meeting Summaries powered by Domino IQ.
• Connections: Several sessions by business partners showcased new ways to implement AI features within Connections. There was a lot of excitement around native integration of Collabora in Connections, which enables seamless document editing and co-authoring directly within Files.

HCL Domino Workspace

A first look at the upcoming release platform that promises to revolutionize how we interact with the entire Domino ecosystem.

• Details for the Domino Workspace launch will be forthcoming.

Partnership with Collabora Online for Sovereign Collaboration

Michael Meeks, CEO of Collabora, presented their suite at Engage and the alignment of their business with ours.  Building on this collaboration, we participated in COOLDays, Collabora’s European event in Hamburg, Germany, where HCLSW and HCL Domino Workspace were highlighted in key OGS and Partner sessions. 

• Get more details of Collabora’s best-in-class offering

HCL Vibe Coding Platform - Project Leona

HCL Project Leona, in Early Access, enables developers to create React apps using prompts in minutes. The smart piece (or Skill) is leveraging DRAPI with Domino natively. Attendees created multiple applications. There will be future sessions with ambassadors, BPs and customers before we bring this capability to the Domino+ portfolio. Stay tuned. 

Endnote 

A special thank you to Kris De Bisschop, Tom van Aken, Anja Struyven, and the entire Engage team for putting together another fantastic event. It was great connecting with the HCL Domino community to showcase the momentum behind the HCL Domino portfolio and the exciting innovations we are building by leveraging sovereign collaboration and AI.