Top European startup events to attend in 2026

Industry events remain one way for founders build networks, validate ideas, and access capital. In 2026, conferences and summits remain key places to meet investors, potential partners, customers, and other founders, all in a short amount of time. For early-stage teams, they offer access to feedback and funding conversations; for growing startups, they help with visibility, partnerships, and expansion.

This list brings together some of the most relevant European events in 2026, helping founders decide where to spend their time, budget, and energy based on their business goals for this year.

Learning Technologies France

📍 January 28–29 | 🇫🇷Paris, France 

Learning Technologies is a key event for founders working in edtech and learning innovation. This expo brings together leaders in training, digital learning, and HR tech for insights and connections.

Techarena

 📍 February 11–12 | 🇸🇪 Stockholm, Sweden

Techarena is one of the Nordics’ leading tech and startup events, bringing together founders, investors, and corporate leaders for two high-energy days of innovation and networking. With a strong focus on scaling, impact, and future technologies, it’s a meeting point for the Scandinavian tech ecosystem.

MWC Barcelona (incl. 4YFN)

📍 March 2–5 | 🇪🇸Barcelona, Spain 

Mobile World Congress is the world’s largest tech and telecom event, and its startup arm 4YFN brings founders, investors, and innovators together for networking and emerging-tech showcases.

START Summit

📍 March 19–20 | 🇨🇭 St. Gallen, Switzerland

START Summit is Europe’s largest student-run startup conference, connecting ambitious founders with top-tier investors and industry experts. Held in the heart of Switzerland, the event blends bold ideas, meaningful conversations, and curated matchmaking to spark the next generation of global startups.

SKInnovation

📍 March 25–27 | 🇦🇹 Innsbruck, Austria

SKInnovation is a one-of-a-kind startup and innovation festival set high in the Tyrolean Alps, blending business with Alpine adventure. For 2.5 days, founders, investors, corporates, and innovators connect through ski-lift pitches, talks in mountain huts, networking on the slopes, sundowner parties, and unique outdoor formats.

Mashup Festival

📍 April 15–16 | 🇸🇪 Malmö, Sweden

Mashup Festival mixes talks, workshops, and networking with a creative and social vibe. Founders and innovators explore future tech, storytelling, and business opportunities while connecting with peers from Scandinavia and beyond.

UX Nordic Conference

📍 April 15–16 | 🇩🇰 Aarhus, Denmark

The UX Nordic Conference focuses on user experience, design leadership, and product thinking, bringing together designers, product teams, and founders to explore how user-centered design drives better products, customer engagement, and business growth.

Tech.eu Summit

📍 April 21–22 | 🇬🇧 London, UK

The Tech.eu Summit brings together Europe’s tech ecosystem, founders, investors, corporates, and policy makers, to explore key trends in AI, fintech, climate tech, deep tech, and future business models.

Product World Croatia

📍 May 7–8 | 🇭🇷 Opatija, Croatia

Product World Croatia is a conference for product builders and innovators, covering product strategy, user research, and growth frameworks. Founders and product teams learn from European and global experts on how to build better products and scale with impact.

EU-Startups Summit

 📍 May 7–8 | 🇲🇹 Valletta, Malta

EU-Startups Summit gathers Europe’s most promising founders, VCs, and tech leaders for two days of insights, pitch competitions, and high-value networking. Set against Malta's Mediterranean backdrop, the event brings together fast-growing startups and the trends shaping Europe’s innovation landscape.

DDX Innovation & UX Conference

📍 May 9 | 🇩🇪 Munich, Germany

DDX Innovation & UX Conference unites UX professionals, product teams, and founders in Munich to explore digital experience design, innovation strategies, and future trends. This event is ideal for founders building product-led companies who want to deepen their understanding of user experience and design-driven growth.

PODIM

📍 May 11–13 | 🇸🇮 Maribor, Slovenia

PODIM is one of Central and Eastern Europe’s most respected startup and tech conferences, bringing founders, investors, corporates, and innovation leaders together for three days of learning, networking, and deal-making.

ViennaUP

📍 May 18–22 | 🇦🇹 Vienna, Austria

ViennaUP is a city-wide startup festival and celebration of entrepreneurship and innovation that transforms Vienna into a bustling hub of founders, investors, creatives, and tech enthusiasts. Held across the city with talks, workshops, meetups, pitches, and networking sessions at cafés, venues, and co-working spaces, ViennaUP offers incredible opportunities to connect with the European startup ecosystem, discover new ideas, and grow your network during this five-day festival.

Upstream Festival

📍 May 21 | 🇳🇱 Rotterdam, Netherlands

Upstream Festival is a community-driven startup event where early-stage founders, investors, and innovators come together to connect, learn, and grow. Taking place at the iconic Van Nelle Fabriek in Rotterdam, this one-day gathering focuses on bringing startups closer to capital, partners, and peers with curated workshops, pitches, networking opportunities, and themed tracks like Port & Maritime, Health & Wellbeing, and Climate & Energy.

Latitude59

📍 May 21–22 | 🇪🇪 Tallinn, Estonia

Latitude59 is the flagship startup and tech conference of Estonia’s vibrant digital society, bringing together founders, innovators, investors, and ecosystem builders from around the world. Set in Tallinn, this two-day event offers talks, pitches, networking and investor meetups designed to help startups showcase their ideas, build connection,s and explore the future of technology and entrepreneurship.

