A series of events aimed at growing the Valley tech ecosystem will kick off next month at the Galvanize coworking space in downtown Phoenix.
Freeway's Fall Tech Talent Summit, an event that features expert-led panels and a career fair, returns to Phoenix on Sept. 27. The event is expected to draw more than 300 attendees, building upon the success of the inaugural Tech Talent Summit held in April in Tempe.
The Fall Tech Talent Summit will focus on three key sectors: defense innovation, health tech and bioscience, and clean tech. It will serve as a hub for startups, job seekers, investors, economic development leaders and students to connect and collaborate, according to Freeway.
“Phoenix is stepping up as a tech leader,” Daniela Santangelo, founder of Freeway and head of community at StartupAZ, said in a statement. “This event was created to connect talent to jobs with startups growing and scaling is key to our vision of elevating Phoenix and making Arizona a global competitor.”
Exhibiting startups at the event include Nuclearn, Design Pickle, Trainual, Paradox, Revolution Parts, Virtuous and more.
The Fall Tech Talent Summit is held in partnership with Freeway, StartupAZ, Greater Phoenix Economic Council, the city of Phoenix, the Flinn Foundation, among other companies and organizations.
Event to feature pitch competition and hackathon
What’s more, Pegasus Tech Ventures is collaborating with Freeway and Ethical Spectacle Research to feature Startup World Cup Phoenix Regional, coinciding with the Fall Tech Talent Summit.
Startup World Cup Phoenix Regional is a pitch competition in which the top three startups will compete for cash prizes. The first place winner will receive $5,000 and a trip to San Francisco on Oct. 4 to compete in a grand finale event for a chance to win a $1 million investment from Pegasus Tech Ventures.
The regional pitch event is part of the Startup World Cup global series, which brings together startups, investors and tech CEOs from around the world.
“Our vision for this event extends far beyond a one-day event. We plan to grow to something completely unique to Phoenix, showcasing its creative culture, aimed at fostering collaboration, innovation, and talent activation,” Christopher Fox, founder and CEO of Startup World Cup of Arizona, said in a statement. “Our vision closely aligns with the business, tech, art, music, and thought creation of SXSW.”
In addition, Ethical Spectacle Research is hosting a social bias hackathon from Sept. 27-29 at Galvanize. Teams will build their projects from scratch and present them in a science fair style, according to the organization.
Tickets for the event are on sale starting at $33 on Freeway’s website.
Entrepreneurs interested in participating in the Startup World Cup Phoenix Regional pitch competition can apply here through Aug. 31.
