Austria's startup calendar is packed in November, with the invest.austria investor conference, Future Forward and the free Digital Days in Vienna, plus a startup sprint in Graz and hackathons and DevFests in Innsbruck, Vienna and Linz. In 2027 come SKInnovation, a startup conference on skis, the #glaubandich final and ViennaUP in May.
This guide lists startup, tech, investor and women-founder events in Austria from November 2026 to the end of 2027. We checked every date on the organiser's own website. Where a date isn't published yet, we say so, and we mark each event as Confirmed (date on the official site), Announced (date from a reliable second source) or Expected (based on past editions only).
This article is regularly updated with new events. Do you know about an event that needs to be added? Send us some info and we will see if it's a fit.
🔗 Add an awesome event
Best Startup Events in Austria 2026–2027: Calendar from November 2026 to May 2027
November 2026
invest.austria conference, Vienna: 4 November 2026
invest.austria is Austria's largest investor network, and its conference brings angels, VCs and private equity together for a day of panels, keynotes and dedicated pitch sessions. Expensive for an early founder, but the best single room for meeting Austrian investors. Read our list of angel investors in Austria before you go.
The same evening, WU x TU matters (18:00–19:30, WU Library & Learning Center, free with registration) puts spin-offs from WU and TU Wien on stage for a panel and a pitch battle decided by the audience.
Tirol Hackathon, Innsbruck: 5–6 November 2026
The University of Innsbruck's Career-Service runs this two-day hackathon, with a keynote by Runtastic co-founder Florian Gschwandtner. A good place to find a technical co-founder in Tyrol.
DevFest Vienna: 7 November 2026
Google Developer Group Vienna's yearly conference. There is no startup programme, but it is the easiest way to meet Vienna's developers in one day. GDG Linz runs DevFest Linz on 26 November (8:00–20:00) at Dynatrace's engineering headquarters, Am Fünfundzwanziger Turm 20.
Entrepreneurship Summit Vienna: 11 November 2026
IFTE's summit is the Austrian anchor event of Global Entrepreneurship Week (16–22 November). Its youth Entrepreneurship Festival takes place the day before, on 10 November, at Vienna City Hall.
She goes AI, Innsbruck: 12 November 2026
A stop of the national "She goes AI" roadshow from Frau in der Wirtschaft, the women entrepreneurs' network of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce. It shows how to use AI tools in a small business.
Startup Playground, Graz: 13–15 November 2026
Ideentriebwerk Graz turns the UNICORN hub into a three-day sprint: you test your idea, build a team and pitch to a jury and an audience on the last day. Ideentriebwerk's free Startup Spritzer #113 pitch night is listed for the same evening, 15 November, doors at 18:00. The program is in German.
Digital Days, Vienna: 16–18 November 2026
Vienna's free digital festival, run with the Vienna Business Agency. The main day at the Technical Museum includes a keynote by neuroscientist Henning Beck on the brain versus AI, a session on women in the digital world and, from 18:00, the City of Vienna's Hedy Lamarr Prize for women in IT.
Future Forward, Vienna: 26 November 2026
weXelerate's conference covers agentic and physical AI, quantum, energy and finance. The Startup Arena has 40 live pitches (the pitch call closed on 20 October), and curated one-to-one matchmaking connects founders with investors.
December 2026 and early 2027
Austrian Business Angel Day, Vienna: 2 December 2026
Run by aws with the AplusB startup centres. The Business Angel of the Year award has female and male categories, and nominations are closed. Useful if you are raising a first angel round.
In Salzburg, Startup Salzburg's ideaUP! award ceremony is on 18 January 2027 (16:30–20:00, FH Salzburg, Campus Urstein), with public voting, and Homecoming Startups 2027, an evening of founder stories, networking and live music, is on 16 March 2027 (16:30–22:00, Techno-Z Urstein).
