Venditalia 2026: Significant SmartLink interest & strong industry momentum

The European Vending & Coffee Service Association (EVA) has welcomed the successful edition of Venditalia 2026 in Rimini, confirming the event's position as Europe's leading international exhibition for the vending and unattended retail sector.

Held for the first time at the modern Rimini Expo Centre, the 2026 edition brought together the entire industry, showcasing the rapid digital transformation currently reshaping the industry. According to the organisers, Venditalia 2026 featured more than 300 exhibitors across approximately 30,000 square metres of exhibition space and four halls, with international participation reaching record levels and 100 companies exhibiting for the first time. Non-Italian exhibitors represented around 40% of the total exhibitors, while international visitors accounted for more than 40% of attendees. This year's edition showed a two-digit growth in the number of attendees, which is remarkable.

A major highlight for EVA during the exhibition was the strong interest surrounding the EVA SmartLink initiative, the new open and secure interoperability architecture designed to modernise communication between vending machines, payment systems and management software. The official EVA SmartLink presentation at Venditalia attracted significant attention from both operators and manufacturers looking for future-proof and interoperable solutions for the unattended retail ecosystem.

Throughout the exhibition, the EVA stand welcomed a constant flow of visitors eager to discover live demonstrations of several machines and peripherals already integrating EVA SmartLink technologies. The demonstrations illustrated how a modern standardised architecture can simplify integration between machines, payment devices, telemetry systems and user interfaces, while improving flexibility, cybersecurity and operational efficiency for operators and suppliers alike.

"The interest shown at Venditalia confirms that the industry clearly recognises the need for more open, secure and interoperable communication systems," stated Erwin Wetzel, Director General of EVA. "EVA SmartLink is not simply a technical project, but a strategic initiative helping the vending and unattended retail industry prepare for the next generation of connected services and digital business models. This year's edition of Venditalia also showed that the focus moved from coffee to technology solutions and smart machines."

Venditalia 2026 highlighted the accelerating evolution of vending towards broader unattended retail applications, smart stores and digital consumer experiences, underlining the sector's growing role in the future of automated commerce. The strong international participation and the positive atmosphere throughout the exhibition confirmed the innovative capacity of the European vending and coffee service industry.