PRESS RELEASE
Latitude59 2026: Where Technology Meets Humanity. Where Skills Build Futures.
The Core Belief
In an age where AI writes code and automation reshapes industries, one truth remains: the human is still at the center. Not as a passive observer, but as the architect, the builder, the connector who shapes what comes next.
The Global Village Experiment is built on a simple premise: the future isn’t built in isolation. It’s built in conversation. In collaboration. In the messy, beautiful space where diverse minds meet, skills collide, and ideas become reality.
Technology is the tool. But humans – with our curiosity, creativity, and ability to connect across borders – are the force that determines whether that tool builds something extraordinary or merely efficient.
Why This Matters Now
We’re at an inflection point. AI is reshaping work. Climate tech is mission-critical. Defense and sovereignty are back at the center of innovation. Quantum, biotech, and space are moving from science fiction to fact.
But here’s what we’re seeing: the most successful builders aren’t the ones with the best technology – they’re the ones with the best teams. The strongest networks. The ability to see problems through different perspectives and unite diverse skills toward a common goal.
The startup world needs more than founders with pitch decks. It needs:
- Engineers who explore the ethical implications of what they build
- Designers who make complex technology human
- Marketers who translate innovation into impact
- Domain experts from healthcare, education, defense, climate
- Curious minds ready to learn and build – even if they haven’t started their first company yet
Latitude59 2026 is for all of them.
The Global Village Experiment
We’re testing a hypothesis: the most valuable connections happen when ecosystems collide.
You’re not just coming to Tallinn – you’re coming to the New Nordic gateway, a region of small nations that learned to build globally because staying local was never an option. This is the region that gave the world Skype, Spotify, Klarna, Wise, and Bolt. Proof that constraint breeds capability and small markets forge big thinking.
At Latitude59 2026, the New Nordics open their networks, playbooks, and hard-won lessons to builders from 70+ countries. Through deliberately designed spaces – ecosystem lounges where Africa meets Asia, matchmaking zones that pair unlikely collaborators, roundtables that solve real problems together – we’re creating something rare: genuine cross-border collaboration that produces tangible outcomes.
The experiment isn’t just bringing diverse people into one room. It’s designing the right prompts, challenges, and spaces that turn passive networking into active building.
What to Expect
Last year, we transformed Day 2 into an interactive experience. People felt seen. Heard. Connected. This year, we’re going further – making both days intentional about skills, belonging, and global collaboration.
Bold Conversations
The forces shaping our world:
- Defense tech and digital sovereignty – navigating innovation in a fragmented world
- AI and automation – collaborator, competitor, or both?
- Europe’s innovation race – can we compete in a multipolar world?
- Climate resilience – from crisis response to proactive building
- The technologies defining 2030 – deep tech, quantum, biotech, space, and what we haven’t seen coming
Builder Stories
Not just founder myths – real stories from the people who actually build. CTOs who scaled systems from 10 to 10 million users. Marketers who found product-market fit through failed experiments. Operators who turned chaos into process. Early employees who shaped company culture. The pivots, the failures, the unsexy work that makes companies work.
Future Skills Sessions
Not just talks – practical tools you can use: Working with AI as a collaborator. Building globally from small markets. Developing meta-skills like systems thinking and cross-cultural collaboration.
Global Village Lounges
Physical spaces representing key ecosystems – New Nordics, Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe. Discover opportunities beyond your bubble.
Curated Connections
Where the right people find each other: startups meet investors, engineers meet founders, curious newcomers meet experienced mentors.
Builders Lab
Problem-solving in real time.
World Café Roundtables
Open conversations that matter.
The Invitation
Latitude59 2026 isn’t just for founders. It’s for builders – anyone using their skills, curiosity, and courage to shape what comes next.
Come to learn. Come to teach. Come to find your co-founder, your first hire, your next investor, your unexpected mentor. Come to understand the technologies reshaping our world. Come to contribute your perspective to solving real problems.
Because the future isn’t built in isolation.
It’s built here. Together. In the global village we’re all part of.
Be bold. Build the world you want – with us.
About Latitude59 2026 Tallinn
Latitude59 2026 Tallinn will take place on 20–22 May in Estonia. As the most international and impactful startup and technology event in the New Nordics region, Latitude59 brings together startups, investors, and ecosystem builders from more than 70 countries.
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About Estonia
Estonia has the highest concentration of unicorns in Europe, with 865 startups per million people. A global leader in digital innovation, Estonia continues to set the standard for thriving tech ecosystems.
