By Lucia Blasco & Euronews en español
Artificial intelligence has become much more than an emerging technology. For the leaders of the entrepreneurial ecosystem brought together in Madrid this week, it represents an economic opportunity that could redefine Europe’s role in the global economy.
That was one of the key messages at the opening of South Summit 2026 (source in Spanish), one of Europe’s largest international innovation and entrepreneurship gatherings, which from 3 to 5 June is bringing together more than 20,000 attendees, around 4,900 startups, over 2,000 investors and some 600 international speakers, according to the organisers.
Under the theme 'AI Convergence', the event’s fifteenth edition puts artificial intelligence at the heart of the debate on Europe’s economic and technological future. South Summit’s president and founder, María Benjumea, argued at the opening that "artificial intelligence is not a threat but a tool for growth and improvement" and urged Europe to remove the barriers that hold back the growth of start-ups.
"A startup born in Spain must be able to think of Europe as its natural home, not as 27 different borders", Benjumea said, warning that many companies are still forced to relocate to the United States in order to scale their businesses.
