.png)
The best tech events in Europe in 2026 include MOVE (London), IBC (Amsterdam), Slush (Helsinki), ISE (Barcelona), gamescom (Cologne), Hannover Messe (Hannover), CCW (Berlin), VivaTech (Paris), South Summit (Madrid), IFA Berlin, KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe (Amsterdam), Spring I/O (Barcelona), London Tech Week, DMEXCO (Cologne), and Gamesforum (Barcelona). Together, they cover Europe’s strongest ecosystem across mobility, AI, startups, industrial tech, media, cloud, gaming, CX, and digital marketing.
Europe is home to some of the world’s most execution-focused tech conferences, not just trend-driven events.
Hannover Messe, IBC, ISE, and CCW are among the strongest enterprise decision-making hubs globally.
Slush and South Summit remain the most efficient startup-investor meeting environments in Europe.
Gamescom and DMEXCO dominate their verticals in gaming and digital marketing.
In Europe, private meetings, side events, and off-site activations often generate higher ROI than main stages.
About MOVE:
MOVE is a European mobility conference built around deployment realities, not just concept cars. Expect strong coverage of EV charging rollouts, fleet electrification, automotive software, connected infrastructure, and smart-city operations. What makes it valuable is the buyer mix: OEMs, charging networks, public-sector stakeholders, and mobility startups in the same rooms, comparing solutions that must work under regulation and physical constraints. The agenda is useful for trend scanning, but the ROI usually comes from pre-booked partnership meetings and on-floor vendor evaluation. It is especially strong if you sell into transport operators or infrastructure-heavy mobility systems.
Main event information:
Who should go:
Mobility startups, automotive software teams, EV infrastructure providers, fleet operators, smart-city stakeholders.
About IBC:
IBC is one of Europe’s most commercially grounded media tech events because it maps directly to operational budgets. The show concentrates broadcasters, streaming platforms, and vendors building real production and distribution systems: live workflows, content supply chains, media cloud, compression, delivery, and monitoring. Unlike general “future of media” conferences, many attendees are actively evaluating technologies for near-term rollout, which makes sales conversations more concrete. The best strategy is to treat it like a procurement week: plan demos, bring technical stakeholders, and schedule decision-maker meetings early. If your product touches video infrastructure, IBC is a high-signal environment.
Main event information:
Who should go:
Broadcast engineers, OTT platforms, media infrastructure vendors, video operations and production teams.
About Slush:
Slush is designed for one outcome: efficient meetings. It is less about expo browsing and more about founder-investor matchmaking, short cycles, and high meeting density in and around the venue. The programme adds context, but the real value comes from structured meeting tools and the city-wide networking layer that turns Helsinki into a dealmaking week. It works best when you arrive with a target list, a tight narrative, and a calendar already half full. For founders, it is one of Europe’s strongest environments for fundraising momentum. For corporates, it is a fast way to source partners and talent.
Main event information:
Who should go:
Startup founders, venture capital investors, accelerators, early-stage operators, corporate innovation teams.
About ISE:
ISE is where AV and systems integration turns into real projects. The focus is practical: collaboration hardware, digital signage, smart building control, education and healthcare AV, and the integrator ecosystem that specifies and installs solutions at scale. That makes it unusually commercial for a “tech” event. Many visitors arrive with deployment requirements, timelines, and budgets, which is why ISE often converts into pipeline faster than broader innovation conferences. It is also useful for understanding procurement channels across Europe, since distributors and integrators play a large role in AV buying. If your product is deployed in physical spaces, ISE is a strong bet.
Main event information:
Who should go:
AV manufacturers, systems integrators, enterprise IT teams, smart-building and venue operators.
About gamescom:
gamescom is Europe’s largest gaming week, and it runs in two layers at once: a major B2B deal environment and a massive public-facing showcase. Studios and publishers use it for distribution conversations, platform partnerships, creator access, and press momentum, while game tech vendors use it to sell tooling and infrastructure. The public halls are high visibility, but much of the business value happens in private demos, meeting rooms, and side events across Cologne. Success depends on planning: book meetings early, lock demo slots, and treat it as an ecosystem week rather than a single venue event. For gaming companies, it is hard to replace.
Main event information:
Who should go:
Game developers, publishers, platform holders, gaming technology providers, community and marketing teams.
