On 20 and 21 October, Valencia hosted the Port Entrepreneurship International Congress (PEIC 2026) at the City of Arts and Sciences, an international event focused on innovation and entrepreneurship in the logistics and port sector, attended by SOM-INN PORT.
PEIC 2026 Port Entrepreneurship International Congress
Organised by Opentop, the Port of Valencia’s innovation hub, and the Valenciaport Foundation, the fourth edition of PEIC brought together more than 650 attendees from the main port and maritime ecosystems of Europe, North America and Latin America, with 45% international participation.
The participation of attendees from a wide range of professional backgrounds makes PEIC an important meeting point for innovation, investment and decision-making in the port sector.
Startups, scale-ups, technology companies, innovation managers from companies in the logistics and port sector, investors, representatives of port authorities, public institutions, economic development agencies, and the academic and research community, all coming together to share knowledge, address technological challenges, discover new solutions, explore collaboration opportunities, establish strategic partnerships and participate in discussions to promote innovation in the port sector.
Several port authorities attended PEIC 2026
Over the two days, entrepreneurial projects involving innovative technological solutions for maritime and port environments were presented in areas such as infrastructure resilience and safety; sustainability, decarbonisation and the energy transition; supply chain efficiency; the blue economy and digitalisation.
Roundtable discussions and presentations of innovation projects at PEIC
This year’s open call received more than 70 applications from innovative startups, of which 20 technology companies from 12 countries were selected. These companies had access to matchmaking activities, international networking, demonstration sessions, meetings with investors and visibility among stakeholders in the logistics and port ecosystem.
Startups at PEIC
One of the new features of this edition was PEIC Demo on the Lake, a demonstration area where several startups presented port and maritime technologies live on the lake at the City of Arts and Sciences.
Throughout the congress, the important role of innovation in port competitiveness was highlighted.
As part of the congress, a working meeting was also held at the Port of Valencia on 22 October with innovation executives from the ports of Valencia, Castellón, Cartagena, Tenerife, Bilbao and Tarragona, where topics of common interest and collaboration were discussed.
Innovation executives from the ports of Valencia, Castellón, Cartagena, Tenerife, Bilbao and Tarragona at the working meeting
4 November 2026
Innovation and Blue Economy Department