MERGE FUTURE 2027: A Guide to Calicut’s Tech Summit on 9 and 10 January

MERGE FUTURE is a two-day technology summit at Calicut Trade Center, Kozhikode, on Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 January 2027. It is organised by CAFIT (Calicut Forum for IT), with HiLITE as title sponsor. Five subject tracks run in parallel across three stages, with masterclasses, hands-on workshops and an expo floor alongside. Doors open at 9:00 AM on both days, and passes range from ₹2,000 to ₹9,000. iOSS is exhibiting on the expo floor.

This guide sets out what the organisers have published so far: the programme structure, what each pass includes, who the event is aimed at and how to reach the venue. It also lists what has not been announced yet, so you can plan around the gaps. Every event detail below comes from the official site at mergefuture.com, read in November 2026. Check it again before you book, because the schedule and speaker list are still being finalised.

MERGE FUTURE 2027 at a glance

What is MERGE FUTURE?

MERGE FUTURE is a regional tech summit that brings developers, founders, enterprise teams, investors, government officers and students into one venue in Calicut for two days. The organisers describe the mixed audience as the point of the event: a founder meeting a CIO, or a student meeting a policymaker, is the kind of conversation the format is built to produce.

The name and branding lean on Calicut’s history as a trading port. The event site frames the summit as the same habit applied to technology: people from different sectors meeting in one city to exchange ideas, the way traders once exchanged spice and goods on this coast. The 2027 edition is being run with a travel theme throughout, so the website’s passes appear as boarding passes and the venue as a gate.

The five tracks and who each one is for

The programme is split into five verticals. Each runs masterclasses and workshops, and the organisers have published sample session titles for each one. These samples show the intended direction of each track; they are not a confirmed agenda.

How the two days are organised

Sessions run on three stages at the same time, so you will need to choose between them. The stages have different jobs:

• The Future Stage hosts keynotes, fireside chats and headline sessions.
• The Growth Arena carries sessions and panels on building and scaling a business.
• The Community Circle is for meetups, open conversations and community-led sessions.

Around the stages, three more formats run in parallel. Masterclasses are small-room deep dives with practitioners and are only open to Diamond pass holders. Workshops are hands-on labs where you bring a laptop and build something during the session; Gold and Diamond passes include them. The expo is open on both days and has startups and companies showing what they make.

Because everything runs in parallel, the practical question for most attendees is which sessions to sacrifice. The full schedule had not been published when this guide was written, so plan to compare the Day 1 and Day 2 agendas as soon as they appear and pick a primary track for each day.

Passes and what each one includes

The organisers list the Gold pass as the most popular option and say the Diamond pass is limited to 300 seats. The website gave 17 October 2026 as the date pass sales opened.

Who should attend

The organisers name six groups: founders, enterprises, government, investors and students. What each group can expect to get out of two days is a little different.

Developers and engineering teams will find most of their value in the workshops and the AI and cybersecurity track, where the sessions are framed around what has shipped rather than what is promised. Founders have the startup track, the pitch workshop and, with a Diamond pass, the masterclasses and gala night, which are the settings most likely to lead to longer conversations with investors.

Enterprise and operations leaders can use the enterprise track and the expo to compare ERP, CRM and automation options in one place, which is faster than booking a series of separate vendor demos. Government officers and policymakers are part of the intended mix, which makes the event a place to hear how state programmes for startups and IT are being run. Students get exposure to all of the above, and the Visitor pass is the cheapest way to walk the expo and meet companies that hire locally.

Why the summit is in Calicut

Kozhikode was the port where traders from across the Arabian Sea came for spice for centuries, and in 2023 it was named a UNESCO City of Literature. The organisers also point to a growing local tech community, of which CAFIT is the industry forum.

For companies already working in the city, holding a summit of this size at home matters in a practical way: customers, partners and job candidates from across Kerala and beyond come to them for two days. iOSS works from Govt. Cyberpark in Calicut, so this is our city’s event too, and it is why we are exhibiting.

Visit iOSS at the MERGE FUTURE expo

iOSS has a stand on the expo floor at Calicut Trade Center, and our team will be there on both days. Every pass, including the ₹2,000 Visitor pass, includes expo entry, so you do not need a session pass to come and see us.

We build custom software and AI for businesses, including AI agents, AI chatbots for customer support, WhatsApp AI chatbots and enterprise AI projects. We also have packaged products such as Desklog time tracking and direct selling software. If you want to see one of these working or talk through a project of your own, the stand is the easiest place to do it.

A short conversation at an expo goes further when you arrive with three things written down:

• The process you want to change, described in terms of what happens today (for example, “support questions arrive on WhatsApp and wait for someone to reply”).
• The systems it has to work with, such as your CRM, ERP, website or payroll tool.
• When you would like something running, even if it is only a rough quarter.

With those, we can tell you on the spot whether an existing product fits or whether it is a custom build, and what the next step would be.

Getting to Calicut Trade Center

The venue is on Mavoor Road in Kozhikode. The organisers list three ways to get there:

• By air, through Calicut International Airport at Karipur.
• By rail, to Kozhikode Railway Station. The organisers say shuttles will run from the station on both days.
• By road, using taxis and city buses that run to Mavoor Road.

The organisers have said they will publish a partner hotel list with stay offers. January is a busy month for travel in Kerala, so if you are coming from outside the city it is worth booking a room early and moving it to a partner hotel later if a better offer appears.

What has not been announced yet

Several details were still open when we read the event site in November 2026:

• The full programme for both days is marked “will be updated soon”.
• The speaker section lists names, but each entry is labelled as a sample listing, so treat any individual speaker as unconfirmed until the final line-up is published.
• The partner hotel list has not been released.
• The site shows sponsor and partner categories (supporting, ecosystem, startup, CRM and others), but most of the named partners had not been filled in.

None of this changes the dates, venue or pass structure, but it does mean you should hold off on planning your day around a particular speaker until the schedule is out.

How to plan your two days

1. Decide what you want from the event: learning, hiring, selling, buying or fundraising. The answer decides your pass. Buyers and job seekers may only need the expo; anyone who wants sessions needs at least Gold.
2. Pick a primary track for each day from the five verticals, and a backup in case a session fills.
3. Watch mergefuture.com for the published schedule and mark the sessions on each stage that match your primary tracks.
4. Bring a laptop if you are taking a Gold or Diamond pass, for the workshops.
5. Book travel and a room early, and check the partner hotel list when it is released.
6. List the companies you want to meet on the expo floor and set up meetings in advance where you can.
7. Plan to arrive by 9:00 AM on Saturday; the first sessions on the main stages will draw the largest crowds.

See you in Calicut

With five tracks running in parallel, you will get more from MERGE FUTURE with a plan: a pass that matches your goal, a primary track for each day and a short list of companies to meet. If iOSS is on that list, find us on the expo floor on 9 or 10 January.