The future is made in Bologna: AI, music, startups for the 60,000 of WMF
Sponsored by the Emilia-Romagna Region and by Rai, the Regional School Office, the Italian Art Directors Club with the partnership of Visit Emilia-Romagna, Wmf will remain in Bologna at least until 2026
BOLOGNA – More than a fair, a real festival: because there are exhibitors from 90 countries around the world (600 together with sponsors), start-ups and international open innovation entities ( approximately 3,000), B2B meetings, training courses (90 with 1,000 speakers), but also musical events, sporting events (the first European drone soccer challenge) and talks with the protagonists of politics, information, the business world and the work and the big global brands of new technologies, from Google to Open Ai. Three days of total immersion in the future, three days to understand how to make it sustainable, inclusive and fair. From 13 to 15 June, Wmf-We Make Future, the international fair and festival of technological and digital innovation, conceived and organized by Search On Media Group, arrives (from Rimini) for the first time in Bologna. At least 60,000 visitors are expected to repeat the success of previous editions.
“Wmf is a tool, a platform at the service of global actors, a project of international cooperation. We were very keen to keep this event in Italy. The idea is to remain in Emilia-Romagna, a region characterized by ‘innovation”, explains Cosmano Lombardo, founder and CEO of Search on Media Group. “We see ourselves as the city that wants to host new ideas. We are investing to welcome new businesses that will expand the district that is being created around the Leonardo super computer. We will be in New York in October to present what is happening in Bologna. We are increasing visibility of Bologna thanks to the startuppers who have decided to live here. The Two Towers can also be seen from overseas”, claims the mayor of Bologna, Matteo Lepore.
“We were keen to host this event. It is very in tune with the things we are reflecting on, that is, how to use the neighborhood to consolidate historical sectors, but also to support new sectors. Bologna is facing an important moment, the Fair has also made itself available for urban transformations taking place in our quadrant. I believe that this event has found the most appropriate venue here”, underlines the president of Bologna Fiere, Gianpiero Calzolari. “The fairs are not just a commercial moment. We have done our best to do our part, I hope that taxis, hotels and restaurants work, it is important given that this is the first edition of this event. The city, I am sure, will respond with the awareness of the importance of being chosen for such an important event”, assures Calzolari.
The event will be spread across four pavilions, 25, 26, 29 and 30, plus the service centre. The exhibition area will host exhibitors, sponsors, start-ups, spaces for B2B meetings, job interviews, speed meetings between companies and investors. There are also numerous international pavilions with the presence of Germany, Dominican Republic, Ukraine, France, Albania, Spazia and Switzerland (awarded as innovative country of the year), flanked by some Italian regions, Calabria, Puglia, Basilicata and the Data Vallet of Emilia Romagna. The future is within reach with tech shows, technological prototypes, robotics, immersive AI experiences, test drives (the main sponsor of the event is Ford). Space for e-sports and the gaming district, a 300 square meter area for enthusiasts. For the first time in Bologna there will also be a flight exhibition of the Gravity Industries jet suit.
Meanwhile,the mainstage set up in pavilion 29 will host moments of debate and music. The president of Emilia-Romagna, Stefano Bonaccini, opened the proceedings, but among the guests also Enrico Mentana, Nestor Maslej of Stanford University, Francesco Ubertini, president of Cineca, Alan Friedman, Nicola Gratteri, Milena Gabanelli and Maccio Capatonda, to speak of artificial intelligence, biomedicine, but also cinema, legality and data protection. This last theme will be at the center of a special panel with Open Ai, (Emma Redmond), Google (Peter Fleischer), Agcom, Agid and Brando Benifei, European parliamentarian and co-rapporteur of the Ai Act. The artists of the Music Fest, organized in partnership with Rolling Stone: Fatoumata Diawara for the inaugural ceremony, Manuel Agnelli, Dardust, Colapesce and Dimartino and Gaia.
Among the many within the program, ample space also this year at the World Startup Fest , an international reference event for startups, scaleups and investors, and the Open Innovation & VC Fest which, with an entire dedicated pavilion, will welcome more than 3,000 startups and open innovation stakeholders from all over the world. The Ai Global Summit will be an opportunity for professionals, companies and the curious to find new business synergies thanks to the Ai solutions proposed both in the exhibition area and on internships, but also to discuss its applications and evolutions with experts.
There are 90 training internships (reserved and open) to vertically explore all the main innovation themes with particular focus on artificial intelligence, to which seven internships are dedicated, but also coding, Google innovations, social media strategies, brands, machine learning, advertising, TikTok, SEO and many other insights useful for discovering the facets of the innovative universe. Sponsored by the Emilia-Romagna Region and by Rai, the Regional School Office, the Italian Art Directors Club with the partnership of Visit Emilia-Romagna, Wmf will remain in Bologna at least until 2026.
