Startup events in October 2026 – Calendar

Billed as the UK's largest open tech festival — a decentralised, mostly free two-week programme of hundreds of community-run events. For a Yorkshire founder or developer it is an accessible way to run or attend sessions, build a local network, and recruit without a big ticket cost.

A major software-engineering conference at TAP1 in Copenhagen under the 2026 theme of engineering for reality, covering distributed systems, testing and debugging, legacy modernization, resilience and observability, security, sustainable computing and agentic AI software development. It is one of the longest-running developer conferences in the Nordics.

A one-week intensive deep-tech commercialization program, successor to the I.E.C.T. Summer School, for ambitious founders preparing a pre-seed or seed raise within the next year. The week of mentorship and collaboration culminates in a Demo Day where founders pitch to a curated group of investors and corporate partners. In 2026 the program is hosted in Styria.

One of Europe's largest biotech partnering events, in its 13th edition and run by industry association AseBio, known for its high volume of one-to-one investor and company meetings. Essential for biotech and life-sciences founders raising capital or seeking pharma and research partners.

SBC Summit is Europe's largest gaming, igaming and sports-betting industry conference, hosted across the Feira Internacional de Lisboa and MEO Arena in Lisbon's Parque das Nações. It convenes thousands of operators, technology suppliers, payments providers and investors for exhibitions, conference tracks, a startup and investment angle, and large-scale networking.

DevOpsDays Vilnius is a community-run, non-profit technical conference focused on DevOps, software delivery, automation and the intersection of development and operations. The two-day program at the Kablys 2.0 venue combines 30-minute talks, 5-minute ignite sessions and participant-led open-space discussions, and is part of the global DevOpsDays series drawing engineers from across the Baltics.

Cross-border healthcare conference and trade show organised by the Federation of Luxembourg Hospitals at Luxexpo The Box. Brings together hospital leaders, IT and HR directors, healthtech startups and researchers around digital health, innovation and patient experience.

Milano Digital Week is a city-wide festival on digital innovation, AI and smart-city themes, with hundreds of largely free events across business, digital citizenship, technology, culture and education. The 2026 edition runs under the theme "La città generativa" (The Generative City), convening businesses, startups, citizens and institutions across Milan.

The 19th edition of PRODURABLE at the Palais des Congrès in Paris is the largest European meeting for the sustainable economy, with around 15,000 visitors, 800 speakers and 350 partners. It convenes decision-makers, impact startups and investors around sustainability and ecological transition.

The annual gathering for Europe's scaleup leaders, run by the FT-backed Sifted. Programming covers fundraising, AI adoption, and sustainability, with a strong investor presence and the Sifted 250 leaderboard — valuable for a growth-stage founder raising or scaling.

TEKNOFEST 2026, the world's largest aviation, space and technology festival, is hosted in Şanlıurfa on 30 September – 4 October 2026 at GAP Airport. Organized by the Türkiye Technology Team (T3) Foundation with the Ministry of Industry and Technology under the National Technology Initiative, it runs 50+ technology competitions across aerospace, AI, defence, energy and agriculture, plus air shows, a startup programme, hackathons and exhibitions.

Turkey's flagship aerospace and technology festival at Istanbul Airport, attracting 1.7 million+ visitors with technology competitions, drone racing, space-tech exhibits, and a startup expo. Organized by the Turkish Technology Team Foundation with government backing. Free admission. Particularly strong on defense tech, aerospace, and hardware.

Two-day 5-in-1 conference at Eiffel Art Studios covering AI/ML, engineering leadership, product management, UX, and data engineering. Theme: 'From idea to impact: building successful products in the AI era.' Expected 1,300+ attendees.

A festival-style five-in-one tech conference organised by CraftHub, expecting 1,300+ attendees in central Budapest. Combines engineering leadership, AI, product, UX, and data tracks, and runs a dedicated startup programme — useful for founders building product and tech teams.

DigithON is Italy's largest digital and startup pitch marathon, held annually in the coastal town of Bisceglie in Puglia. The 2026 edition brings around one hundred selected startups for 48 hours of pitches, mentoring and networking in front of investors, venture funds, business angels and institutions, with a total prize pool of roughly €50,000.

Two-day festival at Gartenbaukino gathering 1,500+ creatives at the intersection of design, technology and entrepreneurship. Features 20+ international speakers, hands-on workshops and 25+ talks on creative processes, breakthroughs and craft.

The largest Czech innovation conference, in its 11th edition at ČSOB Campus, with 4 stages, 400+ speakers, and ~15,000 attendees covering AI, new technologies, and sustainability, plus a startup-investor matchmaking program.

A high-level partnering and investor conference connecting life-science innovators, investors, and industry across Switzerland, Austria, and the Nordics. For a biotech or healthtech founder it provides structured 1-to-1 partnering meetings with investors and pharma in a focused single-day format.

