Funding

Free

Program dates

Jun 10, 2027 – Jun 12, 2027

Entrepreneurship•Italy · Bologna

We Make Future (WMF) Startup Competition

Search On Media Group S.r.l. (organiser of WMF — We Make Future, Bologna)

Application Deadline

Rolling admission

Official Page

The Startup Competition is the pitch contest at the centre of We Make Future (WMF), the innovation fair that Search On Media Group runs each June at BolognaFiere in Italy. The 2027 edition is the fourteenth. The call takes Italian and foreign startups, innovative SMEs and company teams with a project or idea in the technology and digital sector, at any stage from idea to scale-up. Every entry picks one of fourteen Challenges of the Future, the theme its solution answers. The WMF innovation team then selects six finalists for the mainstage and 140 startups, ten per challenge, for the Startup Stage in front of venture funds, investors, incubators and accelerators. Entry is free at every stage.

Benefits & funding

  • Free to enter. The rules state that participation in the initiative is free of charge.
  • Six finalists pitch for three minutes on the WMF mainstage, take questions from a jury of more than twenty international VCs and innovation stakeholders, and are voted on by the hall.
  • 140 startups, ten for each of the fourteen challenges, get a Startup Stage slot in front of investors, incubators and accelerators.
  • Prizes are delivered as partner services: cloud credits, coworking space, mentoring and strategic consulting, acceleration and incubation programmes, legal advisory and fundraising consultancy. The rules state the prize is in no case convertible into cash.
  • At the 2026 edition one special prize carried a place in the Startup World Cup final in San Francisco.
  • The 2025 edition listed a total prize value of €2.6 million across all awards.
  • B2B meetings and investor networking across a fair that drew more than 73,000 attendees from over 90 countries in 2025.

Eligibility

  • Open to startups, innovative SMEs and companies wherever they are based. The call names Italian and foreign teams alike.
  • The project or idea must sit in the technology and digital sector.
  • Any development stage is accepted: idea, early stage, growth stage, late stage or scale-up.
  • No nationality, residency, degree or work-experience requirement is set.
  • No age limit. A separate WMF call, Startup Competition Young, covers under-22s, high-school students and university students up to their third year.
  • Selected teams pitch in person at BolognaFiere in Bologna.

Can you apply?

Open to all applicants

No nationality, residency, education, or experience limits are listed.

We only check the criteria we have data for. Always confirm full eligibility on the official page before applying.

Application process

  1. 1
    Open the Startup Competition call page on the WMF site and start the four-part online form.
  2. 2
    Part one: the person submitting and the team behind the project.
  3. 3
    Part two: company information, including current development stage.
  4. 4
    Part three: the project itself, and which of the fourteen Challenges of the Future it answers.
  5. 5
    Part four: upload the documentation, including a pitch deck built to the WMF pitch guide.
  6. 6
    Submit before the call closes. The WMF innovation team screens entries and announces the six mainstage finalists ahead of the fair.
  7. 7
    Finalists pitch for three minutes at BolognaFiere and answer the jury. The audience then votes through the event web app.

Program timeline

  1. Open now

    applications for the WMF 2027 Startup Competition

  2. 10–12 June 2027

    WMF 2027 at BolognaFiere in Bologna; the Startup Competition final runs inside the fair

  3. The 2026 cycle for reference

    call first phase closed 12 March 2026, second phase 16 April 2026, final held 25 June 2026

  4. The closing date for the 2027 call has not been published yet