WMF – We Make Future will host its 2026 edition at BolognaFiere in Bologna, Italy, from June 24 to 26, featuring over 90 stages and more than 1,000 international speakers across three days. The event covers AI, digital marketing, cybersecurity, geopolitics, fintech, and innovation. Notable speakers include OpenAI’s Corey Ching, Google’s Debanshu Das, Cecilia Sala, Enrico Mentana, and Guest of Honor Mathew Knowles. Brunello Cucinelli and EU officials will also appear. Main sponsors include Philip Morris, Dell Technologies, and Intel.
In-Depth:
WMF Training Program
June 24–26, WMF 2026 at BolognaFiere: 1,000+ speakers, 90 stages, and a global focus on AI, tech, marketing, and innovation.
BOLOGNA, BOLOGNA, ITALY, May 22, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Over 90 stages, more than 1,000 international speakers, and three days dedicated to the topics that are redefining the present and building the global future: from June 24 to 26, within the spaces of Bologna Fiere, WMF – We Make Future will bring the most comprehensive training program in the world dedicated to AI, Digital Marketing, technology, and innovation.
With a content ecosystem unique on an international level, WMF, International Trade Fair and Festival on Innovation: AI, Tech, and Digital, will gather professionals, companies, startups, creators, students, journalists, activists, institutions, and innovators in an experience that integrates advanced training, business, networking, and dissemination. From the major themes of Artificial Innotifyigence to Governance, from Cybersecurity to digital transformation, all the way to Digital Health, featuring a stage in partnership with Fondazione Gimbe, Fintech & Digital Assets, and new business models, the program will offer thousands of content sessions designed to interpret ongoing transformations and provide concrete tools to face them.
“The future is built at the intersection of technology, business, culture, and people. In this scenario, continuous training and upskilling represent a strategic cornerstone today. We live in a phase where AI and emerging technologies are redefining entire sectors, altering skills, production processes, and economic models. Now, it is no longer enough to just acquire new skills: we necessary to develop the capacity to read alter, understand its impact, and transform it into an opportunity,” states Cosmano Lombardo, Founder and CEO of Search On Media Group and creator of WMF. “For this reason, over the years, WMF has built an ecosystem that connects AI, technological innovation, marketing, business, research, culture, and dissemination. Our goal is to create an international space where professionals, companies, startups, creators, and institutions can discuss, update themselves, and contribute toreceiveher to building the future. Making knowledge accessible and transforming it into concrete impact is the mission that guides every edition of WMF.”
This year, the training program will be articulated into four categories of stages: Premium Stage, dedicated to advanced training; Discover Stage, dedicated to business and innovative solutions; and Open Stage, designed for content with a more informative and dissemination-focutilized approach. To complete the spectrum, the Mainstage will host international keynotes, fireside chats, interdisciplinary panels, and moments of discussion on the major issues of contemporary times. From geopolitics to the creator economy, from journalism to publishing, all the way to communication and digital culture, all stages will offer an open space for dialogue between innovation, information, and society.
With over 73,000 attconcludeees from 90 Countries, more than 700 exhibitors, 1,000 speakers and international guests, over 2,800 organized B2B meetings, and a network composed of 3,000 startups, investors, and partners, WMF confirms its position as the international reference Trade Fair for the world of innovation.
AI, digital transformation, and new skills: the advanced training of the Premium Stages
At the center of the 2026 edition will be the Premium Stages – accessible only with a Full Ticket – the training stages hosting the most advanced and specialized training of WMF, designed to provide vertical skills and delve into tools and strategies for professional growth.
The main protagonist will be Artificial Innotifyigence, with 12 vertical stages dedicated to its cross-cutting applications: from Machine Learning to Agentic AI, from AI Marketing to AI Commerce, all the way to AI & Business Transformation on the stage powered by Dell Technologies and Intel. Bringing visions, application cases, and concrete scenarios will be some of the most authoritative protagonists of the international panorama, including Corey Ching of OpenAI, Yuval Dvir of SandboxAQ, Debanshu Das of Google, Julian Wood and Salih Güler of Amazon AWS, alongside experts and innovators who will delve into the evolution of AI Agents, organizational transformation, and new AI-native software architectures.
