The event called The Bologna Gathering took place for the third time in mid-September 2025. Writing about events as happenings makes sense if it is done at a time that is close to when they took place; this is the general rule. but there is also the issue of giving substance to the philosophy behind events, which takes on fundamental importance in a scenario where the ‘event’ format has many variations and where agendas are so packed that you need a bit of guidance to decide which ones to devote your time and energy to in the form of your presence.
There are now dozens, hundreds of events in the tech start-up world, in Italy, in Europe and around the world, but there are those that break away from the more traditional models and have distinctive features that make them a little more special and interesting. The more classic events: trade fairs, conferences, sometimes with very expensive admission tickets, others with declared (more or less transparent) marketing purposes (if the ticket is free and the event is organised by a company, it is very likely that the product is you, the participant…), high-profile guests, start-up competitions, exhibition space, networking events, a cliché. And then there are the slightly more special events, those that are a little more daring in their format, in their desire to specialise, in taking place in areas that we can consider to be the new frontiers of innovation ecosystems. These are events where innovation is less of a ‘show’, less circus-like and more substantial, with more content, less shouting and more thought. These are events that are almost always organised by organisations that are sometimes even non-profit, driven by the concept of community-driven, meaning that they are created and exist to bring value to the ecosystem community and not for the visibility of those who organise them.
As mentioned, these events are somewhat special, so it is worth mentioning a few names: in Europe, for example, there is ViennaUp, which has its own format that is more reminiscent of Milan Design Week’s Fuorisalone than a tech event, created, promoted and organised by the city of Vienna and enriched by dozens of independent events taking place throughout the city; there is, for example, the Reflect Festival in Limassol, a real happening that seems more like a tech rave than a business event, but is pioneering in its format and approach as a crossroads between Europe, the Middle East and Africa, where a lot is happening and a lot will happen in terms of innovation; There are many independent events, perhaps created by enlightened entrepreneurs, which contribute to the ecosystem even in places where, until recently, innovation was hard to come by. There are also those that emerge as offshoots of other experiments and grow to become even more long-lived than the bulb from which they initially took shape. This is the case with The Bologna Gathering (TBG), which began as an initiative to crown the TechChill Milano project, serving as an opening event to be held the weekend before the two-day event in Milan, which was hosted by Bocconi University in its two editions. The case of TBG is therefore unique: it is an event resulting from close collaboration between private and public entities based in the Bologna area, but it is not limited to the local area or, worse, parochialism. In fact, it looks well beyond the boundaries of the city that hosts it. It is a free event, but by invitation only, and here we have an element of profound structural choice that denotes the importance that the organisers want to give to their event as a platform for meeting people who are active in the ecosystem, and this approach works very well (from direct experience).
TBG was founded in partnership with TechChill Milano in 2023, taking its first steps with debut event numbers and reaching almost 600 participants, all by invitation, in its third edition. The organisers’ stated objectives are to introduce VCs and selected companies to the best of the Italian tech ecosystem by following two guidelines: to contribute substantially to putting Italy on the radar of international players, raising awareness of a growing ecosystem and showing ways to enter it; and to support the creation of connections within the Italian ecosystem, especially between companies and the substantial private capital in the hands of entrepreneurial families. in essence, promoting the startup asset class as an opportunity for innovation, value creation, job creation, finance and economic growth, and as an essential tool for addressing the global challenges of recent years.
TBG enjoys the support of the Emilia Romagna Region, the Metropolitan City and Municipality of Bologna, which actively support the project with the aim of promoting the regional ecosystem and involving companies in the regional start-up world. It4lia AI Factory is a local initiative with a European reach that aims to position Bologna as an emerging hub for the AI and deep tech sector. The organisers focus their efforts on attracting international VCs and scaleups, with the aim of promoting the Italian market in order to make a concrete contribution to the work that everyone in the ecosystem must do to ensure that Italy does not lose further ground in terms of competitiveness and talent.
Having gathered the results of the third edition, which took place in various locations in Bologna and its surroundings, The Bologna Gathering is already looking ahead to the 2026 edition, which will certainly focus on inviting a An increasing number of international participants, especially VCs and scaleups, entrepreneurs and managers of large Italian and non-Italian companies, with the aim of promoting closer ties with start-ups and other players in the ecosystem. This is because the relationship between the industrial world of large and medium-sized enterprises and start-ups is a cornerstone of the ecosystem, especially from a growth perspective, and this applies to all sectors. This is where an approach that is as independent as possible becomes essential, because only in this way can value be created for the entire ecosystem.. The same applies to the other structural missions of the event, which focus on effectively promoting the country as a place to invest in innovation and on the role of institutions which, at various levels of territorial competence, can and must do their part to create conditions that facilitate investment, business creation and the attraction of talent.
The Bologna Gathering began as an experimental idea, which, due to circumstances and the organisers’ wishes, took shape with a format only remotely similar to existing ones, a format that combines public and private, local and global, incremental and disruptive, impact and finance, so that it becomes effective to the extent that the protagonists have the opportunity to meet and share, without coercion, there is no ‘smoke and mirrors’, there is no ‘commercial’ drift, there is the content of the relationship and the relationship of the content. A format that will evolve further in the 2026 edition and a format that, it cannot be ruled out, may also find fertile ground for development in other lands, because when an initiative that starts out as an experiment proves to work, it also becomes a new replicable model while maintaining a solid identity and a set of values of engagement and results that are what make the difference.
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