Over 90 stages, more than 1,000 international speakers and three days dedicated to the themes that are redefining the present and building the global future: from 24 to 26 June, in the spaces of BolognaFiere, the WMF – We Make Future will bring the most complete training program in the world dedicated to AI, Digital Marketing, technology and innovation.
With a unique content ecosystem at an international level, the WMF, International Fair and Festival on Innovation: AI, Tech and Digital, will bring together professionals, companies, startups, creators, students, journalists, activists, institutions and innovators in an experience that integrates advanced training, business, networking and dissemination. From the major themes of Artificial Intelligence to Governance, from Cybersecurity to digital transformation, up to Digital Health, with an internship in partnership with the Gimbe Foundation, Fintech & Digital Assets and new business models, the program will offer thousands of contents designed to interpret the ongoing transformations and provide concrete tools to address them.
“The future is built in the meeting between technology, business, culture and people. In this scenario, training and continuous updating today represent a strategic element. We are living in a phase in which AI and emerging technologies redefine entire sectors, modifying skills, production processes and economic models. Now it is no longer enough to acquire new skills: we need to develop the ability to read change, understand its impact and transform it into opportunities”, says Cosmano Lombardo, Founder and CEO of Search On Media Group and creator of the WMF “For this reason the Over the years, WMF has built an ecosystem that brings AI, technological innovation, marketing, business, research, culture and dissemination into dialogue. Our goal is to create an international space in which professionals, companies, startups, creators and institutions can compare, update and contribute together to building the future.
This year, the training program will be divided into four internship categories: Premium Internships, dedicated to advanced training; Discover Stages, dedicated to business and innovative solutions, and the Open Stages, designed for more informative content. To complete the range, the Mainstage will host international keynotes, fireside chats, interdisciplinary panels and moments of discussion on the great contemporary themes. From geopolitics to the creator economy, from journalism to publishing, up to communication and digital culture, all internships will offer a space for open dialogue between innovation, information and society.
With over 73,000 attendees from 90 countries, more than 700 exhibitors, 1,000 speakers and international guests, over 2,800 B2B meetings organized and a network made up of 3,000 startups, investors and partners, the WMF confirms itself as the international trade fair of reference for the world of innovation.
AI, digital transformation and new skills: the advanced training of Premium Internships
At the center of the 2026 edition there will be the Premium Stages – accessible only with Full Ticket – the training stages where the most advanced and specialized training of the WMF is held, designed to provide vertical skills and deepen tools and strategies for professional growth.
The great protagonist will be Artificial Intelligence, with 12 vertical stages dedicated to its transversal applications: from Machine Learning to Agentic AI, from AI Marketing to AI Commerce, up to AI & Business Transformation on the stage powered by Dell Technologies and Intel. Some of the most authoritative protagonists on the international scene will bring visions, application cases and concrete scenarios, including Corey Ching of OpenAI, Yuval Dvir of SandboxAQ, Debanshu Das of Google, Julian Wood and Salih Güler of Amazon AWS, together with experts and innovators who will delve into the evolution of AI Agents, organizational transformation and new AI-native software architectures.
AI will also dialogue with strategic disciplines such as Search, Content, Social Media, Automation & CRM and Data Analytics, offering a concrete interpretation of how emerging technologies are modifying organizational models, production processes and professional skills. There will also be space for the issues of governance, regulation and the social impact of artificial intelligence, thanks to the interventions of Brando Benifei, co-rapporteur of the AI Act in the European Parliament, and authoritative experts in law, privacy and digital innovation.
Alongside AI topics, the program will also address the evolution of digital marketing, communication and new media through internships dedicated to Advertising, Brand Strategy, UX & UI, Social Advertising, E-commerce, Content Marketing, Backend & Cloud supported by Devpunks. Among the most relevant innovations of the 2026 edition are the Robotics & Physical AI, Search & AI, AI Commerce, AI & Business Transformation, Agentic AI, Fintech & Digital Assets, AI Tourism, Vibe Coding, Audio & Visual Production, Automation & CRM, Video & Connected TV, Management & Leadership, Geopolitics, Startup Arena and Query The Future stages.
The program will be completed by in-depth analyzes on Cybersecurity, Legal Tech, Work & HR with contributions from leading realities and speakers such as Marco Pavone of NVIDIA, Marcello Majonchi of Arduino and Giorgio Metta of IIT – Italian Institute of Technology, who will bring to the stage visions and effective applications in the field of robotics, automation and the interaction between AI and the physical world.
Business, startups and applied innovation: the Discover Internships
The Discover Stages – accessible with Full Ticket and Visitor Ticket – will be the meeting point between innovation, entrepreneurship and the development of new market opportunities. The program will alternate strategic visions and concrete cases, thanks to interventions such as “Defining What Matters in the Age of Generative AI and Geopolitical Competition” and panels on the future of European innovation, the Italian startup ecosystem and the new technological corridors between emerging markets in Europe, India, Canada, Brazil and Africa.