Armenia's flagship engineering, science and art forum, organized annually since 2017 by the Enterprise Incubator Foundation and the Engineering Association at Engineering City in Yerevan. The 2026 edition runs under the theme "Physical AI: Engineering Intelligence for the Real World", with talks and discussions spanning robotics, embedded systems, sensors, electronics, semiconductors and manufacturing. It gathers 1,000+ engineers, researchers, students, tech companies and industry leaders.

User-run AWS technical conference at Sofia Tech Park's John Atanasoff Forum, planned and delivered by AWS user group community leaders. Sessions and workshops on cloud architecture, mostly in Bulgarian with one English track.

Europe's largest stationary hackathon, returning for its 12th edition at Tauron Arena Kraków on 3-4 October 2026 — a 24-hour build sprint organised by PROIDEA. Teams of 1-6 tackle open challenge categories (Defence, Sport & Healthcare, Smart City, and AI) plus a justCTF capture-the-flag track, with corporate and government challenge partners. A high-signal place to prototype, recruit co-founders, and get in front of challenge-sponsoring organisations.

A hybrid B2B event connecting strategic new-economy sectors with around 320 international experts and 100+ hours of programming, organised around cross-sector verticals at DFactory Barcelona. Useful for founders wanting cross-industry corporate connections and exposure beyond a single vertical.

Europe's largest community-driven developer conference at Kinepolis Antwerp, themed 'From Developer to Builder'. Five days covering Java, architecture, GenAI agents, Model Context Protocol, security and modern development practices for thousands of developers worldwide.

FrontKon is Prague's frontend conference, returning to O2 Universum with more than 30 talks across three stages plus workshops and around 900 attendees. The bilingual programme (Czech with English interpretation for international speakers) goes beyond frontend basics to cover web technologies, accessibility, architecture, and AI.

Sixth edition under the theme 'Smart, Embedded, and Tokenized', hosting the Web3 Summit, Digital Finance Summit, plus dedicated tracks on AI in Finance, TradeTech, Fintech for Businesses, and Women in Fintech.

Week-long international gathering of the maritime industry hosted in Valletta, convening shipowners, regulators, ports, and maritime-tech innovators around shipping decarbonisation, digitalisation, and Malta's flag-state ecosystem.

A week-long series of 50+ startup events across Ireland organized by Enterprise Ireland and local partners. Events span Dublin, Cork, Galway, and Limerick with workshops, pitch competitions, and networking with Ireland's deep pool of multinational tech companies. Most events are free.

European debut of the meetings-first fintech event: 2,500+ senior attendees, 650+ hosted buyers from banks & PSPs, and 25,000+ pre-scheduled double opt-in meetings across payments, banking, lending and embedded finance. 70% C-suite.

HUSTEF, the Hungarian Software Testing Forum, is a long-running, internationally respected conference dedicated to software testing, QA, and quality engineering, drawing more than 750 attendees worldwide. Day one offers full and half-day tutorials, while the main conference runs over the following two days with talks on test automation, DevOps, and quality engineering case studies.

JumpIT Forum is a business-focused IT conference held at the Mozaik Event Centar in Zagreb and running since 2017. The 2026 edition, themed 'Projekti koji mijenjaju poslovanje' (Projects that change business), features 16 TED-style talks, 4 panels and 32 speakers, aimed at converting IT projects into measurable business value across the IT, telco, banking and finance sectors.

Central Europe's largest industrial trade fair, held at the Brno Exhibition Centre with Industry 4.0 and the digital factory as core themes. A key venue for hardware, industrial-tech, and manufacturing-software founders.

A leading global travel-tech summit with around 7,000 attendees, 400+ speakers, and 200 exhibitors at FIBES Seville, covering AI applications, intelligent destinations, distribution models, and sustainable operations. For traveltech founders it is the main Iberian stage to reach hospitality buyers, destinations, and travel investors.

Southeast Europe's leading security industry event at Zagreb Fair bringing together 3,000+ professionals and 150+ exhibitors across physical security, cybersecurity, IoT and smart technologies.

The Canary Islands' largest entrepreneurship and innovation event, in its 4th edition with a three-day format, 2,000+ attendees, 50+ startups, and a €10,000 pitch competition. Strong for early-stage founders connecting with the fast-rising Canarian ecosystem and its digital-nomad-adjacent community.

The second edition of Data Center Eurasia is an international exhibition and conference at the Istanbul Expo Center covering data centre infrastructure, cloud solutions, cybersecurity, energy efficiency and cooling, AI-powered data management, DCIM and green energy. The inaugural 2025 event drew around 4,000 visitors from 39 countries, and the conference features panels from companies, public institutions, investors and academics.

A national fintech summit at the EICC Edinburgh, with content spanning green wealthtech, payments, and AI. Good for a Scottish or UK fintech founder wanting investor and ecosystem exposure at low cost.

Romania's largest fintech-focused banking summit at QOSMO Hotel in Brasov, with 30+ debate topics covering payments trends, SME financing, neobanking, and geopolitical impact on banking; 500+ participants and 50+ speakers in 2025.