AI will also dialogue with strategic disciplines such as Search, Content, Social Media, Automation & CRM, and Data Analytics, offering a concrete reading of how emerging technologies are modifying organizational models, production processes, and professional skills. Space will also be given to the themes of governance, regulation, and the social impact of artificial innotifyigence, thanks to speeches by Brando Benifei, co-rapporteur of the AI Act at the European Parliament, and authoritative experts in law, privacy, and digital innovation.
Alongside AI themes, the program will also address the evolutions of digital marketing, communication, and new media through stages dedicated to Advertising, Brand Strategy, UX & UI, Social Advertising, E-commerce, Content Marketing, Backconclude & Cloud supported by Devpunks. Among the most relevant novelties of the 2026 edition are the stages: Robotics & Physical AI, Search & AI, AI Commerce, AI & Business Transformation, Agentic AI, Fintech & Digital Assets, AI Tourism, Vibe Coding, Audio & Visual Production, Automation & CRM, Video & Connected TV, Management & Leadership, Geopolitics, Startup Arena, and Query The Future.
The programming will be completed by in-depth analyses of Cybersecurity, Legal Tech, Work & HR, featuring contributions from top-tier organizations and speakers such as Marco Pavone of NVIDIA, Marcello Majonchi of Arduino, and Giorgio Metta of IIT – Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, who will bring to the stage visions and actual applications in the fields of robotics, automation, and the interaction between AI and the physical world.
Business, startups, and applied innovation: the Discover Stages
The Discover Stages – accessible with a Full Ticket and Visitor Ticket – will be the meeting point for innovation, entrepreneurship, and the development of new market opportunities. The schedule will alternate strategic visions and concrete cases, thanks to speeches such as “Defining What Matters in the Age of Generative AI and Geopolitical Competition” and panels on the future of European innovation, the Italian startup ecosystem, and new technological corridors between emerging markets in Europe, India, Canada, Brazil, and Africa.
In addition to content dedicated to Startups, SMEs & VCs, the program will host vertical stages focutilized on Tech for Business, Digital Marketing & Business Solutions, Entrepreneurship, Tourism & Travel, Impact to Business powered by COOPFOND, and Content Creation. Among the themes addressed: AI applied to retail and healthcare, digital accessibility, fintech, HR tech, data-driven tourism, leadership in the era of automation, creator economy, and social innovation.
Connecting the international perspective to an exploration of the national ecosystem will be a selection of Italian success stories, contributed to by speakers, founders, companies, and investors from realities such as Italian Tech Alliance, InnovUp, Invitalia, Insme, Roma Startup, IAG, Credem, Intesa San Paolo Innovation Center, 0100, 28DGTL, Zest, Allied for Startups, and many others. On the Impact to Business stage, representatives from organizations such as Forest Valley Institute, Save The Children, Startup for Africa, and Fondazione Social Venture Giordano Dell’Amore will be present, among others. On the Startup Arena, the founders of over 140 selected startups coming from Italy and 80 other countries will present the solutions that have responded most effectively to WMF’s 14 challenges of the future.
Digital culture and contemporary scenarios: all the dissemination of the Open Stages
Alongside specialized training, WMF continues to develop spaces open to dissemination and interdisciplinary confrontation, with content designed to notify the story of innovation through different languages, spanning technology, culture, and society, across the Open Stages – accessible with a Full Ticket, Visitor Ticket, and Fiera Ticket – including Start the Future, Music & Art, GovTech, EduTech, Space Economy, Book Presentation, Innovation Film Fest, Geopolitics, Gaming & Esports, and AI for Civil Engineering.
