South Summit Madrid 2026 brought together, in its fifteenth edition, some of the main global leaders in artificial intelligence, robotics, mobility, health and education to analyze how technological convergence is redefining the future of Europe.
The event, co-organized by IE University, had more than 600 international speakers and the institutional support of the Secretary of State for Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence, the Community of Madrid and the Madrid City Council, as well as companies such as Mutua Madrileña, Google for Startups, BBVA Spark, Wayra and BStartup from Banco Sabadell.
At the opening, María Benjumea, president and founder of South Summit, highlighted that artificial intelligence has gone from capturing 30% of global venture capital investment to 61%” in just three years, which she described as “a paradigm shift.”
Benjumea also asked Europe to eliminate the barriers that push startups to move to the United States: “A startup born in Spain has to be able to think of Europe as its natural home, not as 27 different borders.”
From health to robotics: AI as a transversal axis
During the second day, Jean-Charles Samuelian-Werve, co-founder and CEO of Alan, explained that thanks to AI “medicine is no longer reactive, it does not wait for a problem. Today we can anticipate, identify risks before they worsen and accompany people.” In mobility, representatives from Mutua Madrileña, Cabify and Changan agreed that autonomous driving will come to Spain, although at a slower pace than in China due to regulation.
In robotics, Mar Masulli, co-founder and CEO of BitMetrics, pointed out that the important thing is not humanoids; The important thing is the software behind it. And in education, Joleen Liang, co-founder of Squirrel AI, proposed that teachers must evolve towards a role more similar to that of mentors, supervisors, psychologists and coaches.
Europe, talent and digital sovereignty
The debate on European competitiveness was also protagonist. Eoghan O’Neill of the European Commission’s AI office said: “Europe has talent. In fact, we have 30% more AI engineers per capita than the United States. What we need is to close the capital gap.”
For her part, Carme Artigas, former Secretary of State for Digitalization and AI of Spain, was clear: “There is no doubt that AI needs regulation. The question is how to remain competitive regardless of the regulations there are.”
On the entrepreneurial level, Kim Perell, investor in more than 100 startups, shared one of the most memorable phrases of the event: “Entrepreneurship is not about having a great idea, but about the discipline of executing and moving forward even when you don’t have all the answers.”
South Summit Madrid 2026 closed its fifteenth edition with the Startup Competition awards ceremony, chaired by Isabel Díaz Ayuso, president of the Community of Madrid. For Latin American founders seeking to connect with the European innovation ecosystem, South Summit Madrid is consolidated as an essential event for the next edition.
