THE INNOVATION FORUM & AWARDS 2026 is where the Romanian economy’s fore leaders meet opportunity. Designed as a flagship event for the business and innovation landscape, the forum brings together leading companies, bold entrepreneurs, policymakers, and technology pioneers to explore the trends redefining Romania’s economic future.

THE DIPLOMAT-BUCHAREST organizes the first edition of INNOVATION FORUM & AWARDS 2026 on June 18 at InterContinental Athénée Palace Bucharest. This year’s edition highlights groundbreaking projects, emerging technologies, and strategic solutions that drive productivity, sustainability, and competitiveness across all major industries.

Register at the event at: INNOVATION FORUM & AWARDS 2026 – Powered by The Diplomat Bucharest

The event is supported by:

PLATINUM PARTNERS: NXP Semiconductors, Auchan Romania

GOLD PARTNERS: Infineon Technologies, ICI Bucharest, DS Smith

PARTNERS: BMF Grup, VOIS Romania

PARTNER INSTITUTIONS: British Romanian Chamber of Commerce BRCC, Concordia Employers’ Confederation, Ecoteca, ANIS – Employers’ Association of the Software and Services Industry, CERC – Coalition for the Circular Economy, Smart Energy Association, HENRO – Association of Electric Power Producers, ClujIT Cluster, ROFMA – Romanian Workplace and Facility Management Association, CCIFER – French Romanian Chamber of Commerce

MEDIA PARTNERS: Outsourcing Today, Automotive Today, Sustainability-Today, Financial Intelligence, Revista Economistul, Romania Durabila, Club Economic, Ziarul BURSA, Revista Piaţa

JURY BOARD

• RADU PUCHIU, Technology & Society Program Director, Aspen Institute Romania
• ALEXANDRU MITROI, Senior Adviser, Invest Romania
• ANDREI KELEMEN, CEO Cluj IT Cluster
• ANDREI PARASCHIV, Consulting Partner, Deloitte Romania.
• ANDREI MIHAI CRĂCIUN, Head of Digital Transformation and Data Analysis department, West University of Timisoara
• YUGO NEUMORNI, CIO Council President
• CĂTĂLINA DODU, Partener, EMEIA Cybersecurity Defense Sector Leader and Global Technology Consulting   Account leader for NATO, EY
• DANIEL ANGHEL, Country Managing Partner, PwC Romania, FIC Vice-President
• EDUARD NAUM, Director, Advisory Technology, KPMG in Romania
• IOAN CONSTANTIN, CCIFER Representative & Cyber Security Expert, Orange
• CORINA VASILE, Executive Director, ANIS Romania

For the 16 Innovation categories of this edition, we present the FINALISTS of THE INNOVATION AWARDS GALA 2026 to be celebrated together with the WINNERS announced on June 18:

🔷 SECTION: PROJECTS & IMPLEMENTATIONS         

🏆BEST AI IMPLEMENTATION PROJECT     

• AUMOVIO AI Hub Platform
• Banca Transilvania integrates artificial intelligence into BT Pay
• Brinel | iQanto: Intelligent Document Processing at Scale
• Druid AI: The “factory” of AI Agents for companies
• eIQ® Auto ML Software Development Environment
• eMAG: The launch of iZi, the first conversational shopping agent developed in Romania
• VOIS Romania: Project CADi

🏆CYBERSECURITY INNOVATION SOLUTION AWARD          

• Gardiyan — One Platform, Total Control
• Global Data Loss Prevention Operating Model
• Infineon Technologies: TEGRION™ SLI22 Multi-Interface Security Platform by Infineon
• Security Solutions for High Performance Compute automotive domain
• SCUT & Orange Cyberdefense: Romania’s newest cyber security company, has officially launched the digital cyber shield concept
• Stefanini Cyber Defense Services: 24/7 SOC-Driven Cybersecurity Transformation

🏆INNOVATIVE PRODUCT OF THE YEAR    

• AUMOVIO: The Automated Driving HPC Platform: Scalable High-Performance Computing Solutions for the L4 AUMOVIO: The LCD Display with Invisible Camera Integration in Romania
• Brinel | iQanto / iQapture
• Built in Romania: Pioneering the Next Generation of Air Suspension with CAirS BLDC
• CoSmA Digital Vehicle Key: Next-Generation Intelligent Access
• Integrated SW Solution for S32N55 Vehicle Super-Integration Processor
• SCAN X
• SysAgria by Syswin Solutions

