Startup Guide Summit returns to Lisbon for its fourth edition, asking one question: can Europe build the systems it depends on ethically and still compete?
Energy, health, food, care, mobility, and the platforms where public life now happens. These are the systems everything else rests on, and AI is being built into all of them at once, mostly by companies optimising for scale.
Hosted at Casa do Impacto during Web Summit week, the summit brings together 200+ founders, investors, policymakers, ecosystem builders and community leaders from across the continent for an afternoon of debate, working sessions, a pitch competition and celebration.
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Europe's bet is that being human is an advantage, not a bottleneck. The way we build, collaboratively, across borders, with people at the centre, can be our edge rather than a tax on our speed.
But critical systems have to be fast to build and slow to fail. A bet on values only pays out if Europe can afford to place it. This summit asks that question honestly, and puts the optimists and the sceptics in the same room.
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THEME
The Human Advantage – Building the critical systems for a resilient Europe
This year's Summit is built around one question:
Can Europe be both ethical and competitive in building the systems it depends on?
The infrastructure Europe builds, the infrastructure it protects, and the societies that hold it together are being rebuilt with AI right now. Europe holds around 5% of the world's AI compute and moves slower than its competitors. Its bet is that the way it builds, with trust, fairness and collaboration designed in from the start, is not a cost but the only way to build what lasts.
Is that bet Europe's superpower, or its bottleneck? The summit runs on the three doctrines competing to answer that. We do not pick a winner. The tension is the programme.
01 Accelerate
The sovereignty and capability case. Build the stack or stay exposed.
02 Simplify
The single-market and scale case. Cut the friction, let solutions scale.
03 Protect
The fairness and trust case. Make trust in Europe's edge.
Pitch Competition
Calling all early-stage founders across Europe and the UK building the systems we cannot afford to lose.
10 startups. 5-minute pitch.
Live at the Summit in front of founders, investors and policymakers.
Applications open until October 9, 2026
HOSTs
Startup Guide is a leading publisher of guidebooks and digital content for over 60 international startup ecosystems. Startup Guide mission is to leverage experience and diverse networks to connect local solutions with global challenges, driving impactful innovation on an international scale.
The App Association is a global trade association for small and medium-sized technology companies. Our members are entrepreneurs, innovators, and independent developers within the global app ecosystem that engage with verticals across every industry.
location
Casa do Impacto is a Hub powered by Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa where all the major social and innovation players/initiatives in Portugal are gathered at a restored convent in Lisbon City Center. Combining experienced startups and projects with early-stage entrepreneurs, an incubation space, acceleration programs, events and a philanthropic fund for early-stage social and impact startups.
partners
Content Partners
Pitch Competition Partners
