RI.TECH EXPO in Rijeka from April 23 to 26: four days of technology, knowledge, networking, and music program at Exportdrvo
From April 23 to 26, 2026, Rijeka will once again be one of the more important domestic meeting points for the technology scene, entrepreneurship, education, and the wider public, because RI.TECH EXPO, a fair of new technologies and knowledge that the organizers present as a platform for connecting innovations, experts, institutions, and visitors interested in the future of business and society, is being held in the Exportdrvo hall. According to the official information published on the fair’s website, the program includes an exhibition section, a conference and educational segment, networking content, and an entertainment program, all placed in one of Rijeka’s more recognizable industrial spaces, which in recent years has grown into a multifunctional venue for large public events. For visitors coming from outside the city,
accommodation in Rijeka will also be especially important, because the program extends over four days and includes content of different profiles, from business and professional meetings to evening events.
Compared with usual fair formats, RI.TECH EXPO is trying to bring together several audiences that do not always meet in the same place. The organizer emphasizes that the event is not conceived only as a space for presenting products and services, but also as an open stage for the exchange of knowledge, discussion of technological trends, conversation about industry development, and connecting the business sector with educational, scientific, and public institutions. This is precisely where the fair’s broader ambition lies: to strengthen Rijeka’s position as a city that can host projects at the intersection of innovation, creative industries, digital transformation, and new forms of cooperation. The official event description highlights that it is a fair focused on technologies shaping the present and the future, with an emphasis on open dialogue between industry, science, and the community.
Four days of program in a venue that has already become part of Rijeka’s public identity
One of the reasons why RI.TECH EXPO attracts attention is the location itself. The Exportdrvo hall is located in the central area of Rijeka and has already established itself as a venue for larger exhibitions, concerts, fairs, and public events. On its official website, the City of Rijeka states that this is a hall with an area of 5,400 square meters which, after renovation in 2020, became a new city center intended for exhibitions, musical, and stage programs. At the same time, Rijeka sport states on its website that the gross construction area of the existing building amounts to 7,486 square meters, which explains why promotional materials for the event often mention a figure of more than 6,000 square meters of exhibition space. In other words, the organizer is not speaking only about a symbolically large space, but about a location that can truly host the exhibition, conference, and accompanying program at the same time without loss of functionality.
For a city that in recent years has increasingly used former industrial locations as spaces for new content, Exportdrvo has become an important example of such repurposing. Historically, the building had a warehouse function, and today it serves as a place where culture, events, entrepreneurship, and public life meet. Such a setting fits well with a fair that wants to present itself as a blend of modern technologies and urban energy. For visitors from other parts of Croatia and abroad, the accessibility of the location in the city center is additionally important, so for many it will be practical to check
accommodation offers in Rijeka in advance in order to more easily coordinate their stay with the fair program and evening content.
What RI.TECH EXPO wants to be: more than an exhibition of products and services
The official description of the fair clearly shows that the organizers are not counting only on the classic model of visiting stands. Meetings, lectures, panels, and the exchange of experience are in the foreground, and this is a format that has increasingly prevailed at events dedicated to technology in recent years. Today, companies and institutions do not come to events like these only for visibility, but also to create business contacts, present concrete solutions, gain access to new partners, and communicate with an audience that seeks applicable information rather than only promotional messages. According to the official announcements, RI.TECH EXPO brings together exhibitors, experts, and visitors interested in topics that include artificial intelligence, electric mobility, medicine, construction, and other fields in which technology is increasingly strongly connected with the economy and everyday life.
Such a program setup also speaks of an attempt to move technological topics out of a narrow professional circle and bring them closer to the wider public. At a time when digital transformation affects almost every sector, from healthcare and education to transport, shipbuilding, construction, and services, fairs of this kind are becoming places where the conversation about the future is conducted more concretely and more grounded. Instead of general phrases about innovation, the audience is looking for answers to questions about how certain technologies will affect jobs, business models, quality of life, and urban development. That is precisely why the conference part of RI.TECH EXPO is important, which according to the organizer’s announcement brings together experts, entrepreneurs, and innovators with the aim of discussing digital transformation, trends, and practical examples.
