The largest Czech innovation conference, in its eleventh year and last held 1 to 3 October 2026 at the CSOB Campus in Prague (the next edition had not been announced as of 31 October 2026); three days on artificial intelligence, new technologies and sustainability across four stages, with more than 400 speakers, a startup programme connecting founders to investors, and an access split between two buildings that depends on ticket tier.
Innovation Week is an annual three-day conference in Prague on innovation, artificial intelligence and sustainability, described by its organiser as the largest Czech innovation conference and in its eleventh year at the 2026 edition. It covers artificial intelligence, new technologies, sustainability, startups and business innovation, and it combines a lecture and discussion programme with a startup programme that connects founders to investors and with structured networking formats. The 2026 edition ran 1 to 3 October 2026 at the CSOB Campus in the Radlice district of Prague, the third consecutive year at that venue. Its audience is Central and Eastern European rather than global: entrepreneurs, startup founders, corporate innovation teams, investors, developers and government representatives from the region. Source: innovationweek.ai and czechstartups.gov.cz/en/events/event/innovation-week/, consulted 18 September 2026.
Innovation Week 2026 ran Thursday 1 to Saturday 3 October 2026 (last edition, held), three days. As of 31 October 2026, the organiser had not announced the next edition. The venue is the CSOB Campus, Radlicka 333, Prague 5, hosting the event for the third time. The site splits across two buildings, and the split is an access boundary rather than a layout detail: the Innovation Expo, the K.I.S.S. Stage and the Breakthrough Stage sit in the first building and are open to all ticket holders, while the second building, SHQ, houses the Main Stage, the Startup and Innovation Stage and the seminar rooms, open to Business ticket holders and above. Daily opening hours were not published in the sources reachable on this pass. Source: innovationweek.ai/essential-information, consulted 18 September 2026.
Innovation Week is organised by CzechStartups together with the Innovation Week team. CzechStartups operates within the Czech state's startup support structure, and the event is listed on czechstartups.gov.cz, the government's startup portal, which places it closer to a national innovation-policy instrument than to a purely commercial conference. General enquiries go to hello@innovationweek.ai. The event has run for eleven years, which for a Central European technology conference is a long continuity and is the strongest evidence behind its "largest Czech innovation conference" claim. Source: innovationweek.ai and czechstartups.gov.cz, consulted 18 September 2026.
The organiser expected more than 15,000 attendees at the 2026 edition. The audience is Central and Eastern European: entrepreneurs and startup founders, corporate innovation and transformation teams, investors, developers, and government and public-sector representatives. The presence of the last group is not incidental given that the event sits on the Czech government's own startup portal, and the named speakers include Zdenek Zajicek, whose profile is institutional rather than corporate. A visitor should calibrate expectations to the region: this is the largest gathering of its kind in the Czech Republic and among the larger ones in Central Europe, but it is not a pan-European draw on the scale of the Western European autumn circuit. Source: innovationweek.ai and czechstartups.gov.cz, consulted 18 September 2026.
The organiser has not published a list of changes for 2026, and no new stage, new format or new venue arrangement was found in the sources reachable on this pass. What is documented as continuity rather than change: this is the third year at the CSOB Campus, and the two-building access structure is unchanged. The scale figures for 2026, more than 400 speakers, more than 15,000 attendees and four stages, are the organiser's own targets rather than a comparison against 2025 results, and no 2025 result set was retrievable to compare against. A returning attendee should treat the 2026 edition as a continuation and check the programme rather than look for structural change. Source: innovationweek.ai, consulted 18 September 2026.
The 2026 programme ran three strands across four stages. The lecture and discussion strand covers artificial intelligence, new technologies and sustainability. The startup strand connects founders with investors. The networking strand runs structured formats for targeted meetings. More than 400 speakers were announced across the three days. Named speakers include Zdenek Zajicek, Vitezslav Grygar, Vojtech Stursa, Umberto Fugiglando and Tomas Sebek; that is a sample from the organiser's own announcement material rather than a complete roster, and the full 400-plus list had not been published as an extractable list in the sources reachable on this pass. Source: innovationweek.ai and czechstartups.gov.cz, consulted 18 September 2026.
