Porto AI Week takes place from September 14–18, 2026 in Porto.

The event is a five-day, city-wide AI festival built around independent events hosted across Porto. The format brings together founders, developers, researchers, creators, studios, universities, companies, and community hosts through workshops, demos, hackathons, talks, panels, fireside chats, dinners, and cultural programming.

Porto AI Week is designed as a distributed festival. Events can take place in coworking spaces, studios, galleries, warehouses, theatres, clubs, restaurants, rooftops, and other venues across the city. The first edition is targeting more than 80 events, over 40 venues, and 10,000 attendees.

Four tracks across the city

The program is organized around four tracks: BUILD, CREATE, BUSINESS, and HUMAN.

  • BUILD focuses on developers, AI agents, infrastructure, hackathons, open-source projects, and founders working on the technical layer of AI.
  • CREATE is centered on designers, filmmakers, musicians, writers, storytellers, marketers, and creative teams using AI as part of cultural and media production.
  • BUSINESS covers founders, operators, agencies, productivity workflows, go-to-market work, and the ways companies are being built or reorganized around AI.
  • HUMAN looks at wellness, education, philosophy, cities, longevity, culture, and the human questions raised by automation and artificial intelligence.

Open to hosts, speakers and venues

Porto AI Week allows companies, founders, universities, studios, communities, and creators to host independent events as part of the official program. Approved events can be included in the official program, featured on the city map, and supported through communications, venue matching, or production help where relevant.

The speaker program is also open for applications, with formats including keynotes, talks, panels, fireside chats, and hands-on workshops. Speakers can apply across the BUILD, CREATE, BUSINESS, and HUMAN tracks.

Venue partners can also take part by opening spaces to the festival, ranging from smaller salons to larger event spaces.

Organizer and access

Porto AI Week is led by Gonçalo Hall, founder of NomadX and lead organizer of Porto Digital Nomads. The festival also lists Porto City Hall and ANJE among its partners.

The event is currently in production, with access managed through a waitlist. The waitlist is positioned for early access to tickets, the official program release, and invitations to selected founder dinners.