Connecta · Hall 4 · 8-10 November 2026
Bring a problem. Leave with a plan.
All around you, Cairo ICT shows the tools. The Innovation Arena is where people use them on real problems: get your startup read by a mentor, learn a skill in 45 minutes, or hear founders who made it.
Four steps, one floor
Heard. Helped. Ready. Seen.
Walk in with an idea or a problem. The Arena takes it from there.
- HeardSomeone sits with you and listens to what you are building and where it is stuck.Now & Next
- HelpedYou learn the one skill you need next, in 45 minutes.SparkLabs
- ReadyYou hear how others got through the hard part, and you sharpen your pitch.Breakthrough
- SeenYou step onto a stage, in front of the people who can open doors.Main Stage
Same tools as the rest of the show. Human hands, real problems.
Innovation Arena 2025
Full rooms, real conversations.
Talks with a crowd at the edge of the stage, mentors at every table, teams pitching to the people who can take them further.
On the floor
Five ways to take part.
Now & Next
With you till you make it
Sit down with a mentor for a 10-15 minute read of your startup. They name the one thing most worth fixing now and work it with you toward a real next step. A read, not a score: you leave helped, not graded.
For: Founders with something underway
SparkLabs
45 minutes to your next level
Short, hands-on classes back to back through the day. One useful skill per class, taught simply, done in under an hour: first customers, pricing, a one-page pitch.
For: Anyone on the floor
Breakthrough
We made it through
Founders whose companies lasted tell how they got through the hard, narrow part, live on the floor and in short talks on the Main Stage.
For: Everyone who needs proof it can be done
PlaySolve
Play. Solve. Innovate.
Powered by Funpreneurs. Young innovators meet a real person, find a real problem and build something that helps, with trained facilitators beside them all the way.
For: Ages 10 to 16, registered by an adult
Main Stage
Real people. Real solutions. Real impact.
The Arena’s shared stage across all three days: Breakthrough talks and SparkLabs highlights.
For: Everyone on the floor
PlaySolve, powered by Funpreneurs
Play. Solve. Innovate.
For young innovators aged 10 to 16, and the grown-ups who bring them. Younger PlaySolvers build for older “customers”, usually 10 to 13 working for 14 to 16, though the two overlap and both take part. There is no pitching for money and no test: children here are PlaySolvers, not junior CEOs.
- 1InterviewMeet a real person and find out what is hard for them.
- 2MakeBuild something that helps, with a facilitator beside them.
- 3ShareShow what they made, and why.
Safety, in plain words
- An adult always registers.A parent or guardian registers one child, or a school registers a group. Children never register themselves.
- We ask for very little.A child’s first name and age, nothing more. Schools give only the group size and age range.
- Trained facilitators, a safe area.PlaySolve runs in its own area of the Arena, supervised throughout.
- No photos of your child unless you say yes.Photo permission is off unless you tick it, and our crew keeps other children out of close-ups.
Innovation Arena 2025
Real people, real rooms.
Do I need to register for each part of the Arena?
I have a startup. Where do I start?
I am a student with no startup yet. Is this for me?
Will I be filmed?
Get heard in Hall 4.
Sunday 8 to Tuesday 10 November 2026, 10:00 to 21:00, daily. Hall 4, Egypt International Exhibition Center (EIEC), New Cairo.
One pass, every zone
