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EuroInvent 2026 brings nearly 700 inventions from 45 countries to Romania, Southeast Europe's largest innovation exhibition marks 18th edition
The 18th edition of EuroInvent, Southeast Europe's largest innovation exhibition, is taking place from May 28-30 at the Palace of Culture in Iasi, Romania. Nearly 690 invention projects from 45 countries, 120 scientific papers and 180 academic volumes are being showcased.
The Palace of Culture in Iasi, one of Romania's most imposing heritage buildings, has been transformed into an international laboratory of innovation with the opening of the 18th edition of EuroInvent, the European Exhibition of Creativity and Innovation. The event, running from May 28-30, 2026, marks the coming of age of Southeast Europe's largest and most important invention exhibition. The official opening took place on May 28 at 11:00 in the Voivodes Hall, with free entry available on May 28 and 29 from 10:00 to 16:00.
This year's figures are impressive and confirm steady year-on-year growth. Nearly 690 invention and innovation projects from 45 countries have been registered in competition, up from 640 projects from 37 countries in the previous edition. The international ICIR EuroInvent conference brings 120 scientific papers from multiple disciplines before the academic community, while the technical-scientific book salon showcases 180 volumes evaluated by specialised juries.
A distinctive cultural component was the European Visual Art Exhibition, inaugurated on May 25, featuring works by local and international artists and underscoring the organisers' vision of building bridges between science, art, and education. The event takes place both physically at the Palace of Culture and online, allowing researchers who cannot travel to Iasi to participate. Professor Andrei Victor Sandu, EuroInvent coordinator and president of the Romanian Inventors Forum, described the exhibition as a meeting space between disciplines, generations, and academic cultures, where the chemistry between people and partnerships of the future are born.
The inventions presented this year span domains reflecting the major challenges of the contemporary world. Artificial intelligence applied in medicine, precision agriculture, robotics, green technologies, materials engineering, renewable energy, and innovative digital solutions are just some of the sectors in which researchers and inventors have presented their creations. EuroInvent's declared mission is to promote international and Romanian creativity in a European context, facilitating the dissemination of research results, signing of partnerships, development of new ideas, and technology transfer toward implementation in the economy.
All creations are evaluated by international juries of experts, with the most valuable distinguished by Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals. The grand prize, worth 10,000 lei, is offered for the fourth consecutive year by the Dan Voiculescu Foundation for Romania's Development. Special prizes are also awarded in categories including Youngest Inventor, Woman Inventor, Oldest Inventor, Green Environment, Medicine, and Outstanding Research Institution. In the previous edition, the Grand Prize was won by the State University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Moldova.
EuroInvent is organised by the Romanian Inventors Forum Association, Europe Direct Iasi Centre, Gheorghe Asachi Technical University, and Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, with support from the National Research Authority under the Ministry of Education and Research. The exhibition operates under the aegis of the International Federation of Inventors' Associations and the World Inventions Intellectual Property Associations, two leading global organisations in the field of invention and innovation.
The massive participation from 45 countries demonstrates the event's international appeal and confirms that Iasi has established itself on the world map of innovation. Workshops running in parallel facilitate technology and knowledge transfer between the academic and industrial sectors, while networking sessions have generated dozens of international collaboration agreements and research partnerships over the years.
Across its 18 editions, EuroInvent has grown from a local event into a major European exhibition attracting hundreds of researchers, individual inventors, companies, and academic institutions from around the world. In a university city with an academic tradition spanning more than four centuries, the exhibition demonstrates that Romanian innovation and creativity can stand alongside the most valuable achievements of international research, and that ideas born here can be transformed into concrete solutions for the challenges of tomorrow.