This year’s topic: Invest to scale.
Manufacturing Day 2026 focuses on one of the most critical challenges for the global industrial economy: how to successfully scale manufacturing ventures into competitive, resilient and globally operating companies.
While early-stage innovation in manufacturing is thriving, many promising ventures struggle to move from pilot projects to large-scale production and international market leadership. The reasons are complex, ranging from access to growth capital and industrial infrastructure to regulatory environments, talent availability and collaboration between startups, corporates and the public sector.
The event explores how different manufacturing ecosystems support or constrain this scale-up journey, and what enables some companies to grow faster, expand internationally and industrialise successfully. It looks at diverse investment models, policy frameworks and partnership approaches that shape how manufacturing innovation turns into industrial impact.
Manufacturing Day 2026 brings together investors, founders, industry leaders and policymakers to identify the practical levers needed to accelerate manufacturing scale-ups: from financing and industrial capacity to market access and global expansion. The focus is on learning across systems, challenging assumptions, and defining what is needed to build the next generation of resilient, world-class manufacturing companies.
What is Manufacturing Day?
The Manufacturing Day is the leading event for the manufacturing industry during ViennaUP, the largest decentralised startup festival in Europe. During this landmark event with more than 500 participants from over 50 countries, EIT Manufacturing is bringing together startups, key industrial players, investors, researchers and experts to celebrate the achievements and potential of the European manufacturing industry.
Renowned speakers from all over the world provide insights into hot topics in the industry, bringing new solutions and ideas to the table to make manufacturing more innovative and thus create a competitive advantage.
The Manufacturing Day aims to showcase the latest innovations and technologies that are driving this transition and to inspire the next generation of manufacturing professionals to take an active role in shaping the future of the industry. The event offers a varied and rich programme for and with startups in the manufacturing industry and is a platform for industry representatives to exchange ideas and network.
#SaveTheDate: Get ready for Manufacturing Day – coming up on 21 May 2026 in Vienna
To get into the right mood, walk down memory lane with us and see some impressions from Manufacturing Day 2025 in the video below.
We are working hard on creating an amazing programme with outstanding speakers for you. Save your spot and get your free ticket now! We are looking forward to seeing you on 21 May 2026 in Vienna.