About Hannover Messe:
Hannover Messe is one of the most buyer-driven tech events in Europe because it sits close to industrial procurement. The show concentrates automation, robotics, industrial IoT, energy systems, and manufacturing software in a format built for vendor comparison and solution evaluation. Attendees are often engineering leaders and decision-makers responsible for plants, utilities, and production systems, which means conversations tend to be grounded in deployment constraints, integration, and ROI. It is especially effective for enterprise sales when you bring technical credibility and clear use cases. If you sell to factories or industrial operators, Hannover Messe can compress months of pipeline-building into one week.
Main event information:
Who should go:
Industrial automation vendors, robotics firms, IIoT platforms, manufacturing and energy technology teams.
About CCW:
CCW is Europe’s flagship for customer operations, with an audience that cares about measurable outcomes: cost-to-serve, resolution speed, customer satisfaction, and AI governance. It is particularly relevant now that service organisations are moving from “chatbots” to end-to-end automation across voice, messaging, and agent workflows. The event attracts enterprise leaders running large contact centers alongside vendors selling CRM, QA, WFM, and AI tooling. It is most valuable if you sell into established service operations because buyers come with concrete requirements and implementation constraints. Plan for demo-heavy conversations, reference customers, and integration clarity, not just product vision.
Main event information:
Who should go:
CX executives, AI service providers, enterprise SaaS vendors, contact center operators.
About Gamesforum:
Gamesforum is a narrow, senior-level mobile games conference built for specialists, not spectacle. The agenda focuses on monetisation design, user acquisition efficiency, analytics, LiveOps, retention strategy, and the changing economics of ads and privacy. Because it is B2B-only and curated toward decision-makers, conversations tend to be deeper and more actionable than at broad gaming expos. It works well for studios benchmarking growth strategy, and for vendors selling UA tooling, measurement, ad tech, fraud prevention, and analytics. If your goal is high-quality networking and practical sessions rather than brand exposure, Gamesforum is a strong complement to gamescom.
Main event information:
Who should go:
Gaming executives, monetisation teams, UA specialists, analytics and ad-tech providers.
About VivaTech:
VivaTech is one of Europe’s biggest “ecosystem” tech events, combining startups, corporates, investors, and media in a high-volume format. It is strong for discovery: new products, corporate innovation programmes, and enterprise-startup interaction. The trade-off is scale. If you arrive without a plan, it can feel like noise. If you arrive with targeted meetings, it becomes a concentrated way to build partnerships, recruit, and position your brand in the European innovation landscape. It also works well for companies that benefit from visibility: consumer-facing tech, developer platforms, and B2B tools seeking enterprise exposure. Treat it as a relationship accelerator, not a learning conference.
Main event information:
Who should go:
Startups, corporate innovation leaders, investors, ecosystem builders, technology media.
About South Summit:
South Summit is a major Southern European startup event focused on connecting founders with investors and corporate partners. It is less “expo-first” and more “networking-first,” with pitching, curated meetings, and structured programming designed to move conversations forward quickly. It is especially relevant if you want access to Spain’s startup ecosystem plus international investors scouting Europe. The experience improves significantly when you pre-book meetings and align your positioning to the right audience: enterprise pilots, fundraising, partnerships, or talent. Madrid’s side-event layer also matters, as many meaningful conversations happen off-stage. For early-stage teams, South Summit can be a high-leverage trip.
Main event information:
Who should go:
Startup founders, venture investors, corporates scouting innovation, ecosystem partners.
About IFA Berlin:
IFA is one of Europe’s longest-running consumer electronics shows, designed around product visibility and channel access. It typically attracts brands, retailers, distributors, media, and creators looking for the next cycle of devices and home technology. The value is often commercial and reputational: retail relationships, press coverage, and market feedback on positioning, especially for products targeting European consumers. Compared to developer conferences, the content is less technical, but the distribution impact can be meaningful if you sell through retail or rely on consumer attention. Because official 2026 dates can shift, treat early travel planning carefully and confirm dates on the official IFA site before booking.
Main event information:
Who should go:
Consumer electronics brands, product managers, retail and distribution teams, media.