A two-day open-air entrepreneurship festival on Makariou Avenue in central Nicosia with multiple themed stages covering startup funding, global expansion, innovation, the future of work, AI and ESG. It mixes keynotes, panels and fireside chats with networking zones, podcast studios and a tech showcase, with free admission on registration.

Turin's flagship technology festival (7-9 October 2026), rebranded for 2026 as Wave by Vento and organized by Vento, the early-stage venture program of Exor. It gathers 1,500+ startups, 1,500+ investors and global tech leaders for keynotes, networking and pitch sessions at the OGR Torino, making it Italy's premier stage for founders to raise and connect internationally.

The region's biggest game-industry conference, with 2,500+ attendees from 65+ countries at the Lütfi Kırdar Convention Center. Three stages plus a PC-gaming floor with an Indie Spot and a business-talks stage for investors, publishers, and VCs.

A one-day conference at the Belval campus themed around leading by example in digital sovereignty, gathering international Open Source Program Offices and related organisations. Participants exchange experience on implementing and securing open-source software across the public sector, AI and large language models, cybersecurity, academia and humanitarian use.

Open Source Summit Europe is the Linux Foundation's premier vendor-neutral conference for the global open-source ecosystem, featuring keynotes, breakout sessions, and a Solutions Showcase. The 2026 edition is hosted in Prague, convening maintainers, developers, technologists, and community leaders shaping the future of open source, with co-located events on the preceding days.

Europe's leading environmental and energy technologies trade show at Eurexpo Lyon, organised by RX. Pollutec covers waste, water, energy, contaminated sites, air quality, risk prevention and the bioeconomy, connecting cleantech and greentech startups with industry, utilities and public buyers.

Two-day startup and investor matchmaking event during Italian Tech Week in Turin, organized in partnership with OGR Torino. Features pitch competitions, VC office hours, and corporates scouting for innovation. Attracts founders from across southern Europe. Free to EUR 50.

The 10th-anniversary edition of one of the world's largest AI summits, near Amsterdam, centrepiece of World AI Week with 100+ side events. Strong investor and big-tech presence for AI founders, with enterprise-AI and AI-engineering tracks.

The largest annual international gathering on Arctic affairs, held at Harpa with governments, academia, NGOs, Indigenous representatives and private-sector stakeholders. Strong tracks on climate, clean energy, ocean tech and Arctic innovation.

BIG (Bpifrance Inno Génération) 2026, billed as Europe's largest business gathering, takes place on Thursday 8 October 2026 at the Accor Arena in Paris under the theme 'place au culot' (audacity). Organized by Bpifrance, France's public investment bank, it brings tens of thousands of entrepreneurs, SME and corporate leaders, researchers and investors together for hundreds of conferences, masterclasses, expert clinics and networking, free to attend.

Malta's official digital innovation summit organized by the Malta Digital Innovation Authority and Tech.mt. Brings together 2,500+ attendees covering AI, blockchain, IoT, and digital policy. Features the Malta Innovation Awards and a strong government-startup dialogue. Tickets from EUR 100-250.

Eurasia Tech Week (ETW) is a B2B technology exhibition and conference at the Istanbul Congress Center bringing together technology companies, investors and industry leaders across the Eurasian region. The programme spans telecommunications and connectivity, fintech and payments, consumer technology, data centre and cloud, and a deep-tech and startup zone, combined with keynote panels, B2B networking and startup pitch competitions.

One of Oulu's biggest autumn tech events, free and in English, gathering professionals, researchers, and entrepreneurs around AI, human-machine collaboration, and dual-use and cybersecurity themes.

Annual full-day event organized by the City of Ghent and Start it @KBC showcasing the Flemish startup ecosystem: founder panels, investor office hours, corporate-innovation matchmaking, and a pitch competition with EUR 25K+ in prizes. 800+ attendees. Free admission. Ghent is home to TechWolf, Showpad, and a growing AI cluster around the IMEC/UGent research nexus.

INMerge is Azerbaijan's largest private-sector innovation summit, organized by PASHA Holding and staged in Baku as a two-day gathering that mixes keynotes from international tech leaders, corporate-innovation case studies, and a startup exhibition area with direct pitch access to regional investors. The program typically spans fintech, AI, sustainability, and the future of work, and uses the summit as a bridge between Azerbaijan's state-led digital agenda and the global startup community, with speakers from the likes of Google, Meta, and top European scaleups. For founders outside the Caucasus, INMerge is one of the most efficient ways to meet the main Azerbaijani corporates, sovereign-fund operators, and regional angels in a single trip. Tickets are typically in the EUR 100-250 range with discounted passes for early-stage founders.

Poland's leading machine-learning conference, run by the non-profit ML in PL Association at the Copernicus Science Centre. For AI and ML founders and technical teams it is the strongest venue in Poland for research talent, applied-ML networking, and staying current on the science behind products.

Latvia's leading business technology conference and expo at the Kipsala Exhibition Hall. Covers digital transformation, cybersecurity, and enterprise IT with 2,000+ attendees. Strong presence of Baltic corporates seeking startup partnerships and technology vendors. Tickets from EUR 50.

