Tech Events at Edinburgh Futures Institute, Edinburgh

with Lori Anderson (Director, Festivals Edinburgh) · Trevor Jones (Artist (EXPOS3D), Independent)

Summer Connections kicks off Edinburgh's festival season with an evening of ideas, creativity and community at Venture Café Edinburgh's flagship Thursday Gathering (EFI). Lori Anderson (Director, Festivals Edinburgh) joins for a conversation on the festival ecosystem, and artist Trevor Jones for a fireside chat on the art, tech and AI behind his EXPOS3D exhibition. Alongside the talks: a summer reading book swap, photo booth, workshops and plenty of room to connect with the city's creative and innovation communities. Free.

Venture Cafe Edinburgh's flagship weekly Thursday Gathering at the Edinburgh Futures Institute, this week themed on education in the age of AI - how learning, teaching and skills are being reshaped by AI tooling. The Thursday Gathering connects creators, entrepreneurs, investors, coworkers, students and academics for talks, showcases and open networking. Programme to be confirmed closer to the date. Free to attend.

with Claudia Cavalluzzo (Director, Venture Cafe Edinburgh) · Ross Tuffee (Co-Founder, MotionLab Ventures) · Fiona McIntyre (Managing Director, Scottish Women's Premier League) + 1 more

A SportsTech-themed edition of Venture Cafe Edinburgh's flagship weekly Thursday Gathering at the Edinburgh Futures Institute. An evening on the innovation, data and leadership shaping the future of sport in Scotland - from fan engagement to scaling women's sport - with an innovators showcase featuring MotionLabs, Crowd Legends and SEITA, a fireside on scaling women's sport with the Scottish Women's Premier League, and a view from Deloitte's Sports Business Group. Open networking throughout. Free; one of the broadest rooms in the Scottish ecosystem - founders, investors, operators and the curious.

A special edition of the city's best-loved founder gathering: Founders Meetup Edinburgh teams up with Venture Café Edinburgh to bring their signature format — an intimate, candid interview with a successful founder — to the Thursday Gathering at the Edinburgh Futures Institute. Expect honest war-stories on building and scaling a startup, followed by open networking with one of the broadest rooms in the Scottish ecosystem: founders, investors, operators and the merely curious. Free to attend.

Sustainable Gastronomy Day at Venture Café Edinburgh: 'Future-Proofing the Plate' digs into how technology, science and business model innovation are reshaping the food system — from regenerative agriculture and alternative proteins to data, packaging and waste. Expect founders, researchers and investors working on agri-food and climate. Free, open-door evening at EFI.

Venture Café Edinburgh teams up with Converge — Scotland's leading business creation programme for university talent — to celebrate the next generation of Scottish entrepreneurs. The Thursday Gathering remains one of the city's most reliably good rooms: founders, researchers, students and investors in the same space, no badge required. Free and open to all.

Venture Café Edinburgh's weekly Thursday Gathering marks World Oceans Day with 'Below the Surface' — an open-door evening at the Edinburgh Futures Institute. Free to all, with no agenda beyond conversation and connection. The Thursday Gathering is one of Edinburgh's most reliably good rooms: founders, researchers, students and investors in the same space, no badge required.

Venture Café Edinburgh's Thursday Gathering tackles funding for female founders — in partnership with Pathways Forward and Scottish EDGE. From equity investment to crowdfunding and IP-backed lending, the evening unpacks the full funding mix with funders and investors in the room. Expect practical takeaways, connections that matter, and a session designed to move past the diagnosis of the problem.

Venture Café Edinburgh teams up with Future Worlds for a Thursday Gathering focused squarely on Scotland's AI research ecosystem — what's in the lab, what could become a company, and where the connectors are. Built for PhD students, postdocs, professors and founders working with AI, with lightning talks, showcases and structured networking. Open and free.

A joint gathering with Creative Tech Scotland — exhibitions, short talks and open networking at Edinburgh Futures Institute. Strong pick for designers, immersive-media folks, XR and games studios, and anyone working at the edge of art and technology.

Venture Café Edinburgh's weekly Thursday Gathering turns the spotlight on the researcher-turned-CEO dilemma. Panels, open conversations and drinks for deep-tech founders, academics and spin-out teams working through whether the science lead should also run the company.

Weekly Thursday Gathering at Venture Café Edinburgh, this week exploring programmable immunity and the shift from reactive medicine toward proactive biological resilience. Relevant for health-tech founders, researchers and operators building at the bio × tech boundary. Free, open, networking-first format at the Edinburgh Futures Institute.

Earth Day edition of Venture Café Edinburgh's weekly Thursday Gathering. Focused on practical sustainability action for Scotland's innovation community — from climate tech founders to investors and researchers. Free, open, and built around serendipitous networking across the Edinburgh Futures Institute.

Venture Café Edinburgh's flagship Thursday Gathering at Edinburgh Futures Institute. This week's theme asks why Scotland supports startups and scaleups — and how to move the ecosystem beyond discussions, programmes and reports to genuine action. Open, free, no hard sales — the room spans founders, investors, students, researchers and operators.