SKInnovation, Innsbruck: 10–12 March 2027
Run by the University of Innsbruck's Transfercenter with Startup.Tirol. Startups pitch to matched investors on the Ski Lift Pitch, then in a final on Friday; pitch applications run from 11 January to 19 February 2027, and you need a ticket to apply.
A week earlier, the World Sustainable Energy Days (2–5 March 2027, Wels) gather energy-efficiency and renewables conferences; useful for founders in climate tech who sell to the energy sector.
April to December 2027
#glaubandich CHALLENGE final, Vienna: 19 April 2027
Erste Bank and Sparkassen run Austria's largest startup competition, with WKO Gründerservice. Nine city pitches from 23 February to 8 April 2027 (Götzis, Innsbruck, Klagenfurt, Graz, Linz, Vienna, Eisenstadt, St. Pölten and Salzburg) lead to the final: €10,000 for the winner, €1,000 per category and a Female Startup special prize with Female Founders and Fund F. More contests in our pitch competitions list.
ViennaUP, Vienna: 10–14 May 2027
Austria's flagship startup week, run by the Vienna Business Agency, with partner events across the city on the theme of growth and transformation. See our fundraising events list for investor weeks elsewhere.
Later in 2027: the European Forum Alpbach (23 August to 3 September) is a policy forum in Tyrol, worth it if you work on policy-heavy topics, and the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz (8–12 September) is for creative-tech and AI founders; neither has a startup programme announced.
Dates not announced yet
- AustrianStartups Summit: last held on 15 October 2026 at the Ottakringer Brauerei in Vienna, with a pitch competition and investor matchmaking; expected in autumn 2027. austrianstartups.com
- invest.austria conference 2027 and Digital Days 2027: both expected in November 2027.
- Female Founders Experience (FFX) Vienna: last held on 19–20 May 2026 during ViennaUP; no 2027 date. female-founders.org
- The Autonomous Main Event, Vienna: a mobility industry event, last held on 23–24 September 2026; no 2027 date.
- Gründermesse Graz: listing sites give 13 March 2027 at Messe Congress Graz, but the organiser hasn't published it yet.
- Austrian Business Angel Day 2027: expected around December 2027.
Past and paused events
- 4GAMECHANGERS: the festival was paused in 2025, and no new edition is announced.
- Pioneers Festival: discontinued; Pioneers is now a consultancy.
- Fifteen Seconds, Graz: no festival is listed any more.
- WeAreDevelopers World Congress moved to Berlin (see our Germany guide).
Recurring meetups and communities
- Startup.Tirol, Innsbruck: the Fe:male Empowerment Stammtisch (every last Wednesday of the month) and the Founders Breakfast Club (every second month). startup.tirol
- Startup Spritzer, Graz: Ideentriebwerk's free pitch and networking night, now past its 110th edition. ideentriebwerk.com
- Startup Salzburg: Entrepreneurship ABC workshops (online) and the Beyond [her] Lab network. startup-salzburg.at
- Vienna Business Agency: free founder workshops, including start-up workshops in English and events at Startup House. viennabusinessagency.at
- Challenge the Status Quo: free online founder talks from the AplusB centres (3, 10 and 17 November 2026).
- Inactive or unclear: Startup Grind Vienna lists no upcoming local events, and we found no 2026–2027 Startup Weekend events in Austria.
Events for women founders in Austria
Four events in the calendar are built for or open to women founders: She goes AI in Innsbruck (12 November), the Hedy Lamarr Prize at Digital Days (18 November), the free online keynote The Power of the Female Economy with Female Founders (18 November, 17:00) and Beyond [her] Lab in Salzburg (30 November). Also:
- Female Future Founders: a free, women-only online workshop series by MCI Innsbruck, from 16 November 2026 to 4 March 2027, that takes an idea to a prototype. startup.tirol
- Female Founders, Vienna: the community and investor network behind FFX; its next editions are in Zurich (23 November 2026), Barcelona and Paris. female-founders.org
- #glaubandich Female Startup prize: for the best startup with women co-founders, with a day with Female Founders and Fund F.
