Deep Tech CEE Summit & Challenge

📅 We've decided to extend the deadline for Deep Tech CEE Challenge 2026 to July 10th!

Apply → https://deeptechsummit.eu/cee-challenge-2026/

If you haven't applied yet, here's the full case for why it's worth it:

🎯 Get selected for Investor Day, meet investors 1:1, and compete for €5,000, €3,000, or €1,000 in cash prizes.

🤝 Meet corporates, CXOs, and industry leaders looking for deep tech solutions they can pilot or buy.

📣 Present your startup to investors, partners, media, and the CEE deep tech ecosystem.

🌍 Connect with startups, accelerators, research institutions, and innovation networks across CEE and Europe — including direct relationships with Poland's deep tech ecosystem and corporates.

🔍 Talk to experts on-site and pressure-test how you read your own market.

Every selected startup gets a Startup PREMIUM ticket to Deep Tech CEE Summit (worth €660).

Two paths to the pitching sessions:

1. Deep Tech CEE Rising Stars:

Up to 15 pre-selected startups pitch on the Startup Stage.

1st place: €5,000 + a ticket to Hello Tomorrow Global Summit 2027
2nd: €3,000 + ticket
3rd: €1,000 + ticket.

2. 🇬🇧 UK Funding Track, built with Capital Kinetics Limited:

Up to 6 startups pitch online to UK investors. meet them in person. A 4–6 week program on investor readiness, financial models, and pitch - closing with a UK demo day in front of curated angels, VCs, and strategic partners.

Up to 3 top startups pitch in person in London.

Apply → https://deeptechsummit.eu/cee-challenge-2026/

You see 1,000+ decks a year. Maybe 10 are worth a second meeting.

Sourcing is the real cost of venture. Hundreds of cold inbound decks. Conferences where day one disappears into finding the right people. And the best CEE deep tech stays invisible from London or Berlin until someone else has already led the round.

We built Deep Tech Summit to fix the sourcing problem.

Curated deal flow, ready to review. Through the CEE Challenge, we screen 500+ applications down to 75–100 deep tech startups across energy, semiconductors, quantum, defense, AI & robotics, and medtech. Instead of digging through the pile, you review a pre-filtered shortlist.

Warsaw, October 26–27:
→ 250+ startups & scaleups
→ 150+ VC, CVC & business angels
→ 300+ scientists, researchers & engineers
→ Thousands of pre-scheduled 1:1 meetings via the matchmaking app

Two days of back-to-back meetings with founders you'd otherwise spend months trying to find. CEE talent with Western-level technical depth, at a fraction of the valuations.

Join us: https://deeptechsummit.eu/

Applications for CEE Challenge 2026 closes June 30.

If you're building deep tech startup in CEE - in areas like energy, semiconductors, quantum, defense, AI, MedTech and more - this is your window to get reviewed early.

What happens after you apply:

We review your application and select 75–100 startups that will receive a free VIP Startup Ticket to Deep Tech Summit 2026. If you make it through, you'll spend 2 days in back-to-back 1:1 meetings with 150+ investors, VCs, CVCs, and corporate decision-makers actively looking for innovations.

Previous Challenge winners went on to partner with AMD, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and the European Space Agency - ESA. One entered the NATO DIANA program. One became the first Polish startup accepted into Octopus Ventures Deep Tech Accelerator.

That started with an application.

Apply now → deeptechsummit.eu/cee-challenge-2026

Deadline: June 30

1000+ attendees, 150+ investors, and 30+ countries in one place. 📊

Applications for Deep Tech CEE Challenge 2026 are now open.

The best deep tech startups join the CEE Challenge to secure their spot at the Deep Tech Summit (October 27–28, Warsaw). Selected companies receive free admission and direct access to our investor network.

Through last years our track record proves the scale, gathering at Deep Tech Summit:

🔹 1000+ attendees from 30+ countries
🔹 250+ startups & scaleups
🔹 150+ investors (VC, CVC & Business Angels)
🔹 150+ executives and managers
🔹 300+ scientists and engineers

CEE Challenge is your fast track to this network 🎯

If you’re building tech that matters and looking for business partners, capital, or sourcing from major industry players – this is your platform.

We are not looking for just “ideas”, but projects ready to meet CIOs, corporate partners, and funds that specialize in deep tech. ⚡

🔗 Apply here: https://deeptechsummit.eu/cee-challenge-2026/apply/