Tartu Hydrogen Days is a two-day international conference convening hydrogen-technology experts, entrepreneurs, scientists and policymakers to accelerate the hydrogen economy in Estonia, the Baltics and beyond. The 2026 edition, themed 'Future Energy Today', features international and local presentations, panels, workshops, an exhibition area and networking, drawing participants from Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Sweden.

Two of Estonia's biggest software events join forces at Kammivabrik in Tartu under the theme 'Driving the Change'. Hands-on sessions on LLM integration, agent workflows, and developer tooling, plus city-wide meet-ups and an afterparty.

The 9th edition of Vilnius's flagship city hackathon at VILNIUS TECH's LinkMenų fabrikas, a three-day build sprint creating solutions for urban and business challenges. Organised by Sunrise Valley Science & Technology Park with Vilnius universities and Cognizant.

The largest gathering of Java users in the region, jointly organised by HUJAK and HrOUG on St. Andrew's Island near Rovinj. A multi-day resort-format conference relevant to founders with JVM-heavy stacks and regional enterprise engineering hiring.

The World Health Summit is one of the world's leading strategic forums for global health, held annually in Berlin under the patronage of the German government. The event convenes senior leaders from politics, science, the private sector and civil society. For founders it is a high-level networking and policy stage relevant to digital health, medtech and life sciences ventures.

The inaugural, biennial Breakbulk Summit draws on Antwerp’s breakbulk heritage to convene the international breakbulk community to share insights, discuss trends and strategise on the opportunities and challenges shaping modern breakbulk logistics. The programme spans two days at venues including the Kinepolis Business Center, with an evening networking reception.

Week-long distributed tech festival across Gothenburg with events hosted by Chalmers, Lindholmen Science Park, Volvo, and local startups. Covers automotive tech, AI, sustainability, and industrial IoT with a strong Gothenburg flavor. Most sessions free. Useful for founders in mobility, industrial tech, and climate who want to connect with Western Sweden's corporate-innovation ecosystem.

PyCon Greece 2026 is the annual Greek Python community conference at Technopolis City of Athens, run by volunteers under PyGreece. It gathers developers, data scientists and Python enthusiasts for talks and networking across web development, data science, machine learning and AI.

A long-running design and front-end engineering conference at the Bourla theatre in Antwerp for designers and UI engineers. It covers design systems, AI prototyping, product design and complex user interfaces across hands-on workshops plus conference sessions, drawing around 500 to 600 attendees and roughly a dozen speakers.

A one-day technical AI conference organised by cloud provider Scaleway at Station F in Paris, dedicated to AI breakthroughs, research and product demonstrations for leaders and engineers. The event spotlights frontier models, infrastructure and applied AI for the European ecosystem.

Annual international cybersecurity conference organised by CERT.LV across three tracks (#CyberStory, #CyberShock, #BalticDomainDays) with policy panels, technical sessions on AI security and threat intel, plus a two-day Capture the Flag competition.

The leading European edition of the Cybertech conference series, at La Nuvola Convention Center, Rome, gathering cyber industry leaders, enterprises, and policymakers. Relevant for security founders seeking enterprise and government buyers.

Data Stack Conf 2026 is a one-day in-person conference at Inter Expo Center, Sofia, for engineers building modern data platforms — databases, streaming, analytics, observability and AI data infrastructure — with practitioner talks and networking.

The UK and Europe's dedicated Open Banking, Open Finance and Smart Data show at the Business Design Centre in London. Four content stages plus a workshop theatre, an Innovation Zone and 40+ exhibitors bring together banks, fintech founders, regulators and investors shaping data-driven finance.

Europe's leading SaaS conference in Dublin, bringing 4,000+ SaaS founders, operators, and investors to the RDS. Deep-dive content on product-led growth, pricing, expansion revenue, and go-to-market strategy, with a dedicated Founder+ track and investor meetups. One of the best places to meet European B2B SaaS buyers and operators. Tickets EUR 500-1,500.

Germany's main government-tech and smart-city conference organized by Bitkom at Messe Berlin, focusing on digital public services, AI in government, smart infrastructure, and cybersecurity for the public sector. Draws 15,000+ civil servants, govtech startups, and enterprise solution providers. Tickets from EUR 0 (expo) to EUR 300+ (conference).

USENIX's SREcon Europe/Middle East/Africa is held at the Convention Centre Dublin for site reliability and production engineers. The conference features interactive learning sessions, demonstrations, keynotes and panels on building and operating large-scale, reliable systems.

Startup OLÉ is one of Spain's largest open-innovation and entrepreneurship events, turning Salamanca into an international hub for three days. The 2026 edition combines a startup fair and pitch competitions with specialised forums in AI, cybersecurity and quantum computing, backed by the University of Salamanca and Spain's INCIBE cybersecurity institute.

The Tallinn Digital Summit 2026 is Estonia's signature high-level digital-policy summit, themed 'How to Thrive in the Agentic Era? Competitiveness. Security. Efficiency.' It convenes government leaders, technology companies and innovation ecosystems around AI governance, defence and digital resilience, and emerging technologies for competitiveness. Organized by the International Centre for Defence and Security (ICDS) with Estonian ministries; attendance is by invitation and curated application.