- Frau in der Wirtschaft: the Chamber of Commerce network for women entrepreneurs runs She goes AI events across Austria.
For money, read our guide to funding for female entrepreneurs and the female entrepreneurship events list. If you organise an event for women founders in Austria, send it to us and we'll add it.
Funding and support to know before you go
- Red-White-Red Card for start-up founders: non-EU founders need at least €30,000 in capital for the new company with an equity share of at least 50%, and at least 50 points. migration.gv.at
- aws Preseed: grants of up to €89,000; if women hold more than 25% of the shares, up to 90% of eligible costs and at most €100,000. The current funding period is scheduled to end on 31 December 2026. aws
- FFG Basisprogramm: startups (founded no more than 5 years before the project) get a higher grant and loan, so usually 70% of eligible project costs are financed. FFG
- FlexCo: the flexible company form needs €10,000 share capital, half paid in cash, and can issue non-voting company-value shares for staff of up to 24.99% of the capital. WKO
- Research premium: companies can claim 14% of their research and development spending. USP
- More in our lists of government grants in Austria and startup incubators in Austria, and our guide to startup visas in Europe.
How to get the most out of Austria startup events
- Plan around November. invest.austria, Digital Days, Future Forward, the Business Angel Day and Global Entrepreneurship Week all fall within five weeks.
- Use the free events first. Digital Days, WU x TU matters, the Tirol Hackathon and the online Female Founders keynote cost nothing.
- Apply to #glaubandich now. Applications close on 31 October 2026, and the city pitches let regional startups pitch close to home.
- Book SKInnovation before 18 November. The early-bird startup ticket is €249 instead of €369, and you need a ticket to apply for the Ski Lift Pitch.
- Combine it with a trip nearby. Munich and Zurich are a short train ride from Salzburg and Innsbruck. See our guides to startup events in Germany and Switzerland, the Munich and Zurich city guides and our guide to startup events in Europe.
List your event in this guide
Do you run a startup, tech or investor event in Austria? Send us the name, dates, venue and official link, and we'll check whether it fits this guide. We list events for founders, with a real date and an official page.
This article is regularly updated with new events. Do you know about an event that needs to be added? Send us some info and we will see if it's a fit.
🔗 Add an awesome event
Startup events in other countries
FAQ
What is the biggest startup event in Austria?
ViennaUP, Vienna's city-wide startup festival, on 10–14 May 2027 with a WarmUP weekend on 7–9 May. For investors, the invest.austria conference (4 November 2026) is the main event.
When is ViennaUP 2027?
10–14 May 2027, with a WarmUP weekend on 7–9 May. Each event is ticketed separately, and many are free.
Are there free startup events in Austria?
Yes. Digital Days in Vienna (16–18 November 2026), WU x TU matters (4 November), the Tirol Hackathon (5–6 November) and Ideentriebwerk's Startup Spritzer in Graz are free, and many ViennaUP events cost nothing.
Are there events for women founders in Austria?
Yes: She goes AI in Innsbruck (12 November 2026), the online keynote with Female Founders (18 November), Beyond [her] Lab in Salzburg (30 November) and the free Female Future Founders workshops. #glaubandich has a Female Startup prize.
Where can I meet investors in Austria?
At the invest.austria conference (4 November 2026), Future Forward's matchmaking (26 November), the Austrian Business Angel Day (2 December) and SKInnovation's Ski Lift Pitch (10–12 March 2027).
Can foreign founders start a company in Austria?
Yes. Non-EU founders can apply for the Red-White-Red Card for start-up founders (at least €30,000 in capital and 50 points). Read more in our guide to startup visas in Europe.
About the Author
Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. Throughout her startup experience she has applied for multiple startup grants at the EU level, in the Netherlands and Malta, and her startups received quite a few of those. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.
