Introduction
Most of the events we cover here are recruiting fairs, where Kini meets ATS vendors, job boards and staffing agencies. This one is different. On 12 June 2026, the BAD1 Conference brought 500 hand-selected founders, investors and young builders to The Delta Campus in Berlin, and Kini's co-founder and CTO, Julia Komkowski, was on BAD1's list of the Top 100 Young European Entrepreneurs.
This throwback covers what BAD1 was, what the recognition is, what Kini did and did not do there, and why the people behind a managed integration service matter to the partners who rely on it.
TL;DR
- What: BAD1 Conference 2026, a one-day summit for founders and investors and the flagship event of the Berlin auf die Eins campaign, produced by The Delta.
- When and where: Friday 12 June 2026, The Delta Campus, Donaustraße 44, Berlin-Neukölln.
- Who was in the room: 500 hand-selected attendees, split into 200 founders, 200 investors and 100 young builders, according to the organisers.
- Kini's role: Julia Komkowski, Co-Founder and CTO, was selected for BAD1's "Top 100 Young European Entrepreneurs, Class of 2026". Kini was not a sponsor, exhibitor or speaker.
- Organiser takeaway: The Delta reports that the room's answer to "is Europe cooked?" was no, and that the whole conference was built in under 90 days.
What was the BAD1 Conference 2026?
The BAD1 Conference was a one-day summit on Friday 12 June 2026 at The Delta Campus, Donaustraße 44, in Berlin-Neukölln. It was the flagship event of Berlin auf die Eins (BAD1), a community campaign that wants to make Berlin the leading city in Europe for building companies. The Delta, the campus that hosted it, also produced the conference and ran registration on Luma.
The organisers put the room at 500 hand-selected people: 200 founders, 200 investors and 100 young builders. The official site placed the day in Berlin's Juni Future Week, and the Luma page placed it directly after SuperReturn in Berlin. Al Gore gave the opening remarks. The published agenda ran from a 09:00 check-in through panels on AI, venture capital, defence, space and EU-INC to a rooftop dinner and an afterparty.
| BAD1 Conference 2026 | Details |
|---|---|
| Date | Friday 12 June 2026, one day |
| Venue | The Delta Campus, Donaustraße 44, Berlin-Neukölln |
| Organiser | Berlin auf die Eins (BAD1), produced by The Delta |
| Attendees | 500 hand-selected: 200 founders, 200 investors, 100 young builders |
| Kini's role | Co-founder and CTO Julia Komkowski selected for the Top 100 |
What is BAD1's Top 100 Young European Entrepreneurs list?
Ahead of the conference, BAD1 announced a Top 100 of young European entrepreneurs under the hashtag #TOP100EUROPE. BAD1's own graphic names the list "Top 100 · Young European Entrepreneurs · Class of 2026" and ties it to the conference date and city. The Luma event page describes this group of 100 as a selected cohort of high-traction founders representing the next generation of the ecosystem, and they made up the young builders in the room.
Julia Komkowski was one of the 100. The graphic BAD1 made for her names her as Co-Founder & CTO of Kini. At the end of the stage programme, the agenda also listed an award ceremony in which three finalists pitched for 90 seconds each before the winners were named.
What was Kini's part at BAD1?
Kini's part was a founder recognition, not a company appearance. Kini does not appear on the conference's partner list or on the published agenda, so it was not a sponsor, exhibitor or speaker.
Julia shared the selection on LinkedIn on Monday 8 June 2026, four days before the conference:
Really honored to be selected as one of the Top 100 Young Entrepreneurs in Europe by BAD1 🇪🇺 Building KINI has been one of the most challenging and rewarding things I've done.
Julia Komkowski on LinkedIn, 8 June 2026
Her post closed with "See you on Friday!", which was the conference day. There is no public post from Kini about the day itself.
Why does this matter if you run an ATS, a job board or an agency?
BAD1 was not a recruiting event, and it would be a stretch to claim otherwise. We note it here because it is about who builds Kini.
Kini is a managed connectivity layer for recruiting. It connects applicant tracking systems, job boards and recruiting agencies, and it runs the ATS integrations as an ongoing service: monitoring, retries, recovery and connector maintenance are included. End customers connect their own ATS through a one-time magic link, so the partner never handles their credentials. Kini is built and operated in Germany by SmartConnect Technologies GmbH, and Julia is the co-founder responsible for the technology.
When you hand your integrations to someone else to operate, the team and the engineering behind that service are part of what you are buying. A practical way to judge any provider is to look at the connectors it already runs on its integrations page and at how it describes its operating model. Our explainer on Managed Recruiting Connectivity sets out why Kini runs integrations for partners instead of handing them an API to build on, and the FAQ covers onboarding, magic-link setup, field mapping, migration and GDPR.
with your stack?
What did the organisers take away from the day?
The Delta published its own look back on 29 June 2026, titled "How we built a 500-person conference in under 90 days". Three points stand out, all in the organiser's words or closely paraphrased:
- One question framed the day. The programme centred on whether Europe is "cooked". According to The Delta, "The room concluded it isn't." One afternoon panel carried the title "We Are Not Cooked, We Are Cooking: Where Europe Wins in AI".
- Curation over volume. The Delta writes that every one of the 500 seats was chosen by hand, and credits that choice for why the room worked.
- Speed. The conference was conceived, built and delivered in under 90 days and produced end to end on The Delta's campus. The organiser names AWS, PwC, Berliner Sparkasse, Dentsu, Siemens, Axel Springer and SAP as partners.
Where can I find more about BAD1 2026?
- BAD1 Conference, official site, with speakers, partners and venue
- BAD1 Conference agenda, the full programme for 12 June 2026
- Event page on Luma, with the organiser's description of the day
- Berlin auf die Eins, the campaign behind the conference
- The Delta's recap, published 29 June 2026
We found no public recording of the sessions.
Where can you meet Kini next?
One upcoming event is publicly confirmed, and it is an industry one. At STAFFINGpro Expo on 21 October 2026 at the RheinMain CongressCenter in Wiesbaden, Kini is on the exhibitor list at stand C.08-C. If you work in staffing or run an ATS or job board, that is the place to talk integrations with us in person.
