Startup events in November 2026 – Calendar

The 12th International Funds Summit & Expo brings together fund managers, institutional investors, policymakers and industry leaders at the Parklane Resort & Spa in Limassol to examine the European alternative funds landscape. Sessions cover private credit, private equity value creation, AIFMD II implementation and the integration of AI into fund management.

Eastern Europe's largest AI conference at Radisson Blu Bucharest with 100+ speakers, 59+ international exhibitors, and 81+ workshops; covers AI applications across education, healthcare, legal, urbanism, art, and the future of work.

The world's largest iGaming and emerging tech expo, held at the Malta Maritime Hub (MFCC). Attracts 25,000+ attendees, 800+ sponsors and exhibitors covering gaming, blockchain, AI, and fintech. Malta's regulatory framework for digital assets makes this a key event for Web3 and gaming startups. Tickets from EUR 300.

A focused digital-health conference bringing pharma leaders, DTx specialists, regulators, and investors together around AI, real-world data, and patient-centric innovation. For digital-health founders it offers targeted access to pharma partners and regulatory expertise.

A founder-centric event at the NEC expecting 5,000 founders, 200 speakers, and 150 exhibitors. The 2026 agenda targets the decisions founders are making now — raising capital, applying AI in the business, leadership, and preparing to scale.

The world's largest smart-city event, organized at Fira Barcelona with 25,000+ urban planners, govtech vendors, mobility startups, and sustainability innovators. Covers digital twins, urban mobility, circular economy, energy transition, and citizen services. A primary sales channel for European urbantech startups. Tickets from EUR 200.

Italy's largest innovation and digital business expo at Fieramilanocity, running for over 50 years. Features an Open Innovation Village connecting 200+ startups with corporate partners, workshops on Industry 4.0, and the SMAU Innovation Award. Free entry for registered attendees makes it very accessible.

A summit at the intersection of culture, technology, and business, gathering founders, investors, and cultural institutions in Vienna. Useful for founders building at the culture-tech edge.

Denmark's largest digitalisation and deep-tech conference and expo at Øksnehallen, with 100+ sessions across multiple stages including startup pitches, drawing around 4,700 specialists, leaders, and researchers.

Leading Austrian funding-lifecycle event at Apothekertrakt Schönbrunn, Vienna, connecting angel investors, venture capital and private equity with innovative entrepreneurs. Full-day panels, keynotes, expo area, matchmaking via B2Match, and evening program.

A large umbrella tech event with 27,000+ visitors, 470+ exhibitors, and 400+ speakers, bundling cloud and AI infrastructure, cybersecurity, big data, and e-commerce shows at IFEMA Madrid. For B2B SaaS and infrastructure founders it is an enterprise lead-generation and exhibitor venue targeting IT decision-makers.

Øredev is one of Europe's premier developer conferences, held annually in Malmö since 2005 and celebrating its 20th edition in 2026. The three-day program spans the whole software development process, including backend, frontend, AI, architecture, security, and team culture, drawing developers, architects, and tech leads from across the Nordics. A strong hiring and learning venue for engineering-heavy startups in the Öresund region.

A one-day conference at Kromhouthal Amsterdam drawing 2,000+ professionals across tech, media, e-business, and marketing. Relevant for e-commerce, martech, and digital-media founders targeting the Dutch market.

The leading French event on responsible and sustainable digital technology, held at Station F with around 2,500 participants. For climate and greentech founders it offers conferences, workshops, and an exhibition focused on concrete tools for sustainable digital transition.

Heapcon 2026 is the eighth edition of one of Southeast Europe's leading software-engineering conferences, held 5-6 November 2026 at the Madlenianum Opera & Theatre in Belgrade and organised by Heapspace. The 2026 theme, 'Intelligence', examines how AI tooling, autonomous systems, and automation reshape software architecture, security, quality, and product thinking. It gathers 700+ engineers, architects, and tech leaders, making it a strong hiring and technical-ecosystem touchpoint for Serbian startups.