Panels, speakers, and topics that follow the broader transformation of society
Some names of panelists and speakers have already been highlighted on the fair’s official website, among them representatives of the public sector, the academic community, and experts from various fields. Among the published names are, among others, dr. sc. Sanja Katalinić, Paul Simunović, Vedran Vivoda, Vedran Kružić, Tibor Kezelj, Marko Čičin Šain, and Vedran Kirinčić. From the attached descriptions, it is evident that the organizers do not want to limit the program only to narrowly IT-related topics, but are expanding it toward issues of regional development, urban infrastructure, biomedicine, artificial intelligence, and mobility. This is an important signal, because the development of technology today can hardly be separated from public policy, investment, education, and changes in the labor market.
Such a concept may be particularly interesting to the audience in Rijeka and the Kvarner region, but also to visitors from the rest of the country, because it shows how local events can open broader questions. In this case, Rijeka is not presented only as the host city, but also as a space where discussions about regional competitiveness, infrastructure modernization, connecting traditional industries with new solutions, and the role of knowledge in economic development intersect. The fair’s promotional messages repeatedly emphasize the intention to establish dialogue between industry, science, and the community, and the quality of those conversations will be one of the key criteria by which the event’s real reach will be measured.
From artificial intelligence to mobility: why this kind of fair is important right now
The timing of RI.TECH EXPO comes at a moment when topics such as artificial intelligence, automation, smart mobility, and digital transformation have moved from specialist literature into everyday public speech. The Croatian economy, like the European one, is looking for ways to increase productivity, modernize processes, and at the same time maintain competitiveness in a rapidly changing environment. In that context, fairs like this have both an educational and a symbolic function. They show that technological development is no longer a topic reserved for specialized closed-type conferences, but an issue that directly concerns entrepreneurs, pupils and students, local government, public institutions, and citizens.
RI.TECH EXPO is at the same time trying to take the position of an event that combines business interest and public interest. On the one hand, there are exhibitors, partners, and the possibility of concrete business contacts, and on the other hand publicly accessible content, lectures, and an entertainment program that broaden the audience and open the door to people who otherwise might not visit a technology fair. This combination can be especially important for younger visitors and students who are just entering the world of work, but also for smaller companies and trades looking for space for presentation and networking. If the conference and exhibition segments are of sufficient quality, RI.TECH EXPO could become an event perceived not merely as just another calendar date, but as a place where the first concrete collaborations are created.
Music program as audience expansion, not just an additional decoration
A special feature of this fair is also the decision to combine technological and conference content with a music program. On its official website, the organizer states that two concert contents are planned, and on the page dedicated to the entertainment program it is highlighted that the finale comes on Saturday, April 25, 2026, when Devito and Nadia perform. The same announcement also states that during the event days the stage will be taken over by Sergej Božić, Nika Komadina, and DJ Sale 4 Love, which suggests that the musical part is not an incidental addition, but an integral part of the experience the organizer wants to offer the audience.
Such an approach can be read in two ways. First, it is an attempt to open the fair to an audience that may not have primarily come because of the conference content, but will nevertheless come into contact with the exhibition and educational program through the musical and festival framework. Second, it is also a marketing way to make the event more visible in the city and regional calendar, especially among younger audiences. In practice, the success of such a formula will depend on how well the different program segments are organized and coordinated with one another. When entertainment content overshadows the main theme, a fair easily loses its identity, but when it is well integrated, it can become an important tool for expanding reach and creating recognizability. According to the available announcements, RI.TECH EXPO wants to build its profile precisely on that balance.
Rijeka as a city of events, knowledge, and new urban dynamics
The importance of RI.TECH EXPO lies not only in the program, but also in the broader urban context. In recent years, Rijeka has increasingly profiled itself as a city that transforms its former industrial spaces into places for new social and cultural functions. Exportdrvo is one of the most visible examples of such transformation. The City of Rijeka states that after renovation the space is used for exhibition, musical, and stage programs, and practice so far has shown that it has potential for events of a cultural, fair, and commercial nature. In that sense, RI.TECH EXPO is not an isolated event, but a continuation of the broader story of how Rijeka is trying to position itself as an open city for public events, creative industries, development projects, and new formats of meeting.
