London hosts the UK's largest startup events, but the rest of the country has a full calendar of its own: tech weeks in Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, Leeds and Cambridge, founder and investor days in Sheffield, Oxford, Southampton and Belfast, and Scotland's funding competitions and awards for women-led businesses.
This guide lists startup, tech, investor and women-founder events across the UK from October 2026 to October 2027, with the main London events in brief and a link to our full London guide. 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.
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Best Startup Events in the UK 2026–2027: Calendar from October 2026 to October 2027
Autumn 2026: October to December
Women's Enterprise Scotland Awards: 29 October 2026
The yearly awards evening of Women's Enterprise Scotland, the support organisation for women-led businesses.
Student hackathons: November 2026
HackTheBurgh runs on 7–8 November at the University of Edinburgh's Nucleus Building (applications closed on 10 October). Durham University Computing Society runs DurHack on 14–15 November; Major League Hacking lists more in its 2027 season calendar. Sponsoring or mentoring at a hackathon is a cheap way to meet technical co-founders and first hires.
Brazen, Bristol: 9–13 November 2026
TechSPARK's festival for the South West, relaunched under a new name this year.
Oxford, Cambridge and Belfast: 12–13 November 2026
Saïd Business School's yearly one-day forum for founders and investors. In Cambridge, Pitch @ Judge at the Judge Business School (12 and 26 November, 16:00–17:30) shows ventures from the Accelerate Cambridge programme and is open to all. In Belfast, the city council's free business support showcase (12 November, 10am–12.30pm, City Hall) maps the help available to early-stage founders.
Global Entrepreneurship Week UK: 16–22 November 2026
Hundreds of events across the country, run by councils, universities, growth hubs and founder groups. Several of the events below fall in this week.
SEAM, Belfast: 17 November 2026
A new festival by Catalyst, Northern Ireland's innovation hub, with Bank of Ireland as headline partner. Ten early-stage startups pitch; the pitch applications have closed.
Venturefest South: 18 November 2026
The tenth edition of this yearly innovation day for founders and investors in the South of England.
Scottish EDGE final: 19 November 2026
Scotland's long-running startup funding competition, with awards of £10,000 to £150,000 in grants and loans. Watching the final shows you what wins; the official page gives the date without a year, but it belongs to the current EDGE28 round.
AccelerateHER Showcase, Aberdeen: 9 December 2026
A rare women-founder pitch day in the North East of Scotland. Before that, Small Business Saturday UK on 5 December gives free national publicity to small consumer businesses.
2027: February to October
Manchester Digital Festival: 8–12 February 2027
A city-wide tech week run by the trade body Manchester Digital. The old Manchester Tech Festival website now points here.
Leeds and Gateshead: April and May 2027
A long-running tech conference in the North East, now in its 18th year. In Leeds, the Leeds Digital Festival runs a spring Mini-Fest on 20–22 April 2027.
EVOLVE, Brighton: 17–18 June 2027
Silicon Brighton's yearly event and awards for the Sussex tech community.
Leeds Digital Festival: 20 September – 1 October 2027
A large city festival: the 2026 edition used 95 venues. Event submissions open on 7 June 2027, so you can host your own session.
Cambridge Tech Week: 27 September – 1 October 2027
A week of deep tech events run by Cambridge Wireless. Note that the real site is the .co.uk address, not the .com one.
London: the biggest calendar in the UK
London has the UK's largest single-city calendar. The main dates for 2026–2027:
- The Business Show (11–12 November 2026, ExCeL): free entry and seminars for new founders.
- Great British Entrepreneur Awards (16 November 2026, Grosvenor House) and the Tide everywoman Entrepreneur Awards (2 December 2026), where Tide gives a £10,000 grant to one female-founded small business.
- Bett UK (20–22 January 2027) for edtech and Tech Show London (10–11 March 2027) for B2B tech, both at ExCeL.
- SXSW London (24–29 May 2027, Shoreditch) and London Tech Week (7–11 June 2027, Olympia), in the same week as Founders Forum and the AI Summit.
- Fintech Week London (20–24 September 2027), with lower prices for startups.
Dates, venues, prices and women-founder events are in our full guide to must attend startup events in London.
Dates not announced yet
- The Pitch 2027 (SeedLegals): applications are open, with regional pitch nights in eight places across the UK and Ireland; the 2026 series ran from January to March. thepitch.uk
- Northern Power Women Awards, Manchester: last held on 12 March 2026; expected again in March 2027.
- Northern Tech Awards (GP Bullhound), Manchester: last ceremony on 23 April 2026; expected in spring 2027.
- ScotlandIS Digital Technology Awards, Glasgow: last held on 19 March 2026.
- DataFest, Edinburgh: last held on 27–28 May 2026 at the Assembly Rooms. Turing Fest: the official site says only "Turing Fest 2027. Coming soon."
- Glasgow Tech Week (last 7–11 September 2026) and the FinTech Scotland Festival (last 30 September – 7 October 2026): expected again in autumn 2027.
- Venturefest West Midlands (last 10 March 2026, Wolverhampton, free) and East Mids Tech Week (last 15–19 June 2026).
- Wales Tech Week: last held on 24–26 November 2025 at ICC Wales; we found no 2026 edition, and its website was offline when we checked.
Past events
- Birmingham Tech Week 2026: 19–23 October 2026 at venues across Birmingham. birminghamtechweek.com
- Open Doors Innovation Festival 2026: 20 October 2026, seven labs and hubs along the Sheffield Innovation Spine, free.