The biggest startup event in Switzerland, returning to Eulachhallen Winterthur and joining the Swiss Startup Association umbrella in 2026. Targets ~9,500 changemakers across health tech, sustainability and deep tech with pitches, exhibitions and ecosystem networking.

Europe's largest hackathon, held in Helsinki with 1,500+ developers, designers, and entrepreneurs building products in 48 hours around challenges set by corporate partners. Winners receive cash prizes and fast-track access to accelerators. Free admission (application-based).

Portugal's largest decentralised innovation festival — 250+ mostly-free events across 15+ cities, themed on AI, Web3, sustainability, and the future of work, anchored around Web Summit week. The single best week for a founder to tap the whole Portuguese ecosystem at once, with pitch sessions, tech days, and investor meetups nationwide.

The Belgrade edition of the global Techstars Startup Weekend, a 54-hour event where aspiring entrepreneurs form teams, validate ideas, and pitch to local judges. Supported by Serbia's Office for IT and eGovernment. Attracts 100+ participants per edition. Registration around EUR 30-50.

Billed as the UK's largest fintech festival, with nine content stages on open finance, payments, embedded finance, AI transformation, and fraud at The Brewery in London. For a fintech founder it offers broad coverage of regulatory and product trends plus access to banks and incumbents in one place.

Enterprise IT leadership conference in Barcelona where global CIOs and technology executives shape annual strategy and procurement priorities. Strategic venue for enterprise SaaS startups selling high-ticket AI, cybersecurity, and data-management platforms.

Major global tech conference in Lisbon attracting 70,000+ attendees, featuring one of the largest French national pavilions and a dedicated French Tech lounge. Covers AI, climate tech, fintech, and deep tech across multiple stages. Essential for European startups seeking global investor access, media coverage, and corporate partnership opportunities.

Networking night hosted during Web Summit week by the French Embassy and the French Tech community in Lisbon. Brings together French founders, international investors, and ecosystem partners for informal drinks and introductions. Valuable for French startups attending Web Summit and seeking warm connections with the Franco-Portuguese tech network.

A biennial gathering at Campus Biotech, one of the largest global health conferences, bringing political, private, academic, and civil-society actors together on global health innovation and policy. For a healthtech founder in the Romandie it is the marquee venue to reach NGOs, multilateral health bodies, and impact funders.

GoTech World (formerly Internet & Mobile World) is the leading B2B expo-conference in Central and Eastern Europe, held at Romexpo's B1 Pavilion in Bucharest. The two-day event spreads 100+ exhibitors and top international and local speakers across multiple stages covering AI, cybersecurity, digital marketing, smart cities, and software development, drawing around 15,000 business professionals. A major selling and networking venue for B2B and enterprise-tech startups.

Porto's annual tech conference showcasing the city's growing engineering community, with talks on software architecture, AI/ML, DevOps, and product management from local and international speakers. 2,000+ attendees. Tickets EUR 30-100.

An invitation-style investor summit gathering roughly 300 vetted VCs, angels, family offices, and capital allocators during Web Summit week, a short walk from the main venue. For founders raising larger or later rounds, it concentrates curated deal flow and co-investment conversations away from the Web Summit crowd.

The 14th edition of the long-running Cluj-based IT conference at Cluj Innovation Park, covering software engineering, AI, cloud, and enterprise tech. A durable end-of-year ecosystem event for the Transylvanian tech community.

12th edition of Bulgaria's largest JavaScript community conference at Sofia Tech Park's John Atanasoff Forum. Day one is paid workshops with international speakers; day two is a free community conference on web development and AI.

Flagship European medtech gathering at the Mediterranean Conference Centre with 2,000+ delegates across two stages, connecting health-tech startups with investors, clinicians, and regulators. Strong startup pitch and investor matchmaking tracks.

A premium B2B cybersecurity conference held at the Hotel Ski & Wellness Residence Družba in the Low Tatras (Nízke Tatry), Slovakia. The two-day programme brings CISOs and security professionals together for keynotes, panel discussions and peer networking on emerging threats, compliance and regulation, AI in security, and turning experience into real-world security decisions.