Digital Transformation EXPO London returns to ExCeL London for two days covering cloud, cybersecurity, data, AI/ML and infrastructure. Co-located with UCX, it draws digital, data and innovation teams from major organisations alongside technology providers and startups. Free to attend.

GESDA Summit convenes 1,000+ scientists, diplomats, policymakers and innovators at Palexpo Geneva to translate anticipated scientific breakthroughs across quantum, neurotech, AI, climate and global health into actionable coalitions and governance.

A three-day gathering of around 500 data and enterprise-IT experts from Croatia and abroad on the Red Island near Rovinj — one of the region's longest-running professional tech conferences. Relevant for founders working on data-heavy or Oracle-stack products.

The 20th-anniversary edition of the IEEE International Conference on Application of Information and Communication Technologies, hosted by ADA University in Baku with technical co-sponsorship from IEEE and its Azerbaijan chapters. The program spans 12 tracks and 80+ topics including data science, machine learning, cybersecurity and software engineering, drawing researchers, academics and industry practitioners from across the Caucasus, Central Asia and Europe.

Hosted by Ireland under its 2026 EU Council Presidency at the RDS, Dublin, launching European AI Innovation Month and gathering EU and global leaders, CEOs, investors, and innovators. A high-signal policy-and-investment event for AI founders.

Invest Europe’s flagship annual gathering for the European venture capital community, connecting limited partners and general partners through debate and curated networking. The 2026 programme centres on VC performance, allocations, exits and liquidity, with a Single Family Office Roundtable and sector-specific roundtables held at Felix Meritis in Amsterdam.

European curated dealflow event at Luxexpo The Box, hosting ~3,400 attendees, 330+ investors and the Fit 4 Start and Fit 4 Scale closing pitches. Connects high-potential startups and scaleups with VCs, family offices and angels across digital, healthtech and space.

The 14th edition of OpenSlava, Accenture's free conference on emerging technologies and open source held in Bratislava. The 2026 programme focuses on AI in the era of intelligent agents, with hands-on labs on day one and main-stage sessions on day two. The hybrid English-language event draws business and technology leaders, architects, software developers, students and educators from across Central Europe.

Smart Energy Congress is a leading Spanish forum on energy transition, digitalisation and sustainable technology, organised by Plataforma enerTIC.org at IFEMA Madrid. The 2026 edition brings together utilities, industry, the public sector and AI and IoT vendors for keynotes, an expo and networking around decarbonisation and digital energy.

The autumn 2026 edition of Wolves Summit is a corporate-dealflow and CVC-focused matchmaking conference connecting startup founders with investors across Europe. It convenes more than 100 active investors and 250 founders for one-on-one meetings, a Great Pitch Contest judged by an investor panel, and the European CVC Awards, running across two stages over two days.

Annual meeting point of the Austrian startup ecosystem at Ottakringer Brauerei in Vienna. Brings founders, investors and industry leaders together for talks, panels and high-value networking under the 2026 motto 'No risk, no fun(ds)'.

ICIST 2026 is the 32nd International Conference on Information and Software Technologies, hosted by Kaunas University of Technology. The two-day program brings together researchers, engineers, developers and industry practitioners across information systems, business intelligence, software engineering, AI, IoT, cybersecurity and IT applications, with peer-reviewed proceedings published by Springer. Remote participation is also available.

The 25th edition of the NextGen Payments & RegTech Forum is a one-day senior-executive fintech conference held at the Athens Marriott Hotel. Through keynotes, panels, roundtables and one-to-one meetings it covers instant and real-time payments, account-to-account transactions, digital wallets, open banking, the Digital Euro, embedded finance, fraud prevention and regulatory technology across Greece and Europe.

A well-known European developer conference focused on modern frontend frameworks, React, and reactive programming paradigms. Held in Bratislava and attracting 700+ developers from across Europe. Features workshops, live coding sessions, and talks from core framework contributors. Tickets from EUR 200-400.

Signal Festival 2026 transforms Prague over four October nights (15–18 October 2026) with large-scale light installations, projections, kinetic sculptures and digital art across the city, under the theme 'Dream on! – Dreams and Visions'. The Czech Republic's largest festival of digital and creative culture, it pairs free outdoor installations with the ticketed Signal INSIDE zone; the full 2026 artist programme is unveiled on 2 September 2026.

The 10th anniversary international conference on electronic identification and trust services, held at the Brdo Congress Center near Kranj. Organized by the Slovenian Association for Electronic Identification and Trust Services (EIDES) with Palsit, the 2026 edition focuses on the European Digital Identity Wallet, remote identification, biometrics, information security and AI-related threats.

Garage48 Future of Wood is a three-day hackathon where multidisciplinary teams build working prototypes — software, physical or architectural — that advance sustainable uses of wood and timber construction. Held at EWERS Tehnomaja in Väimela in southern Estonia's wood-processing competence hub, past editions have launched startups such as Single.Earth.