Dublin Tech Summit

📍 May 27–28 | 🇮🇪 Dublin, Ireland

The Dublin Tech Summit is a tech conference where innovators, founders, and global tech leaders gather to discuss emerging technologies, AI, digital transformation, and business strategy.

Health & Life Science Venture Day

 📍 June 2 | 🇩🇪 Hamburg, Germany

A pitch-and-networking event for biotech, pharma, medtech, and digital health startups in Hamburg, the Health & Life Science Venture Day brings founders together with investors, industry experts, and corporate partners to explore breakthrough ideas and scale life sciences innovation. 

South Summit

📍 June 3–5 | 🇪🇸 Madrid, Spain

South Summit is one of Southern Europe’s flagship innovation gatherings, connecting startups, investors, and corporations from around the world. Known for its global pitch competition and strong international presence, it’s a powerful platform for discovering emerging ventures and building cross-border partnerships.

London Tech Week

📍 June 8–12 | 🇬🇧 London, UK

London Tech Week is one of Europe’s flagship innovation festivals, offering a full week of talks, fringe meetups, networking, and showcases across tech sectors. Founders, investors, and corporates come together to explore cutting-edge ideas, emerging trends, and opportunities to grow business relationships.

ARCTIC15 Startup Conference

📍 June 11–12 | 🇫🇮 Helsinki, Finland

ARCTIC15 is one of the Nordic & Baltic region’s most effective startup conferences, bringing founders, investors, corporates, and media together for two days of deep networking and deal-making. Focused on values-based matchmaking, the event prioritizes quality connections with workshops, curated one-on-one meetings, pitches, and breakout sessions.

VivaTech

📍 June 17–20 | 🇫🇷 Paris, France

VivaTech, short for Viva Technology, is Europe’s largest and most influential tech and startup event, bringing together founders, investors, innovators, and global tech leaders for four high-energy days of talks, showcases, demos, and networking.

Food Innovation Camp

📍 June 22 | 🇩🇪Hamburg, Germany 

Food Innovation Camp is a specialized event for food-tech founders. This camp dives into emerging business models, sustainable innovation, and investor connections in the food and agri ecosystem.

Techsylvania

📍 June 24–25 | 🇷🇴 Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Techsylvania is a tech and business event in Romania and one of Eastern Europe’s most dynamic startup gatherings, bringing together founders, investors, engineers, innovators, and industry leaders for two days of talks, workshops, networking, and hands-on sessions.

GITEX AI Europe

📍 June 30 – July 1 | 🇩🇪Berlin, Germany 

One of Europe’s largest AI and tech showcases, GITEX AI Europe, brings together startups, investors, and global tech leaders to explore AI, cybersecurity, quantum tech, and more, a great spot for founders in future tech sectors.

TechBBQ

📍 August 26–27 | 🇩🇰 Copenhagen, Denmark

TechBBQ is one of Scandinavia’s leading startup and innovation summits, where thousands of founders, investors, corporates, and ecosystem builders come together for two days of talks, pitches, networkin,g and growth opportunities in Copenhagen’s Bella Center.

KI-SUMMIT 2026

📍 September 8 | 🇩🇪 Hamburg, Germany

The KI-SUMMIT 2026 brings together AI experts, business leaders, and founders for a focused look at artificial intelligence and how it’s shaping innovation and industry. At this one-day summit in Hamburg, you’ll dig into practical use cases, hear from AI practitioners, and expand your network with professionals applying AI across sectors, perfect for founders wanting to deepen their understanding and connect with the European AI community.

Bits & Pretzels Founders Festival

📍 September 28–30 | 🇩🇪 Munich, Germany

Bits & Pretzels is one of Europe’s most iconic three-day founders festivals, uniting around 7,500 entrepreneurs, investors, and industry professionals for networking, talks, workshops, startup showcases, and curated matchmaking during Munich’s Oktoberfest season.

Sifted Summit

📍 September 30 – October 1 | 🇬🇧 London, UK

The Sifted Summit 2026 is a two-day gathering of Europe’s fastest-growing founders, investors, and tech leaders. Held in London and hosted by the Financial Times-backed startup media brand Sifted, this event offers keynotes, roundtables, workshops, and curated networking.

How to Web

📍 October 6–8 | 🇷🇴 Bucharest, Romania

How to Web Conference is one of Eastern Europe’s biggest startup and technology gatherings, connecting founders, investors, and innovation leaders for three days of networking, product talks, pitches, and growth insights.

Innovation Week AI

📍 October 9–10 | 🇨🇿Prague, Czech Republic 

Innovation Week AI is one of Central Europe’s biggest innovation and AI gatherings, bringing together entrepreneurs, startups, investors, and industry leaders to explore what’s next in technology and business.

AustrianStartups Summit

📍 October 15 | 🇦🇹 Vienna, Austria

The AustrianStartups Summit 2026 is a key gathering for Austria’s startup ecosystem, bringing founders, investors, corporates, and innovation builders together in Vienna. Set at the historic Ottakringer Brauerei, this one-day summit offers networking, expert talks, pitches, and insights into scaling startups and connecting with Europe’s broader tech community.

Web Summit

📍 November 9–12 | 🇵🇹Lisbon, Portugal 

Web Summit is one of Europe’s biggest technology conferences, attracting tens of thousands of founders, investors, and tech leaders to discuss innovation, scaling, and global trends.

Slush

📍 November 18–19 | 🇫🇮 Helsinki, Finland

Slush is one of Europe’s most renowned startup and investor events, bringing together thousands of founders, venture capitalists, and tech leaders for two days of networking, curated meetings, pitches, and deep-dive sessions.