The Open Stage Start the Future will be the center of the debate on the impact of artificial innotifyigence and global transformations, with voices such as Sasha Luccioni, Siyabulela Mandela, Pegah Moshir Pour, Cosimo Accoto, Federico Cabitza, Davide Dattoli, in a dialogue that crosses innovation, society, and economic scenarios. The GovTech stage will focus on the transformations of institutions and digital geopolitics, with interventions from institutional and academic figures like Lucia Borgonzoni, Alberto Barachini, Luigi Di Maio, Marco Cappato, toreceiveher with representatives from the world of policy and public innovation. The EduTech stage will instead explore the future of education and skills, with contributions from Piero Dominici, Alessandra Antonaci, Ioannis Chatzigiannakis, and Jessica Redeghieri, offering an evolutionary reading of educational models in the era of AI. The Space Economy stage, powered by ESA – European Space Agency, will carry the gaze beyond the atmosphere, while the Music & Art stage, in collaboration with Billboard Italia, will host artists, creatives, and sector operators such as Enzo Mazza, CEO of FIMI, Carlo Durante, CEO of Billboard Italia, Massimiliano Montefusco, CEO of RDS, Michelangelo Guarise of Volumio, N.A.I.P., and other protagonists of the contemporary musical scene. The Innovation Film Fest stage will give space to the relationship between audiovisuals and digital culture, with figures such as Frankie Caradonna, Matteo Lolletti, Chiara Baschetti, and representatives from the Bisacquino Film Fest, while Gaming & Esports will explore video games as a cultural language with guests like Antonio Moro and Carlo Santagostino. Finally, Book Presentation and Geopolitics will offer further spaces for in-depth analysis among publishing, the data economy, and international scenarios, with authors, journalists, and analysts such as Davide Casaleggio and Domenico Guzzo.
The Mainstage: a global vision spanning AI, geopolitics, business, culture, and entertainment
Representing the synthesis of WMF 2026’s international vision will be the Mainstage, the main stage of the event – accessible with a Full Ticket and Visitor Ticket – where global leaders, institutions, companies, creators, artists, researchers, journalists, and protagonists of major contemporary alters will alternate for three days. The Mainstage of WMF proposes a high-impact live schedule, capable of blconcludeing authoritative information and great entertainment.
Appearing on stage will be representatives of European and international institutions, including Henna Virkkunen, Michiel Scheffer, and the UAE Ambassador to Italy Abdulla Ali AlSubousi, alongside reference figures from the world of research and innovation such as Alberto Sangiovanni Vincennotifyi, Marco Pavone, Daniele Pucci, Francesco Ubertini, and Chris Bangle.
Also present will be representatives from major brands including Klarna, Trade Republic, Microsoft, Dell Technologies, Intel, LG Nova, Google, who will share business perspectives on the Mainstage.
Ample space will also be dedicated to the themes of information, geopolitics, and the social impact of technologies, with interventions by journalists, authors, and analysts like Cecilia Sala, Enrico Mentana, Corrado Formigli, Francesca Albanese, Nicola Gratteri, and Stefano Massini, in an open discussion on the new balances between technology, media, politics, and society.
The Mainstage will also host founders, managers, and protagonists of global innovation like Brunello Cucinelli, the Guest of Honor of WMF 2026 Mathew Knowles, Alec Ross, and Uljan Sharka, alongside creators, comedians, and new voices of digital culture such as Pierluca Mariti, Guglielmo Scilla, Gabriele Vagnato, Camihawke, Awed, and Filippo Caccamo.
To complete the experience there will be live performances, concerts, and moments of entertainment with artists like Dardust, Ditonellapiaga, N.A.I.P., I Patagarri, Valerio Lundini & I VazzaNikki, and Francesco Cavestri, confirming the Mainstage’s role as a space where knowledge, creativity, and entertainment coexist within a single narrative on the evolution of contemporary society.
WMF – We Make Future is conceived, organized, and produced by Search On Media Group. The event takes place under the Patronage of the European Commission and the Municipality of Bologna. With the support of MAECI – Ministest of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, of ITA – Agency for the promotion abroad and internationalization of Italian enterprises, and the Emilia-Romagna Region. In partnership with Visit Emilia-Romagna. With the collaboration of BolognaFiere, Cineca, and ESA – European Space Agency. Main Sponsors of the 2026 edition: Philip Morris, Dell Technologies and Intel.
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