Slovenia's annual games-industry conference, covering development, design, marketing, and the business of game development, with an Indie Expo and awards. Recent editions drew around 600 attendees — a focused flagship for founders in gaming and interactive media.

The West Midlands' largest tech festival, a city-wide week of conferences, exhibitions, and community events. For a Midlands founder it is the main annual opportunity to raise visibility, meet regional investors, and connect with the SuperTech innovation cluster.

Czech Startup Week is a unified, English-language platform initiated by CzechInvest that brings together startup founders, investors, corporates, and researchers for a week of keynotes, panels, workshops, pitch sessions, and networking. The programme includes the Technology Incubation and ESA BIC CZ Demo Day, Tech Happy Hours, and an investment conference across Prague.

A developer-focused spin-off of the Data Science Summit covering AI engineering and applied GenAI tooling, with an online day followed by an onsite day at the Copernicus Science Centre. Aimed at engineers and technical founders building AI into their products.

Norway's largest innovation festival spanning a full week with 100+ events across Oslo, organized by Innovation Norway and the City of Oslo. Covers cleantech, ocean tech, healthtech, and fintech with 10,000+ participants. Most events are free or low-cost, making it highly accessible.

A large enterprise-technology event of eight co-located shows under one roof at RAI Amsterdam, spanning AI and Big Data, Cyber Security and Cloud, IoT, Digital Transformation, Intelligent Automation, Edge Computing and Data Centres. It draws thousands of attendees, 200-plus speakers and exhibitors, targeting CTOs, data and AI leaders and digital transformation executives.

A non-commercial community developer conference at Clarion Hotel Trondheim, with surplus funds reinvested into regional tech initiatives. A strong local IT-community gathering.

Regional Cluj-Napoca edition of the Codecamp conference series, running since 2008, held at the Grand Hotel Italia. A one-day main conference of software-development talks on October 20 is followed by two days of hands-on masterclasses on software architecture and AI, aimed at the local IT community of developers, architects and engineering leads.

HighTech Venture Days is an exclusive, curated matchmaking event pairing selected European deep-tech and hardtech startups with international VCs, corporate VCs, family offices and industry leaders. Focus areas span semiconductors, robotics, advanced materials, renewable energy, mobility, space and defense. It emphasizes one-on-one investor meetings over a traditional trade-fair format, built directly for capital-seeking founders.

A Luxexpo The Box conference on the commercial space sector, covering market trends, emerging technologies, and the next generation of space companies. Relevant for spacetech founders given Luxembourg's space-investment ecosystem.

An international games-industry B2B conference within Finnish Games Week, connecting Nordic indies, developers, publishers, and investors, with indie pitch competitions and investor matchmaking.

Long-established Swiss IT security conference at Kursaal Bern bringing international speakers to a national audience of students, technical practitioners, security officers and CISOs. The 2026 theme is 'Shadow IT'.

The world's leading HR and workforce technology conference and expo, organized by UNLEASH Group at the Paris Convention Center on 20-22 October 2026. Three days across seven conference stages, summits, an exhibition and startup showcases covering AI, skills, workforce strategy, reward, people analytics and the future of work, drawing thousands of senior HR leaders and HR-tech buyers.

ENISE (Encuentro Internacional de Seguridad de la Información) is Spain's benchmark cybersecurity event, organised by INCIBE, the Spanish National Cybersecurity Institute. The 20th edition gathers the international cybersecurity ecosystem — companies, startups, public sector and researchers — for keynotes, B2B meetings, an innovation track and live demos over three days at the León convention centre.

Arena Tehnologij is Slovenia's central event dedicated to science, innovation and creativity — a full-day, free public exhibition of the latest Slovenian technologies with interactive demos, talks and workshops on artificial intelligence, security and the digital future. The 2026 (3.0) edition is held at Technology Park Ljubljana and promises more exhibitors than the roughly 50 technology actors who took part in 2025.

Future Realised is EY Malta's flagship annual business forum, now in its 22nd year, held at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta. The 2026 edition is built around two themes, geopolitics and artificial intelligence, convening over 1,000 senior executives, policymakers and international stakeholders to discuss Malta's competitiveness, resilience and how organisations can scale AI, including sovereign AI, with proper governance and control.

The sixth annual Newcastle conference from FinTech North, the focal point for fintech in the North East. Aimed at fintech founders, banks, and investors, it covers payments, AI, fraud, and regulation — a practical day for a North-East fintech startup to meet partners and corporates.

The main edition of Europe's biggest game-dev conference — 300+ lectures and the CEEGA Awards, co-located with the Poznań Game Arena expo. For gaming founders and studios it is the prime CEE venue for publisher deals, investor meetings, and B2B partnerships.

CEE's largest B2B games industry conference at Poznań Congress Centre with 320+ speakers across 13 tracks, 80+ exhibitors and 3200+ attendees from 50+ countries. Co-located with Poznań Game Arena consumer fair.