Five, across two buildings. The Innovation Expo is an exhibition format open to all ticket holders. The K.I.S.S. Stage and the Breakthrough Stage run talks and are likewise open to all tickets. The Main Stage and the Startup and Innovation Stage, both in the SHQ building, carry the headline programme and the investor-facing content and require a Business ticket or above. Seminar rooms in the same building host smaller-format sessions under the same access condition. Structured networking formats for targeted meetings run alongside. Note that the event record flags B2B matchmaking and advance scheduling as absent, replay access as absent and no awards programme, so the "structured networking" the organiser advertises is not an organiser-run meeting platform of the kind Slush or GoTech World operate. Source: innovationweek.ai/essential-information and the database record, consulted 18 September 2026.
Not separately documented. The event's own name suggests a week-long city programme, but what is published is a three-day conference at a single campus rather than a distributed Prague-wide week, and no independent fringe programme, satellite conference or partner-run side-event track around the 1 to 3 October dates was found in the sources reachable on this pass. The startup programme and the networking formats run inside the event. Chambers of commerce, including the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic, promote attendance to their members, which may generate member receptions, but none is published. Searched: the official site, the Czech government startup portal and regional event listings. Source: innovationweek.ai, consulted 18 September 2026.
Two tiers are documented, and the tier determines which building a holder can enter. The Business ticket was priced at EUR 162 early bird and the Leaders ticket at EUR 490 early bird, with standard prices above both; the event record additionally holds a reference price of EUR 196, which appears to be a standard rather than early-bird figure and has not been reconciled with the two tiers on this pass (unverifiable information). The organiser has published two discount offers whose relationship is not clear from the indexed text: 20 percent off the early bird price valid until 16 August 2026, and 40 percent off the regular ticket price valid after 16 August 2026, both of which had expired or changed status by this fiche's verification date. Buy on the tier, not on the headline price: a ticket below Business level does not admit to the Main Stage, the Startup and Innovation Stage or the seminar rooms, which is where the investor-facing programme sits. These were the prices of the last edition (2026); prices for a later edition had not been announced as of 31 October 2026. Tickets for 2026 were sold at innovationweek.ai/tickets. Source: innovationweek.ai/tickets and the database record, consulted 18 September 2026.
Not publicly disclosed as an open process. The event record shows the call-for-papers status as closed, and no submission form, selection criteria or deadline was found for the 2026 edition. With more than 400 speakers across three days, the programme is large enough that some route must exist in practice, but it is not published: the realistic approach is a direct enquiry to hello@innovationweek.ai, and the realistic timing for the following edition is the first half of the year rather than weeks before the doors open. The startup programme is the one part of the event where a young company has a documented path onto a stage, through the investor-facing programme in the SHQ building, though its selection process is not published either. Source: innovationweek.ai and the database record, consulted 18 September 2026.
The exhibiting format is the Innovation Expo, which sits in the first building and is open to all ticket holders, making it the part of the event with the widest audience reach. No public stand rate card, sponsorship tier ladder or tier pricing was found for the 2026 edition, so commercial terms are quoted rather than published, and the route is an enquiry to hello@innovationweek.ai. Two points bear on the decision. The expo's position in the open-access building means exhibitor traffic is not gated by the Business ticket boundary, which is favourable. And the organiser's connection to CzechStartups and the Czech government startup portal means public-sector and innovation-agency participation is likely to be significant among both exhibitors and visitors. Searched: the official site's essential information and ticket pages. Source: innovationweek.ai, consulted 18 September 2026.
Not publicly disclosed. No partner page, sponsor list or tier breakdown for the 2026 edition was retrievable in the sources reachable on this pass, and the event record holds no sponsor list. Two institutional relationships are documented and are more informative than a sponsor roster would be: the event is organised with CzechStartups and listed on czechstartups.gov.cz, the Czech government's startup portal, and it is hosted at the CSOB Campus, the corporate campus of the Czech bank CSOB, for the third consecutive year, which is a venue relationship with an obvious commercial dimension even where no sponsorship is declared. The event record holds no official media partner list, so no mention in this fiche carries a "(media partner)" marker. Searched: the official site and the Czech government startup portal. Source: innovationweek.ai and czechstartups.gov.cz, consulted 18 September 2026.
