The Europe Challenge Regional Summits: Where Europe’s Libraries and Communities Meet

This autumn, The Europe Challenge 2025/26 brings its library and community teams together for a series of regional summits. From 12–14 October in Italy to 19–21 November in the UK, and an online gathering on 3–5 December, these summits are moments of connection across borders.

Over three days, participants will take part in hands-on modules on prototyping, storytelling and AI visualisation, democracy fitness, and community engagement. These sessions are designed to help teams turn ideas into action, communicate their stories in compelling ways, and strengthen the democratic skills that communities across Europe need today.

But the summits are more than workshops. They are spaces where rural and urban meet, where small towns sit alongside big cities, and where Europe’s diversity becomes a resource for solidarity. As one Challenge participant put it: “Being part of this programme makes us feel part of a greater transformation — the community of libraries across Europe working towards collective action, trust and solidarity.”

With these gatherings, The Europe Challenge reaffirms its belief that libraries are Europe’s social infrastructure: places where communities come together, and where the future of democracy and belonging is imagined in practice.

Stay tuned as we follow the summits in Italy, the UK, and online and share stories of the communities shaping tomorrow’s Europe.