Founders, investors, and support organizations active in Manufacturing.
France's massive industrial gathering with a startup village and Industry 4.0 showcases. Price: free for professionals with badge. Strong for industrial IoT and smart manufacturing startups.
InoBat builds custom-designed batteries for demanding applications such as aviation, premium EVs, and performance mobility. Unlike standard gigafactory players, InoBat focuses on tailored R&D, pilot production, and high-value customers that require specialized chemistry and form factors. By 2026, the company is a strategic player in the EU battery value chain with backing from partners like Rio Tinto and Gotion High-Tech, positioning Slovakia as a serious contributor to Europe’s energy storage ecosystem.
Austria's largest manufacturing technology trade fair. Price: free with registration to about EUR 25. Strong for automation, tooling, and industrial startups.
UK's national exhibition for engineering and manufacturing. Price: free with registration. Strong for 3D printing, tooling, and automation startups.
Multivative builds modular prototyping systems and Pick2Place workflows to accelerate electronics and hardware development for manufacturing teams, with a practical focus on SMEs.
Leading trade fair for industrial coating technology. Price: about EUR 30-50. Strong for materials science and robotics automation startups.
PhysicsX applies machine learning and generative AI to advanced engineering simulation across aerospace, automotive, and energy systems. The platform accelerates design loops by reducing simulation time for fluid, thermal, and structural modeling, helping industrial teams move from concept to validation faster.
Global design and furniture fair with SaloneSatellite for under-35 designers and startups. Price: about EUR 40-60. Strong for design-led hardware and materials startups.
Trade fair for textile and flexible material processing. Price: about EUR 30-60. Strong for automated sewing, 3D body scanning, and on-demand manufacturing startups.
Global trade fair for pipe and tube manufacturing. Price: about EUR 45-70. Strong for industrial IoT, inspection, and quality-control startups.
Verkor is the industrial champion of the French "Battery Valley" and one of Europe's most important energy manufacturing plays. While many battery startups emphasize chemistry R&D, Verkor's differentiator is execution at scale. Its gigafactory in Dunkirk, which began commissioning in late 2025, is designed to reach 16 GWh of annual capacity—enough to power roughly 300,000 electric vehicles. The facility is among the most advanced battery plants in Europe, built to supply automotive OEMs with locally produced, low-carbon cells. The year 2026 is Verkor's start-of-production milestone. Its cells are the core of the new Alpine A390 and other Renault Group EV programs, giving the company a high-profile anchor customer and a direct path to volume demand. Verkor positions itself around "low-carbon performance" by combining France's low-emission nuclear grid with a highly digitized Industry 4.0 production system that reduces scrap rates and energy intensity. The company argues that its batteries carry a materially smaller carbon footprint than cells manufactured in coal-heavy regions, which is increasingly important as automakers track embedded emissions across supply chains. Beyond production, Verkor is investing in future chemistry and process innovation. The Verkor Innovation Centre (VIC) in Grenoble is expanding its work on next-generation chemistries, including sodium-ion cells that reduce reliance on lithium and cobalt. This R&D focus strengthens supply-chain resilience and creates optionality for lower-cost, lower-risk storage solutions as electric mobility scales. Verkor's roadmap also includes tighter integration between materials sourcing, cell design, and recycling, positioning it to meet Europe's stringent regulatory requirements on battery sustainability and traceability. Verkor is backed by a mix of strategic and infrastructure capital. Macquarie Asset Management and Meridiam provide long-term project finance muscle, Renault Group anchors demand and industrial validation, EQT Ventures provides growth capital, and Sibanye-Stillwater supports raw material security. It was co-founded and supported early by EIT InnoEnergy and has strong operational ties to Schneider Electric, which helped design its digital factory systems. With support from the Macron administration and the European Investment Bank, Verkor has become a poster child for European industrial sovereignty. In 2026, it stands as proof that Europe can manufacture critical clean-tech hardware at global scale—and do it with a lower-carbon footprint.
Partner trade fair to Tube covering wire and cable manufacturing. Price: about EUR 45-70. Key for smart cabling and energy transmission startups.