An annual AI summit at the Evoluon in Eindhoven, organised by the Eindhoven AI Systems Institute with Brainport Development. Focused on applied and industrial AI — strong fit for hardware-aligned and deeptech founders in the Brainport ecosystem.

An annual event exploring the intersection of technology, digital rights, and startup innovation in Riga. Features discussions on internet freedom, data sovereignty, and civic tech alongside startup showcases. Attracts a mix of policy makers, activists, and tech entrepreneurs from across the Baltics.

The largest .NET developer conference in the Czech Republic, held at the Clarion Congress Hotel Prague. Relevant for dev-tooling and B2B software founders recruiting engineers and reaching the Czech developer community.

The national robotics gathering, organised by ETH Zurich's RobotX at the StageOne Convention Center, showcasing Swiss robotics research, spin-offs, and live demos. For a robotics or hardware founder it concentrates the Swiss robotics talent pool, lab spin-offs, and industrial partners into one day.

A long-running in-person forum by Lemberg Tech Business School, with tracks on outsourcing business and sales and marketing, 25+ lectures, and around 300 participants. Relevant for service-business and agency founders focused on sales, delivery, and international client growth.

Georgia's largest developer community conference, organized by the Google Developers Group Tbilisi with 1,000+ developers attending talks on Android, web, cloud, AI, and mobile. Features code labs, a women-in-tech track, and a startup showcase. Free admission with registration. One of the best ways to connect with the Georgian and broader Caucasus developer community.

Southeast Europe's largest data science and AI conference, held in Belgrade with 1,200+ data scientists, ML engineers, and analytics leaders from across the Balkans, CEE, and Western Europe. Three days of talks, hands-on workshops, and a career fair. Content spans applied ML, LLMs in production, MLOps, and data engineering at scale. Tickets EUR 200-600.

A week-long programme powered by the Dutch Society for Precision Engineering, spanning the System Engineering Conference, the Dutch International Precision Conference, and the Precision Fair. Relevant for hardware and deeptech founders in precision engineering and photonics.

Annual conference organized by LU-CIX (Luxembourg Commercial Internet Exchange) covering cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, and data center innovation. Luxembourg hosts major EU data infrastructure and this event attracts 1,200+ IT professionals, CTOs, and digital infrastructure investors. Tickets from EUR 150-300.

A major international congress on responsible and sustainable economy and value-driven business. Relevant for climate, greentech, and impact founders looking to connect with ESG-minded corporates, public institutions, and mission-aligned investors.

Ireland's leading data centre conference and exhibition at the RDS Dublin. Combines 100+ exhibitors with multi-stream conference tracks covering colocation, AI, power, cooling and sustainability for 2,000+ infrastructure professionals.

The biggest JavaScript conference in CEE, drawing around 1,800 attendees as part of a November cluster with NG Poland and AI Poland. For technical founders and frontend or full-stack teams it is a high-density venue for engineering talent and dev-tooling exposure.

One of the world's largest and most iconic startup and investor events, held at Messukeskus Helsinki. Attracts 13,000+ attendees, 4,000+ startups, and 2,500+ investors for curated matchmaking, founder stages, and side events. A must-attend for any European founder seeking Series A-B funding. Tickets from EUR 500.

An enterprise-tech mega-event at Porte de Versailles bundling five co-located shows covering cloud and AI infrastructure, DevOps, cloud and cyber security, data and AI leadership, and data centres. For infrastructure, devtools, and security startups it is a single badge to reach enterprise IT buyers across the whole stack.

One-day QUBE forum at Four Seasons Limassol bringing 400+ leaders to cover instant payments, open banking, digital wallets, stablecoins, the Digital Euro, RegTech and AI in compliance.