For the tourism and service sector, this also means an additional influx of visitors in April, outside the peak summer season. For hospitality, transport, and private accommodation, such events mean an expansion of demand into periods of the year that are otherwise quieter. Visitors planning to stay several days because of the fair, concerts, and city sightseeing will probably look for
accommodation close to the event venue, especially because Exportdrvo is located in a place convenient for staying without the need for longer daily transfers. That is precisely why this type of technology fair is important not only for the organizers and participants, but also for the broader city economy.
Partnerships as an indicator of the breadth of ambition
On the fair’s website, the City of Rijeka, the Rijeka Tourist Board, Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, and the Croatian National Tourist Board are listed among the partners, while in the news the partnership with Jadrolinija is especially highlighted. The very fact that along with the technology fair there are also public-sector institutions and a large national company from the maritime sector shows that the organizers want to talk about technology within a broader development framework. In the text about the partnership with Jadrolinija, it is emphasized that new technologies are not reserved only for the IT sector and startups, but also deeply penetrate traditional industries such as shipping. This is an important message because the domestic public space still often views technology too narrowly, as a topic exclusively of digital companies, even though it is a process affecting almost all branches of the economy.
If RI.TECH EXPO succeeds in maintaining that broad view, it could also become interesting to those looking for examples of how innovations are introduced into sectors that at first glance are not “technological” in the narrower sense. It is precisely at that point that the fair can gain additional relevance: not only as a place for presenting new solutions, but also as a space for translating technological changes into the language of real industrial and social needs.
What visitors can expect and why the first impression will be important
Since RI.TECH EXPO is only building its identity, the first edition or the first major affirmation of the event will be crucial for its future reputation. Visitors will remember several things most: the quality of the exhibitors, the relevance of the topics, organizational flow, the clarity of the schedule, and the experience of the space. In an age when audiences very quickly recognize the difference between genuinely useful content and mere promotional shine, the organizers’ greatest challenge will be to prove that behind the attractive presentation there is also serious content. The available announcements suggest that there is room for that, especially through the combination of the exhibition, educational, and conference parts, as well as through the list of partners and panelists, which points to broader interest than mere spectacle.
For Rijeka itself, such an event may also have additional symbolic value. A city traditionally associated with industry, the port, transport, and a strong public identity is increasingly also becoming a place where new economic models, innovations, and contemporary forms of urban development are discussed. In that sense, RI.TECH EXPO is important not only as a calendar event from April 23 to 26, 2026, but also as a test of whether Rijeka can, in the long term, build the profile of a city in which knowledge, technology, public dialogue, and cultural-entertainment content are part of the same development picture.
Sources:- Ri.Tech Expo – official homepage with the date, location, and description of the event (link)
- Ri.Tech Expo – “About us” page with a description of the fair, program sections, and information on more than 6,000 square meters of exhibition space (link)
- Ri.Tech Expo – conference page with the announcement of panels, lectures, and networking content from April 23 to 26, 2026 (link)
- Ri.Tech Expo – “Concerts & Entertainment” page with confirmation of performances by Devito and Nadia on April 25, 2026, and the announcement of Sergej Božić, Nika Komadina, and DJ Sale 4 Love (link)
- Ri.Tech Expo – page with panelists and speakers, including the published names of program participants (link)
- City of Rijeka – official page about the Exportdrvo hall stating that it is a renovated space of 5,400 square meters intended for exhibitions, musical, and stage programs (link)
- Rijeka sport – page about the Exportdrvo facility with information on the hall’s history, gross area, and management of the facility (link)
- Ri.Tech Expo – post about the partnership with Jadrolinija as an example of connecting new technologies and traditional industries (link)
Find accommodation nearby
Creation time: 2 hours ago