Eighth edition of LuxFLAG's content-driven, non-commercial forum on sustainable and responsible investment. Held at Centre Culturel Scheiss, gathering 250+ finance professionals, asset managers and ESG specialists shaping sustainable finance policy and practice.

FinTech North's pan-northern flagship, celebrating the fintech ecosystem across the North of England at the Guildhall in York. Useful for a Northern fintech founder wanting cross-regional investor and corporate connections in one summit rather than a single-city conference.

Connectivity and digitalization forum at ATTA Centre with 600+ speakers and guests covering digital sovereignty, AI adoption, 5G/6G, defence tech, digital identity, satellite connectivity and European data centres under the theme 'Security and Prosperity Through Digitalization and Connectivity'.

Focused evening conference hosted by Startup Network Europe and held at Codecentric Munich, centered on turning AI strategy into scalable enterprise execution. Designed as a compact, high-quality networking environment for founders, enterprise decision-makers, and technical AI leaders.

9th edition of Startup Valencia's flagship summit at the City of Arts and Sciences, themed 'Origin of What's Next', expecting 12,000+ attendees from 120 countries, 3,000 startups, 1,500 corporates and 800 investors managing €300B+ in assets.

The 20th-anniversary edition of Webrazzi Summit, Turkey's most influential technology and entrepreneurship conference, organized by tech media outlet Webrazzi at the Wyndham Grand Istanbul Levent on 21 October 2026. A single-day program of simultaneous panels, keynotes and workshops spanning e-commerce, fintech, AI and machine learning, digital marketing and sustainability, gathering founders, corporate innovators and investors.

Largest AWS-focused conference in the Adriatic region, hosted at Four Points by Sheraton Ljubljana Mons. Full day of community-led sessions on cloud architecture, modern AWS services, and cloud-native development for developers, architects and founders.

Cloud Native Days Poland 2026 is a community conference centred on Kubernetes and cloud-native development, hosted at CIC Warsaw in Varso Tower. It brings together hundreds of developers, system engineers, and IT professionals from the CNCF and cloud-native community for talks, case studies, and networking.

Lithuania's flagship fintech conference reflecting Vilnius's status as a European fintech licensing hub with 200+ licensed firms. Attracts 2,000+ attendees including regulators, banks, and fintech founders. Strong focus on payments, open banking, and embedded finance.

The 4th Impact Festival Europe (#HIIC26) is a pan-European forum dedicated to impact investing and sustainable finance for Greece and Southeast Europe, held at the Athens Conservatoire. It convenes investors, fund managers, philanthropists, policymakers and entrepreneurs to connect regional opportunities with global capital, with a main two-day conference on October 22-23 followed by an Impact Weekend on October 24-25.

Monthly fireside-chat series with Bucharest-based and visiting founders, organized as part of the global Startup Grind network. October edition features a larger annual event with multiple speakers, pitch practice, and investor networking. Free to EUR 20.

The 17th Limassol Economic Forum is the region's leading strategic-leadership forum at City of Dreams Mediterranean, convening senior policymakers, executives, diplomats and economists across geopolitics, global economics, energy and business innovation for strategic dialogue and networking.

DEV: Challenge Accepted is an international, full-day, three-track software development conference held at the John Atanasoff Forum in Sofia Tech Park. Tracks cover frontend, backend, architecture, cloud, AI, DevOps, testing and leadership. It runs back-to-back with QA: Challenge Accepted on 24 October 2026 at the same venue.

Slovakia's main games-industry conference in Bratislava, gathering 1,200+ game developers, publishers, and esports organizations for two days of talks on game design, publishing, monetization, and tooling. Features a game-jam and a student showcase. Tickets EUR 50-150.

14th edition of Europe's largest open-innovation faire, held at the Gazometro Ostiense. Schools, university labs, early-stage startups and independent makers exhibit side by side across robotics, AI, IoT, digital fabrication, agritech, sustainability and space.

13th edition of the Techstars-format Startup Weekend at the University of Žilina Rectorate: a 54-hour hackathon turning ideas into pitchable startups with 14+ mentors, workshops, meals & final pitches to a judges panel.

CEE's flagship deep-tech marketplace, with an Investor Day followed by the main summit. Built specifically for deep-tech founders raising capital: structured investor matchmaking, a startup challenge, and access to deep-tech-focused VCs and corporates.

The largest annual event dedicated to the European hydrogen sector, combining policy, business, and exhibition tracks at Brussels Expo. Relevant for hydrogen and clean-energy founders seeking EU funding, partners, and procurement channels.

Two-day conference at Chateau Neuf in Oslo for everyone building great products and services for real people, created and hosted by the design consultancy Netlife. The programme spans design, UX, technology, content, product, project management, and business development through talks, discussions, and workshops on how design and technology can improve the world.

International trade fair for food and beverage technology at Fiere di Parma. Hosts World Pasta Day 2026 alongside new Bakery and Beverage districts, showcasing AI, automation, robotics, traceability and energy-efficiency solutions for the food industry.

