SOUTHSTART 2026 brings global tech & culture to SA

SOUTHSTART has outlined its 2026 program, with OpenAI and Canva executives, Australian comedian Peter Helliar, and entrepreneur-author Derek Sivers among more than 80 speakers due to appear in Adelaide and McLaren Vale.

The South Australian event positions itself as a cross-sector forum spanning technology, investment, policy, climate, science, and culture. Organisers say the 2026 line-up reflects a broader economic shift, with corporate and government decisions increasingly spanning multiple domains at once.

Sivers is set to make a rare in-person appearance. The US entrepreneur and writer is known for limited public speaking and has written books including Anything You Want and Hell Yeah or No.

Community curation

A key change for 2026 is opening the first day-branded PRECINCT-to community curation. Innovation hubs, universities, grassroots collectives, venture firms, and community organisations across Adelaide will host their own sessions, summits, and workshops as part of the opening program.

The approach adds a distributed element to what has typically been a centrally programmed conference. It also broadens the number of organisations able to shape the agenda, particularly those working locally across education, entrepreneurship, and community development.

SOUTHSTART director Craig Swann said the event would continue to cap attendance as part of a "human-first approach", describing it as a deliberate choice to preserve discussion and access between participants.

"You can't manufacture the conditions for good decision-making at scale," Swann said. "We've deliberately kept SOUTHSTART small enough that a founder can actually sit down with an investor, or a CTO can workshop a problem with someone three steps ahead. That intimacy is the point."

Three-day format

The event uses a three-day structure that splits activity across different settings. PRECINCT is a city-wide opening day in the Adelaide CBD, with a festival hub and additional programming focused on youth entrepreneurship and investors.

The second day, ASSEMBLY, takes place at the National Wine Centre in Adelaide. It is set up as a multi-stage program with six concurrent streams: INTERSECT, SCALE, BUILD, CAPITAL, SIGNAL, and SALON. Each stream reflects a different mode of thinking, from growth and execution to sense-making and "humanity".

The final day, OFFSITE, shifts to McLaren Vale and is framed as a regional setting for reflection and relationship-building. It is positioned as a contrast to typical conference schedules that prioritise continuous stage programming over extended small-group conversations.

Speaker mix

The published list includes Thomas Jeng, Startups Lead at OpenAI in Singapore, and Leigh McLeod, Global Social Impact Lead at Canva. Other speakers include Rod Hamilton, co-founder and board director at Culture Amp, and Ronni Kahn AO, founder of OzHarvest.

Technology and investment representation includes Christie Jenkins, managing director of Techstars Australia, along with leaders from venture firms including Airtree, OneVentures, Radium Capital, and Sidestage Ventures. The list also includes representatives from corporate and advisory organisations such as KPMG, and delegates linked to innovation agencies including ARENA.

The program also highlights academic and research voices, including Professor Anton Van Den Hengel, chief scientist at the Australian Institute for Machine Learning. Organisers expect participants from Australian universities and research institutes, though the full list has not been detailed.

Creative industries are represented by actors and producers including Marta Dusseldorp and Peter Helliar, whose work spans comedy, television, radio, and live performance. The aim is to bring technology and policy discussions into conversation with cultural perspectives that do not typically share the same stage.

Policy presence

Government support forms part of the event's backing in South Australia. Joe Szakacs, Minister for Industry and Innovation, said the state government would support the annual event and described it as a meeting point for entrepreneurs, investors, technologists, and students.

"The South Australian Government is thrilled to support this annual event that enables entrepreneurs, investors, innovators, technologists, students, and aspiring startup founders to connect, share and celebrate the ground-breaking innovation taking place here in South Australia, interstate, and overseas. SOUTHSTART has significantly contributed to our government's objectives to support innovative early-stage, high-growth potential startups and scaleups," Szakacs said.

SOUTHSTART has run since 2013 and has previously hosted speakers from organisations including NASA, Atlassian, SafetyCulture, Netflix, and Canva. The 2026 program continues that mix of local and international brands alongside founders, researchers, and public sector representatives.

Organisers say the event will focus on intersections between AI, climate, capital, and national capability, with sessions designed around small-group exchange as well as staged talks. The final speaker list and detailed agenda are due to be published closer to March.