Czech and Central European rather than international, and weighted toward the early-stage and public-innovation end. The organiser describes the audience as entrepreneurs, startup founders, corporate innovators, investors, developers and government representatives from Central and Eastern Europe, and the government portal listing plus the institutional profile of named speakers point to a substantial public-sector and innovation-agency presence alongside the private one. The thematic spread, artificial intelligence, new technologies, sustainability, startups and innovation, is broad rather than specialised, which suits a national innovation gathering and works against it as a sourcing event: a buyer looking for depth in a single technology will find the agenda thinner than at a specialist conference. No published exhibitor list or attendee breakdown by company type was retrievable on this pass. Source: innovationweek.ai and czechstartups.gov.cz, consulted 18 September 2026.
Not publicly disclosed. No media accreditation page, press contact, eligibility criteria or deadline was found on the official site in the sources reachable on this pass. The only published contact route is the general address hello@innovationweek.ai, and a journalist could use it, allowing time before the opening (1 October for the 2026 edition). For an event claiming more than 15,000 attendees and more than 400 speakers, the absence of any published press process is a genuine gap rather than a search failure. Searched: the official site's essential information, ticket and contact pages. Source: innovationweek.ai/essential-information, consulted 18 September 2026.
Coverage is regional and largely institutional rather than journalistic. The Czech government's startup portal czechstartups.gov.cz carries the event, Startup Lithuania lists it for its own community, and the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic promotes it to members, all of which are promotional listings by partner organisations rather than independent reporting. Ticketing and listing platforms including GoOut, 10times and AllEvents carry entries, which are commercial listings. No independent Czech or international press reporting on the event was located on this pass, which for an event of this claimed scale is notable. The event record holds no official media partner list, so no mention in this fiche carries a "(media partner)" marker. Source: the items named above, consulted 18 September 2026.
Weak, and for a different reason than at the large commercial events. The problem here is not contracted media partnership but the near-total absence of independent coverage: everything located on this pass traces either to the organiser, to a government portal that promotes the event, to a partner chamber of commerce, or to a listing platform that republishes the organiser's own copy. That means the two headline claims, more than 15,000 attendees and largest Czech innovation conference, rest entirely on the organiser's word, with no external count and no comparative source to check the superlative against. The eleven-year history is the most solid part of the record, because continuity is hard to fake and is corroborated by the government portal. Treat the scale figures as unverified and the longevity as established. Source: cross-reading of innovationweek.ai against czechstartups.gov.cz and the listing items above, 18 September 2026.
Anyone seeking depth in one technology, and anyone seeking an international audience. The agenda spans artificial intelligence, new technologies, sustainability, startups and innovation across four stages in three days, which is breadth bought at the cost of depth, and a specialist will find more in a single-topic conference. The audience is Central and Eastern European, so a vendor whose market is Western Europe or North America gains little. A buyer on a general admission ticket should also think twice: the Main Stage, the Startup and Innovation Stage and the seminar rooms all require a Business ticket or above, so the cheapest ticket buys the expo and two stages rather than the event as advertised. And a journalist should expect to negotiate accreditation from scratch, since no process is published. Source: innovationweek.ai/essential-information, consulted 18 September 2026.
It opens the Central European autumn. Sitting on 1 to 3 October in 2026, Innovation Week was among the first sizeable innovation gatherings of the season in the region, ahead of the November cluster that includes GoTech World in Bucharest and the Western European events that dominate the same weeks. Within the Czech Republic it has no rival at its scale, which is the basis of its "largest Czech innovation conference" claim. Against its regional peers it is broader and more public-sector-inflected than a commercial technology expo such as GoTech World, and far smaller in investor density than Slush in Helsinki six weeks later. For a founder or corporate innovation team based in Central Europe, it is the accessible home fixture rather than the one worth crossing the continent for. Source: innovationweek.ai and the EventsIndex developer and AI registry, consulted 18 September 2026.
No. The event is held only in Prague, at the CSOB Campus for the third consecutive year, and no regional edition, satellite event or second city was found in the sources reachable on this pass. Note that "innovation week" is a widely used generic name and that unrelated events under similar titles run in other countries; this fiche documents the Czech event organised with CzechStartups at innovationweek.ai, and a reader searching the phrase should check the domain rather than the name. Source: innovationweek.ai, consulted 18 September 2026.
