BOE INTERNATIONAL 2026 Startups. Systems. Storytellers.

New exhibitor area for the future of the event industry

What remains of an event when the lights go out, the applause has faded and the Wi-Fi has gone? It’s not just the technical refinements, but the shared moments and impressions that have a lasting effect and connect people. This is exactly where the newly designed area of BOE INTERNATIONAL comes in – as a stage for visionary business models, innovative technologies and lively event formats that create lasting experiences.

Dortmund, August 05, 2025 – From January 2026, BOE INTERNATIONAL will expand its portfolio with an innovative exhibitor area that will focus on start-ups, advanced systems and creative storytellers. This will create a forward-looking platform that provides space for new impulses and perspectives in the event industry. Visionary start-ups who want to present their innovations are invited, as are discerning trade visitors who want to reflect on these innovations or actively help shape them. One of the newcomers is itemdrop, the winner of the Captain MICE Future Award 2025. With its newly developed checkroom system, the guest’s bank card becomes a checkroom token – without the need for an app or registration.

Cooperation with the renowned Founders Fight Club

As part of BOE 2026, the Founders Fight Night will be held for the first time at the Dortmund Exhibition Center – an innovative live pitch format that draws start-ups, decision-makers and the trade fair audience directly into the action. The diverse range of topics is deliberately broad and is based on the new cooperation between the Founders Fight Club and Messe Dortmund. It ranges from experience tech and AR/VR installations to sensor-based touchpoint systems, AI planning tools and green event solutions through to the creator economy for hybrid and youth-oriented moments.

At the Founders Fight Night, founders meet in exciting live pitch battles on a specially designed stage in Hall 5 – with only rhetoric, personality and vision in their luggage. Within just a few minutes, the start-ups have to impress the audience and the jury with their business model. An interactive vote will decide who wins or loses

and the valuable feedback of an expert jury. The industry’s big players will also be listening closely in their search for new ideas and potential cooperation partners. A networking zone directly on the ring will bring investors, partners and pioneers together after the pitch.

Parallel to the new exhibitor area, an independent content platform will be created that extends the new startup area in terms of media and deepens it thematically. A central element is the new podcast FORMAT SHIFT, produced by Merchants Bloc in cooperation with BOE INTERNATIONAL. The podcast is dedicated to classic events, such as the

Oktoberfest, a product launch or a city festival, and places them in the context of current innovation topics such as AI automation, metaverse or the creator economy. Host Jan C. Küster discusses with imaginative start-ups and experienced industry experts how concepts, expectations and tools are changing in the event industry.

BOE INTERNATIONAL 2026 as a driver of innovation

With the new format, BOE INTERNATIONAL underlines its claim to also open up access to the event industry for young companies, developers and creative minds. At the same time, trade visitors will gain inspiring insights into innovations that can enrich their own event work. “With the Founders Fight Night, we are creating a stage for courageous start-ups that are rethinking the event and trade fair business in a multisensory, digital and human way with fresh ideas. BOE INTERNATIONAL sees itself as a source of inspiration – this cooperation is another one for us,

consistent step towards new perspectives, concepts and tools for the event industry,” says Sabine Loos, Managing Director of the Westfalenhallen Group.

Jan C. Küster, founder of Founders Fight Club, is also enthusiastic about the collaboration: “We want to show that technology does not replace, but rather enhances experiences and makes many an implementation more convenient. In this way, events can be raised to a new level. Where technology, creativity and humanity interact perfectly, experiences are created that you don’t simply scroll away. Together with BOE INTERNATIONAL, we are creating a new resonance space for precisely this form of innovation,” says the experienced expert from the international start-up scene.

Be there as an exhibitor

If you would like to present your products and services as a supplier at the international trade fair for the event industry, you will find further information and the opportunity to register your stand here.

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