🏆TRANSFORMATIVE SERVICE OF THE YEAR         

• Brinel iQanto: The Full-Stack AI Transformation
• Brinel | iQanto / MARA
• ICI Bucharest and Politehnica Bucharest: The first Romanian AI supercomputer
• InfoTB: The STB app for passengers  

🔷 SECTION: COLLABORATION AND ECOSYSTEMS   

🏆CROSS-SECTOR COLLABORATIVE PROJECT AWARD        

• ADR (Authority for the Digitalization of Romania) and ANIS Romania (The Employers’ Association of the Software and Services Industry): Partnership for digitalization. Romania has assumed digital transformation as a country project
• Vodafone Romania & the National University of Science and Technology POLITEHNICA Bucharest:  The first private educational 5G Standalone mobile network within as part of a strategic project funded by the European Commission

🏆ACADEMIC–INDUSTRY PARTNERSHIP AWARD     

• AUMOVIO Romania: Accelerating microelectronics & sustainability for next generation automotive tech 
• Brinel | iQanto: From Campus to Cloud
• POLITEHNICA Bucharest and ICI Bucharest to build Romania’s first AI Factory
• UNbreakable Romania: Romanian artificial intelligence hub
• VOIS Romania & Politehnica Bucharest: Trust Framework for Synthetic Data
• WALDEVAR Floating PV and The Faculty of Hydroengineering and Water Resources Management, Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest

🏆CORPORATE–STARTUP BRIDGE AWARD 

• TechAngels România
• Raiffeisen Bank România
• ROStartup

🔷 SECTION: INNOVATION WITH SOCIAL IMPACT & SUSTAINABILITY      

🏆SOCIAL IMPACT INNOVATION AWARD    

• Auchan Romania: Making Inclusive Futures Real
• BCR: Launch of 2nd Marc Impact Program to Boost Social Entrepreneurship Used cooking oil collection program
• .lumen: Nearly 20 million euros in raised funding in 5 years

🏆SUSTAINABLE & GREEN INNOVATION AWARD    

• GreenWEEE: The third WEEE recycling plant and starts production in Buzău
• Hidroelectrica & WALDEVAR Energy: The first floating photovoltaic panel system
• Syswin Solutions

🔷 SECTION: INVESTMENTS, TRANSFORMATION AND CORPORATE LEADERSHIP

🏆DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION PIONEER    

• Banca Transilvania: Integrates artificial intelligence into BT Pay
• Concentrix Romania: Powering Intelligent Transformation at Scale
• Endava Romania: Signs Landmark Framework Agreement

🏆R&D INVESTOR OF THE YEAR   

• IGEL: Accelerates EMEA Growth with Multi-Million-Euro Investment in New Bucharest R&D Hub
• NXP Semiconductors:  The EU’s IPCEI ME/CT financing to expand research and development in Romania
• SCAN X
• UiPath: Brings the AI coding agents into companies

🔷 SECTION: LEADERS IN INNOVATION

🏆YOUNG TECH VISIONARY (UNDER 35) – to be announced         

🏆INNOVATION AMBASSADOR – to be announced            

🏆INNOVATION LEADER OF THE YEAR – to be announced

🔷 SECTION: START-UP & SCALE-UP EXCELLENCE   

🏆START-UP DISRUPTOR OF THE YEAR     

• Bible Chat: The secures $14M Series A led by True Ventures
• Digitail: The 23 million USD in Series B funding
• DRUID AI: The €26 million to accelerate agentic AI platform growth under new CEO 

🏆INNOVATIVE COMPANY OF THE YEAR   

• AUMOVIO Romania: Adaptive Powerhouse for Future Mobility
• Brinel | iQanto
• eMAG: launches iZi, the first AI shopping agent developed in Romania
• Infineon Technologies Romania: Industrializing AI for Enterprise-Scale Transformation Embedding intelligence into real-world operations across complex, regulated environments
• UiPath: The first Romanian unicorn, will automate processes in several public institutions – Investment financed by PNRR with almost 15 million euros
• Syswin Solutions: End-to-End Romanian IoT Infrastructures for Operational Intelligence

Congratulations to all Finalists and let’s meet on June 18 to celebrate the innovation, performance and disruptive endeavors of companies and leaders in Romanian economy’s cross-sectors!