BNEW 2026 opens in Barcelona with 270 speakers and over 100 start-ups

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The seventh Barcelona New Economy Week opened on Monday 5 October at the DFactory Barcelona building in the Zona Franca and runs until Wednesday 7. The Consorci de la Zona Franca de Barcelona, which organises it, has lined up 270 speakers, more than 100 start-ups and 50 professional sessions, in person and streamed. The programme now spans eight sectors: AI, Agrofood, Science, Gaming, Aviation & Space, Talent, Health and Energy, five of them added this year to the original three.

The event was born during the pandemic as something between a trade fair and a congress, and this year it adds about fifty hands-on activities, on the theory that people like to touch what they have just heard about. Visitors can sit in an F-18 cockpit, watch a surgical robot work and inspect a Formula 1 single-seater running on renewable energy.

For start-ups, a committee picked five finalists per sector, 40 in all, who pitch for five minutes each on 7 October for the Best Startup BNEW 2026 award. "Entrepreneurial talent needs showcases, but above all, it needs opportunities," said Blanca Sorigué, the consortium's general director. Attendance is free with prior registration.