Upcoming Events, Courses, and Talks

Join the Midwest hardtech innovation ecosystem for a day-long celebration to 50 product demos, 25 startup pitches, 3 panel discussions, a keynote from Charlie Bachtell, Founder and CEO of Cresco Labs, and an afterparty reception with live entertainment.

Ticket donation includes: food and beverage, live entertainment, swag, and access to the full program outlined below.

RUN OF SHOW:

1:00PM | Check-in and Product Showcase Opens

2:00PM | Opening Remarks

2:20 - 3:05 PM | Panel: Fostering Equitable and Sustainable Impact Through Entrepreneurship

Moderator: Nicole Wolter, President & CEO, HM Manufacturing Inc.

Panelists:

• Jason Coleman, Executive Director and Co-Founder, Project SYNCERE
• Darren Riley, CEO & Co-Founder, JustAir Solutions
• Juan Salgado, Chancellor, City Colleges of Chicago
• Jeannette P. Tamayo, J.D., Associate Vice President, Office of the Vice-President for Economic Development and Innovation, University of Illinois System

2:20 - 3:20 PM | Startup Pitches: Climate and Energy Technology

• Arke Global, Nana Arkouful, Founder
  
• Blip Energy - Sophie Wennstedt, CEO
  
• Haylon Technologies - Dante Vaisbort, Cofounder
  
• Icarus RT Inc. - Mark Anderson, CEO & Founder
  
• InfiniRel Corporation - Bert Wank, Founder
  
• Organic Harvest Digital - Oluwaseyi Olaleye, CEO & Founder
  
• OXTO Energy Storage - Michael Willemot
  

3:10 - 3:55 PM | Panel: Growing the HardTech Venture Community Around Humanity-Centered Technologies

Moderator: Kevin Willer, Partner, Chicago Ventures and Chair of the Board, mHUB

Panelists:

• Joey Mak, Executive Director, Chicago:Blend
• Corey Ryan, Managing Director & Partner, William Blair
• Thru Shivakumar, CEO and Co-Founder, cohesion
• Nancy Sullivan, CEO and Managing Director, Illinois Ventures

3:20 - 4:20 PM | Startup Pitches: MedTech

• AION Prosthetics - Charlie Erdman, Co-founder & Industrial Designer
  
• Bionode - Sumeet Dagar, CEO
  
• Innoblative - Alyssa Bailey, Director of Product Development
  
• Intuitap - Geoff Hutchins, Director of Engineering
  
• Lemonaid - Sybil Berry, Founder
  
• Neopenda - Sona Shah, CEO & Co-founder
  
• Neursantys - John Ralston, CEO & Founder
• Walela - James Balman, Founder

4:20 - 5:20 PM | Startup Pitches: Smart Manufacturing

• Ant Robotics - Max Antonenko, Founder & CEO
  
• Ascent Integrated Tech - Paul Couston, Co-founder & CEO
  
• Autobon AI - Krystian Gebis, Founder
  
• Ganance - Alex Ocampo, Founder
  
• Iothic - Christopher Autry, Founder & CEO
  
• Sabanto - Craig Rupp, Founder & CEO
  
• Stroma Vision - Anil Uzengi, Co-founder & CEO
  
• Zenblen - Tom Xinyuan Zhang, Co-Founder & CEO

4:25 - 5:10 | Panel: Energy Infrastructure and Advanced Energy Storage to Drive the CleanTech Revolution

Moderator: Garry Cooper, CEO and Co-Founder, Rheaply

Panelists:

• Megan Clifford, Associate Laboratory Director, Argonne National Laboratory
• James E. Fritz, Senior Advisor & Commercialization Executive, Office of Technology Transitions, U.S. Department of Energy
• Shashank Sane, EVP, Transmission, Invenergy
• Carrie Zalewski, Chairman, Illinois Commerce Commission

5:10 - 5:25 PM | Closing Remarks

5:30 - 6:30 PM | Keynote: Charlie Bachtell, Founder and CEO of Cresco Labs

Fireside conversation moderated by Michon Ellis, CEO, CLOUT

6:30 - 9:30 PM | Afterparty