DefCamp is the largest cybersecurity and hacking conference in Central and Eastern Europe, held at the Palace of the Parliament in Bucharest, with hands-on workshops running November 16-18. The 16th edition features world-class keynotes, live hacking competitions in the Hacking Village, and expert panels on AI threats, supply-chain security, and cloud security. It unites security researchers, professionals, and enthusiasts from across the region for networking and knowledge-sharing.

A one-day community developer conference run by the Google Developer Group at the Diagora congress centre in Labège. For developers and technical founders in the Occitanie ecosystem it offers practical talks across cloud, AI, web, and mobile, plus regional networking.

Scotland's biggest tech showcase — 1,500+ delegates, 60+ exhibitors, and 40+ speakers, free to attend, at the EICC Edinburgh. A cost-effective day for a Scottish founder or developer to meet enterprise buyers, exhibit, and tap the national tech community.

Billed as the biggest Kubernetes and cloud-native event ever held in Portugal — two days of keynotes, technical talks, and a sponsor expo at SuperBock Arena, run together with DevOps Days Portugal. For infrastructure-heavy startups and platform or DevOps engineers wanting deep cloud-native content and hiring reach in northern Portugal.

Annual awards gala recognizing Slovakia's best startups across categories including Impact, Hardware, and Digital. Features a national pitch competition with winners advancing to Central European Startup Awards. Attended by 500+ founders, investors, and ecosystem supporters.

Switzerland's national innovation conference in Basel, connecting Swiss corporates, ETH/EPFL spin-outs, deep-tech startups, and cantonal economic-development agencies. Content spans pharma innovation, precision manufacturing, quantum computing, and sustainable finance. 1,500+ attendees. Tickets CHF 300+.

Armenia's largest technology exhibition and conference, organized since 2005 by the Union of Advanced Technology Enterprises (UATE) with support from the Government of Armenia and the Yerevan Municipality. Held annually in Yerevan, recent editions have drawn 40,000+ visitors, 250+ exhibiting companies and 100+ global tech leaders from across the region. Programming spans AI, venture capital and scaling tech companies, alongside startup competitions, hackathons and panels. Free admission.

An annual tech conference at the Dais Events center in Marousi, Athens, supported by the Greek software and IT sector including major companies, open communities, startups, hubs and research centers. The 2026 edition centers on AI-Native Engineering, Tech with Impact and Software Craftmanship, drawing 700+ attendees across talks, panels, mentoring and tech challenges.

Bulgaria's edition of the global Google Developer Group DevFest, held annually in Sofia with 600+ developers. Covers Android, Flutter, web, cloud (GCP), Firebase, and AI/ML engineering with talks in English from local and international speakers. Free admission; a primary networking event for Sofia's developer community which includes large local employers like VMware, SAP Labs, and a growing startup scene.

The flagship three-day edition of Slovakia's ITAPA congress at Crowne Plaza Bratislava, covering digitalisation, innovation, modern technologies & cybersecurity with high-profile Slovak and international speakers across multiple stages.

10th edition with 60+ talks and hands-on workshops on Big Data, ML, Generative AI, Quantum Computing, Ethical AI, and DataOps. Workshops kick off Nov 24, main conference Nov 25-27 at Multikino, ~700 attendees from 35+ countries.

France's leading govtech and public-sector trade show under the theme 'Boldness is local', drawing roughly 65,000 visitors and 1,380 exhibitors at Porte de Versailles across digital, energy, mobility, safety and urban-development solutions for local authorities.

A large-scale international innovation trade show at Baku Expo Center, targeting 25,000+ visitors and 350+ exhibitors from 20+ countries. Useful for founders with a product to showcase and those seeking regional distribution or investment connections.

Poland's leading data-science conference, with an online day and an onsite day at PGE Narodowy. For data and AI founders and analytics teams it is a strong recruiting and partnership venue across the Polish data community.

An annual gathering of the Irish financial-services and fintech ecosystem at Dublin Docklands, with 200+ delegates. A focused, founder-relevant venue for fintech and regtech startups targeting Ireland's international financial-services cluster.