Not a single competition, but a path that accompanies innovative startups and SMEs through opportunities business, investment, visibility, training and access to new markets. The WMF – We Make Future opens the Calls dedicated to the startup ecosystem for 2027, making one available to founders and innovative SMEs international investor platformcorporate, accelerators and stakeholders capable of accompanying projects in the various development phases.
The access point is the WMF Builders Communitythe community that connects startups, investors, businesses, research and innovators throughout the year. A network that covers the entire growth cycle, from pre-seed to scale-upand which brings together realities capable of representing as a whole 1,500 billion dollars of Total Portfolio Value, 304 billion dollars of Assets Under Management, 72.8 billion dollars of participation in deals and over 17,000 funding rounds. An infrastructure designed to connect capital, skills and entrepreneurial projects 365 days a year.
For years, this ecosystem has been guided by the 14 Challenges of the Futureassociated with strategic industries on which the WMF builds discussion and opportunities: fromAI and Digital Business al FinTech & Digital Assetsfrom theIndustryTech & Robotics al CleanTech & Energyuntil Health & Life Sciences, Smart Cities & Mobility and to other supply chains affected by technological transformation. The candidate startups are asked to identify the Challenge to which their project intends to give a concrete response, making the Calls also a tool for international scouting of high potential solutions.
“For a startup today, capital is fundamental but not sufficient: access to markets, industrial relations, skills and opportunities for international comparison are needed to accompany growth in the different phases of the project”, declares Cosmano Lombardo, Founder and CEO of Search On Media Group and creator of the WMF. “With the Builders Community we are developing an ongoing infrastructure that connects these elements and connects startups, investors, businesses, research and territories. The Calls represent the entry into this path: the objective is to create the conditions so that high-potential innovations can find interlocutors, capital and markets in which to grow and generate impact.”
Multiple routes, a single international ecosystem
Within the extensive system of calls and opportunities dedicated to startups, the WMF today highlights three paths designed for projects with different objectives and levels of development.
There WMF International Startup Competitionarrived at 15th editionis the historical path dedicated to companies that want to deal with global investors and players. They are selected from the Call 140 startupswho participate in the World Startup Festthe WMF international event dedicated to startups, SMEs, scaleups and investors, through pitches, B2B meetings and side events. During the first two days of the WMF the 6 finalistscalled to compete on the WMF 2027 Mainstage in front of an international audience for the final prize money. The call also gives access to the WMF platform, to all the opportunities within it and to international events, including Saudi Makes Futurein Riyadh.
AI For Future is dedicated to projects in which theArtificial intelligence represents the heart of the solution and offers the selected entities a path of visibility and international comparison: AI For Future in San Francisco on 5 November 2026, Saudi Makes Future in Riyadh from 14 to 16 December 2026, AI Festival in Milan on 11 and 12 February 2027 and WMF in Bologna from 10 to 12 June 2027. Four events to meet investors, corporates and stakeholders in some of the strategic AI ecosystems.
There Global Impact Challenge instead, it enhances innovative startups and SMEs that develop solutions capable of responding to the Challenges of the Future WMF and related ones strategic industriesgenerating a concrete impact on society, the environment and new development models. The selected companies access opportunities for visibility and discussion with investors, companies and experts from the WMF network. The three paths represent different access doors to the Builders Community and the opportunities that the network develops throughout the year.
Capital, deal flow and amplification
The international network that supports the WMF startup initiatives is particularly active among Europe, North America and Asia and connects investors, corporates, accelerators, media and startup organizations. An ecosystem built on three complementary dimensions, that is capital, deal flow and amplification, to encourage the meeting of high potential projects, financial resources, markets and growth opportunities.
WMF 2026: numbers and quality for a global startup ecosystem
The 2027 path starts again from the results of the latest edition of the WMF. In 2026 the event brought together 3,000 startups, SMEs and investorswithin an ecosystem that involved realities coming from beyond 90 countries. They were 140 startups selected to participate in pitches, meetings with investors and corporates and networking opportunities during the three days, while the final of the International Startup Competition brought projects from seven countriesactive in fields ranging from space energy to AI, from manufacturing to finance, from media to maritime autonomy and social impact.
They were the ones who imposed themselves TerraSparkwinner of the Jury Award, MaestroHubawarded with the Audience Award, Brainfood Intelligent Media Cloudwinner of the Global Impact Challenge Award, e WealthRyseawarded with the Saudi Makes Future Award, together with the special mention awarded to Lishe360.
Numbers and quality of projects that reflect the size achieved by the WMF startup ecosystem and its ability to connect entrepreneurial innovation, capital and international markets.