In addition to content dedicated to Startups, SMEs & VCs, the program will host vertical internships focused on Tech for Business, Digital Marketing & Business Solutions, Entrepreneurship, Tourism & Travel, Impact to Business powered by COOPFOND, and Content Creation. Among the topics addressed: AI applied to retail and healthcare, digital accessibility, fintech, HR tech, data-driven tourism, leadership in the age of automation, creator economy and social innovation.
To connect the international perspective to an exploration of the national ecosystem, the selection of Italian success stories to which speakers, founders, companies and investors from entities such as Italian Tech Alliance, InnovUp, Invitalia, Insme, Roma Startup, IAG, Credem, Intesa SanPaolo Innovation Center, 0100, 28DGTL, Zest and Allied for Startups and many others will contribute. On the Impact to Business stage there will be representatives from the Forest Valley Institute, Save The Children, Startup for Africa and the Giordano Dell’Amore Social Venture Foundation, among others. On the Startup Arena, the founders of over 140 selected startups from Italy and 80 other countries will present the solutions that have responded most effectively to the 14 challenges of the future of the WMF.
Digital culture and contemporary scenarios: all the dissemination of the Open Stage
Alongside specialist training, the WMF continues to develop spaces open to dissemination and interdisciplinary comparison, contents designed to talk about innovation through different languages, between technology, culture and society, through the Open Stages – accessible with Full Ticket, Visitor Ticket and Fiera Ticket – including Start the Future, Music & Art, GovTech, EduTech, Space Economy, Book Presentation, Innovation Film Fest, Geopolitics, Gaming & Esports and AI for Civil Engineering.
The Open Stage Start the Future will be the center of the debate on the impact of artificial intelligence and global transformations, with voices such as Sasha Luccioni, Siyabulela Mandela, Pegah Moshir Pour, Cosimo Accoto, Federico Cabitza, Davide Dattoli, in a dialogue that crosses innovation, society and economic scenarios. The GovTech internship will focus on the transformations of institutions and digital geopolitics, with interventions by institutional and academic figures such as Lucia Borgonzoni, Alberto Barachini, Luigi Di Maio, Marco Cappato, together with representatives from the world of policy and public innovation. The EduTech internship will instead explore the future of training and skills, with contributions from Piero Dominici, Alessandra Antonaci, Ioannis Chatzigiannakis and Jessica Redeghieri, offering an evolutionary interpretation of educational models in the AI era. The Space Economy stage, powered by ESA – European Space Agency, will instead take the gaze beyond the atmosphere, while the Music & Art stage, in collaboration with Billboard Italia, will host artists, creatives and sector operators such as Enzo Mazza, CEO of FIMI, Carlo Durante, CEO of Billboard Italia, Massimiliano Montefusco, CEO of RDS, Michelangelo Guarise of Volumio, NAIP and other protagonists of the contemporary music scene. The Innovation Film Fest stage will give space to the relationship between audiovisual and digital culture, with figures such as Frankie Caradonna, Matteo Lolletti, Chiara Baschetti and representatives of Bisacquino Film Fest, while Gaming & Esports will explore video games as a cultural language with guests such as Antonio Moro and Carlo Santagostino. Finally, Book Presentation and Geopolitics will offer further spaces for in-depth analysis of publishing, data economics and international scenarios, with authors, journalists and analysts such as Davide Casaleggio and Domenico Guzzo.
The Mainstage: a global vision between AI, geopolitics, business, culture and entertainment
Representing the synthesis of the international vision of WMF 2026 will be the Mainstage, the main stage of the event – accessible with Full Ticket and Visitor Ticket – where for three days global leaders, institutions, companies, creators, artists, researchers, journalists and protagonists of the great contemporary changes will alternate. The WMF Mainstage offers a high-impact live schedule, capable of blending authoritative information and great entertainment.
Representatives of European and international institutions will take to the stage, including Henna Virkkunen, Michiel Scheffer and the ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to Italy Abdulla Ali AlSubousi, together with leading figures from the world of research and innovation such as Alberto Sangiovanni Vincentelli, Marco Pavone, Daniele Pucci, Francesco Ubertini and Chris Bangle.
Also present are representatives of major brands including Klarna, Trade Republic, Microsoft, Dell Technologies and Intel, LG Nova, Google, who will share perspectives from the business world on the Mainstage.
Ample space will also be dedicated to the themes of information, geopolitics and the social impact of technologies, with interventions by journalists, authors and analysts such as Cecilia Sala, Enrico Mentana, Corrado Formigli, Francesca Albanese, Nicola Gratteri and Stefano Massini, in an open discussion on the new balances between technology, media, politics and society.
The Mainstage will also host founders, managers and protagonists of global innovation such as Brunello Cucinelli, the Guest of Honor of the WMF 2026 Mathew Knowles, Alec Ross and Uljan Sharka, together with creators, comedians and new voices of digital culture such as Pierluca Mariti, Guglielmo Scilla, Gabriele Vagnato, Camihawke, Awed and Filippo Caccamo.
To complete the experience there will be live performances, concerts and moments of entertainment with artists such as Dardust, Ditonellapiaga, NAIP, I Patagarri, Valerio Lundini and I VazzaNikki and Francesco Cavestri, confirming the role of the Mainstage as a space in which knowledge, creativity and entertainment coexist in a single story on the evolution of contemporary society.