Regional Iași edition of the Codecamp conference series, with two days of intensive software-architecture and AI masterclasses on October 27-28 followed by a full conference day of developer-focused talks across multiple stages on October 29. It serves the local tech community of developers, architects and data scientists at the Agora Center in Iași.

Innovation Days is Il Sole 24 Ore's national roadshow, run with Confindustria, touring Italian regions to spotlight entrepreneurship and digital transformation. The Puglia stage on 27 October 2026 convenes southern-Italy businesses, startups and institutions around competitiveness and digital innovation, with talks, an award and B2B networking.

MoneyLIVE Nordic Banking 2026 is a two-day retail-banking and fintech leadership conference held 27-28 October 2026 at the Bella Center, Copenhagen, produced by MoneyLIVE (Marketforce Business Media). It gathers 800+ senior leaders — around 60% from banks — across four stages covering AI, digital identity, payments, fraud, risk, resilience, and lending, with 100+ speakers drawn from Nordea, SEB, Swedbank, Danske Bank, Lunar, Monzo and others. Nasdaq Verafin is the platinum sponsor.

A regional financial-innovation summit under the GFTN umbrella, focused on cross-border finance, stablecoins, tokenisation, and regional financial corridors across the Caucasus. Relevant for fintech and web3 founders navigating regional payments and regulation.

An international space-industry summit in Toulouse, Europe's space capital, organised by Novaspace with the Occitanie region. For spacetech and deeptech founders it is a focused venue to meet space agencies, primes, and investors shaping the resilient-space agenda.

Inaugural Southeast European security industry summit at Inter Expo Center, co-organized by a&s Adria and NAFTSO. Combines exhibition and conference on smart-city security, IoT, and AI, with 30+ regional experts and a B2B matchmaking platform.

Invite-driven summit at Monte Kristo Estate bringing frontier AI labs, decentralised AI networks, and policymakers together around AI governance and regulation. Positioned as the global inflection point for the DeAI ecosystem.

Central European geopolitics-meets-technology summit in Bratislava organized by GLOBSEC, covering cybersecurity, digital sovereignty, energy transition, and CEE innovation policy. Draws diplomats, defense-tech founders, and security-policy researchers. By invitation and application.

The official TED conference dedicated to artificial intelligence, featuring three days of TED Talks, panels and workshops on AI's future at the Hofburg in Vienna. It draws over a thousand guests from dozens of countries and hundreds of organizations, roughly a third of them executives plus AI builders, researchers and decision-makers. A premium, high-signal venue for founders engaging with global AI thought leaders.

Startup Bulgaria's flagship AI and tech conference for Southeast Europe, drawing thousands of founders and 150+ investors. The programme spans a startup expo, an AI hackathon, a pitch competition, and co-founder matchmaking — a primary annual touchpoint for SEE founders seeking capital and visibility.

10th edition at Nova SBE Carcavelos, theme 'Reignite Democracy'. Free convening of Nobel laureates, heads of state, activists and young leaders across five pillars including AI & Tech, Health & Preparedness and Global Peace. Limited seats.

Full Stack Conf is a one-day developer conference at the Inter Expo Center in Sofia, focused on full-stack and 'T-shaped' engineering in the AI era. The programme spans Flutter, Java, Kotlin, React, PHP, SQL and cloud technologies, delivered through talks, workshops and case studies for backend, frontend and mobile developers.

One of the largest international economic forums in Eastern Europe, bringing together business leaders, government officials and civil society to discuss Ukraine's economic development, reconstruction, investment and global integration. The 11th edition takes place at the Parkovyi Congress Center in Kyiv with keynotes, panel discussions and high-level networking.

An execution-focused AI deployment and investment forum at Hualing Expo Plaza, covering AI strategy, healthcare AI, fintech, and cybersecurity, with a developer track, a 72-hour hackathon, and a startups and funding track. Strong fit for founders building AI-native products.

DevFest.cz is Prague's community developer conference, organised by the GUG.cz developer community (the local Google Developer Group). The 2026 edition runs as a single in-person day opening at 9:00 AM CET, with sessions spanning AI and machine learning, Android and Kotlin, web technologies, cloud and DevOps, Flutter and Dart, security, and open source.

IDA's flagship annual IT conference at Kalvebod Brygge with approximately 38 presentations across multiple tracks including AI, security, privacy, UX, and green IT. Traditionally sells out and draws Denmark's leading software, project, and IT strategy practitioners.

The fifth-anniversary edition of LHoFT’s flagship recruitment and networking fair at LuxExpo The Box, connecting students, graduates and professionals with leading fintech and finance employers. The fair gathers thousands of attendees and recruiters around careers in finance, fintech, AI, data, blockchain and digital transformation, with company pitches, keynotes and talks.

The closing showcase of Enterprise Azerbaijan's Startup School 4 programme, where graduating startups pitch to investors and corporates. Held in Baku alongside the TEI Forum 2026 (Trade, Export & Innovation), it gives founders exposure to global investors and nearly 500 companies for partnerships, customers and fundraising.