About KubeCon Europe:
KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe is the region’s anchor event for cloud-native infrastructure. It is vendor-neutral and heavily attended by practitioners building real platforms: Kubernetes operations, container security, microservices architectures, and DevOps tooling. Unlike broad “cloud” conferences, the content tends to be technical, current, and implementation-focused, with strong open-source community participation. This is where platform engineering leaders benchmark stacks, evaluate emerging patterns, and meet maintainers shaping the ecosystem. If you build developer tooling or infrastructure products, it is also a strong place to recruit and build credibility. Plan for workshops, hallway conversations, and community events, not just keynote sessions.
Main event information:
Who should go:
Cloud engineers, DevOps teams, platform vendors, open-source contributors.
About Spring I/O:
Spring I/O is a developer-first event for teams building backend systems with Java and the Spring ecosystem. It is known for deep technical sessions, architecture discussions, and practical guidance that senior engineers can apply immediately. The format often combines workshops and a main conference programme, which makes it useful both for hands-on upskilling and for aligning teams on modern patterns such as cloud-native development, observability, and secure application design. It is not a broad networking festival, but it is high-signal for engineering leadership and practitioners who want to level up. If your roadmap depends on Java, Spring, or backend architecture, this is a strong European pick.
Main event information:
Who should go:
Software engineers, backend developers, engineering managers.
About London Tech Week:
London Tech Week functions as an ecosystem week rather than a single conference. It combines an expo and content stages with a wider fringe programme across the city, which is why networking often beats keynote value. The audience is broad: founders, investors, enterprises, policy leaders, and global tech companies using London as a European hub. It is particularly useful for partnership building, market entry conversations, and visibility in the UK tech scene. Because it spans multiple formats, the best approach is to choose your “anchor” days (expo and talks) and then stack side events and private meetings around them. If your goal is connecting across the ecosystem, it is one of Europe’s strongest weeks.
Main event information:
Who should go:
Founders, investors, corporates, policymakers, ecosystem leaders.
About DMEXCO:
DMEXCO is Europe’s top digital marketing and ad tech marketplace, with a strongly commercial audience. It brings together brands, agencies, platforms, and vendors focused on growth, measurement, data, media buying, and customer acquisition. The value is often direct: lead generation, partnerships, and ecosystem positioning, especially for B2B companies selling marketing infrastructure or data tooling. It is also a useful place to understand how privacy, AI, and regulation are reshaping marketing operations in Europe. DMEXCO rewards clear targeting. If you arrive with a defined ICP and a meeting plan, it can produce high-quality pipeline quickly. If you arrive to “learn marketing,” it can feel overwhelming.
Main event information:
Who should go:
Marketing leaders, ad-tech vendors, agencies, e-commerce and growth teams.
Slush and South Summit are the most founder-focused events in Europe, optimised for fundraising, investor meetings, and early partnerships. VivaTech is also relevant for startups seeking corporate exposure and enterprise connections, though it requires careful planning due to its scale.
For B2B and enterprise-focused companies, Hannover Messe, IBC, ISE, CCW, and DMEXCO are the strongest options. These events attract decision-makers with defined procurement needs, making them more effective for pipeline generation than general tech festivals.
KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe and Spring I/O are the most relevant conferences for developers. KubeCon focuses on cloud-native infrastructure and DevOps, while Spring I/O specialises in backend development, Java, and modern software architecture.
gamescom is the most important gaming event in Europe, combining industry meetings with large-scale public exposure. For a more focused, B2B-only environment, Gamesforum is better suited for discussions around monetisation, user acquisition, and live operations.
European tech events tend to be more execution- and business-oriented than hype-driven. Many conferences prioritise deployment, procurement, and operational use cases over speculative innovation, particularly in enterprise, industrial, and infrastructure-focused events.
Yes. In many European cities, side events, private dinners, and off-site meetings generate more value than the main conference programme. This is especially true for Slush, gamescom, London Tech Week, VivaTech, and DMEXCO.
For major European conferences, flights and accommodation should be booked 6-9 months in advance. Sponsorships and speaking opportunities often require 9-12 months of lead time. Meetings and side events are usually organised 1-3 months before the event.
Most major European tech events publish confirmed dates well in advance, but details can still change. Always verify dates and venues on the official event website before booking non-refundable travel. (This matters especially for events whose official pages do not yet clearly publish dates, such as IFA Berlin.)
A strong strategy is to combine one broad ecosystem event with one category leader. For example:
Slush or VivaTech for ecosystem exposure
Hannover Messe, IBC, ISE, or CCW for targeted business outcomes
This approach balances visibility with measurable ROI.
Features
Improvements
Bug fixes