Czech and English, on the available evidence, though no formal language policy is published. The event's own communications appear in both, the domain serves a Czech-language path at innovationweek.ai/cs/, and the Czech title of the main event, "Hlavni udalost Innovation Weeku 2026", circulates alongside English material. The presence of international speakers such as Umberto Fugiglando indicates English-language sessions, but no per-session language indication and no commitment to interpretation was found (unverifiable information). A non-Czech-speaking attendee should confirm the language of specific sessions before building a day around them. Source: innovationweek.ai, consulted 18 September 2026.
Not publicly disclosed, and the event record explicitly holds no replay access for this event. No livestream, virtual pass or on-demand session archive was found for the 2026 edition in the sources reachable on this pass. Given the two-building access model, where the most valuable stages are already gated behind the Business ticket, an open remote option would cut across the organiser's own pricing logic. A remote follower's realistic option is the organiser's post-event communication and the Czech government startup portal. Searched: the official site's essential information and ticket pages. Source: innovationweek.ai and the database record, consulted 18 September 2026.
Not publicly disclosed in the sources reachable on this pass. No refund window, cancellation term or name-transfer procedure was found on the ticket page or the essential information page. The question has more weight here than at a cheap event, because the Leaders tier was priced at EUR 490 early bird and the discount structure encouraged committing months ahead, in some cases before the programme was published. A buyer at that tier should obtain the terms in writing from hello@innovationweek.ai before purchase. Searched: the tickets page, the essential information page and third-party ticketing listings. Source: innovationweek.ai/tickets, consulted 18 September 2026.
Not publicly disclosed. No accessibility statement, accessible route guidance, accessible seating arrangement or access contact was found on the official site. The venue situation is partly favourable and partly not: the CSOB Campus is a modern corporate campus and the Radlicka metro station is 50 metres from the entrance, which is an unusually short step-free distance, but the event spreads across two buildings and no information on movement between them, or on lift access within them, was published. An attendee with access requirements should contact hello@innovationweek.ai before travelling. Searched: the official site's essential information page. Source: innovationweek.ai/essential-information, consulted 18 September 2026.
The CSOB Campus is at Radlicka 333, Prague 5, in the Radlice district south-west of the centre, and the transport position is about as good as a conference venue gets: the Radlicka station on metro line B sits 50 metres from the entrance. From the city centre that is a direct ride with no change. From Vaclav Havel Airport Prague, the usual route is bus to Zlicin or Nadrazi Veleslavin and then metro, with a change onto line B. Note the two-building layout, the second building is SHQ, and check which building your ticket admits you to before setting out for a specific stage. Source: innovationweek.ai/essential-information, consulted 18 September 2026.
Fifteen thousand attendees and four hundred speakers is the line the event leads with. The line that actually determines what a ticket is worth is buried in the practical information: the Innovation Expo, the K.I.S.S. Stage and the Breakthrough Stage are in one building and open to everyone, while the Main Stage, the Startup and Innovation Stage and the seminar rooms are in a second building, SHQ, and open only to Business ticket holders and above. That is not a seating policy, it is two events sold as one. A founder who buys the cheapest ticket to meet investors will find the investor-facing programme in the building they cannot enter, and the difference between the tiers, EUR 162 at Business early bird against EUR 490 at Leaders, is not signposted in those terms anywhere prominent. Anyone budgeting for this event should start from which building they need and work backwards to the price, rather than the other way round.
Two claims carry the event's positioning: more than 15,000 attendees, and largest Czech innovation conference. Neither has an external source. Everything located during this pass traces back to the organiser, to the Czech government's startup portal which promotes the event, to a partner chamber of commerce, or to listing platforms that republish organiser copy; no independent Czech or international reporting was found at all, which is unusual for a gathering of the claimed size. That absence cuts both ways. It means the figures cannot be verified, and it also means there is no rival claim disputing the superlative. What can be relied on is the part that would be hardest to sustain if untrue: eleven consecutive years, three of them at the same campus, corroborated by a government portal that has no reason to inflate a private event's longevity. Treat the history as the evidence of substance and the headcount as a number nobody has counted.
Official site: innovationweek.ai, with a Czech path at innovationweek.ai/cs/. Essential information, venue and stage access: innovationweek.ai/essential-information. Tickets: innovationweek.ai/tickets. Czech government startup portal listing: czechstartups.gov.cz/en/events/event/innovation-week/. General enquiries: hello@innovationweek.ai.