- Northern Tech Summit 2026: 21–22 October 2026 at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, with a Startup Showcase, run by TECH SY. techsy.co.uk
- Northern FinTech Summit 2026: FinTech North's summit on 21 October 2026 at the Guildhall, York.
- Women in Tech Edinburgh (OutGeekWomen) meetup: 20 October 2026.
- OxHack, Oxford: listed by Major League Hacking for 24–25 October 2026.
Recurring meetups and communities
- Founders Meetup Edinburgh: monthly at 9 Haymarket Square, £5; next on 17 November 2026. The same Luma calendar lists Tech Meetup Edinburgh and GlasgowJS. Founders Meetup Edinburgh
- Startup Grind Aberdeen: active, with an Innovator Founder visa session on 28 October and a fireside chat on 26 November 2026. Startup Grind Aberdeen
- Startup Grind Glasgow: monthly online morning sessions. Startup Grind Glasgow
- Turing Fest Founder Dinners: small monthly dinners for 10 founders, with Edinburgh, Birmingham and Manchester dinners in November 2026. turingfest.com
- Pitch @ Judge, Cambridge: termly pitch nights at the Judge Business School, open to all.
- Tech Nation: still running programmes such as Tech Nation Climate and the Future Fifty, now as part of Founders Forum Group. technation.io
Some names have stopped or changed. Bristol Technology Festival is now Brazen, Manchester Tech Festival's site points to Manchester Digital Festival, and Venturefest Oxford no longer runs. Digital DNA in Belfast lists nothing after June 2024. Startup Grind chapters in Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, Belfast, Brighton, Birmingham and Oxford have no local events in 2026, and we found no Techstars Startup Weekend outside London this year.
Events for women founders in the UK
We found these women-founder events and programmes:
- Women's Enterprise Scotland Awards, Glasgow, 29 October 2026.
- Tide everywoman Entrepreneur Awards, London, 2 December 2026, with a £10,000 grant for one female-founded business. allbrighteverywoman.com
- AccelerateHER Showcase, Aberdeen, 9 December 2026: 16 women founders pitch.
- Northern Power Women Awards, Manchester: expected in March 2027.
- Innovate UK Women in Innovation Awards: up to 60 awards in the last round, each a grant of up to £75,000 plus 12 months of support; the next round isn't announced yet. Innovate UK Business Connect
Several 2025 events for women founders in Manchester and Cardiff have no 2026 edition yet. For grants, loans and women-focused investors, see our guide to funding for female entrepreneurs. If you organise an event for women founders in the UK, send it to us and we'll add it.
Funding and support to know before you go
- SEIS: a company can raise up to £250,000 under the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme; it must have fewer than 25 full-time employees, gross assets of no more than £350,000 and no more than 3 years of trading. GOV.UK
- EIS: most companies can raise up to £10 million in any 12 months and £24 million in total (limits updated on 6 April 2026). GOV.UK
- Start Up Loans: £500 to £25,000 at a fixed 7.5% a year, repaid over 1–5 years, with up to 12 months of free mentoring, for businesses trading for less than 5 years. GOV.UK
- Innovator Founder visa: £1,000 for the endorsement and £1,357 to apply from outside the UK; you need £1,270 in savings and can stay 3 years. GOV.UK
- R&D tax relief: the merged scheme's credit is 20%; loss-making R&D-intensive small companies can claim enhanced support instead. GOV.UK
To see who is building outside London, read our list of UK regional startups to watch.
How to get the most out of UK startup events
- Look beyond London. Regional events are cheaper and smaller, so you get more time with investors and local support teams.
- Use Global Entrepreneurship Week. From 16 to 22 November 2026, councils, universities and growth hubs run free events across the country.
- Watch the competitions. Scottish EDGE, The Pitch and the Women in Innovation Awards fund startups; go to a final before you apply. See more startup competitions.
- Know SEIS before you pitch. UK angels expect SEIS or EIS advance assurance, so ask about it at investor events.
- Host your own session. Leeds Digital Festival and London Climate Action Week let anyone add an event, which puts your startup in the programme.
List your event in this guide
Do you run a startup, tech or investor event in the UK? 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 are the biggest startup events in the UK?
In London: London Tech Week (7–11 June 2027), SXSW London (24–29 May 2027) and the big ExCeL shows. Outside London: Cambridge Tech Week (27 September – 1 October 2027), Leeds Digital Festival (20 September – 1 October 2027), Manchester Digital Festival (8–12 February 2027) and Brazen in Bristol (9–13 November 2026).
Are there startup events outside London?
Yes. Bristol, Manchester, Leeds, Cambridge, Oxford, Durham, Southampton, Gateshead, Brighton, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Belfast all have dated events in this guide.
Are there free startup events in the UK?
Yes. Most Global Entrepreneurship Week UK events (16–22 November 2026), the Belfast business support showcase, The Business Show in London and most Leeds Digital Festival events are free.
Where can I pitch my startup in the UK?
At the Scottish EDGE competition, The Pitch by SeedLegals, SEAM in Belfast, Pitch @ Judge in Cambridge and the AccelerateHER Showcase for women founders in Scotland.
Are there events for women founders in the UK?
Yes: the Women's Enterprise Scotland Awards (Glasgow, 29 October 2026), the Tide everywoman Entrepreneur Awards (London, 2 December 2026), the AccelerateHER Showcase (Aberdeen, 9 December 2026) and the Northern Power Women Awards (Manchester, expected March 2027).
Can non-UK founders start a company in the UK?
Yes, through the Innovator Founder visa: you need an endorsement (£1,000), the visa fee (£1,357 from outside the UK) and £1,270 in savings, and you can stay 3 years.
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.
