Community meeting outlining changes for 2018 to be held Aug. 20
Applications are now open for businesses and entrepreneurs to propose events for Startup Week Chattanooga 2018, which will take place Oct. 22 – 26.
Those who are interested in applying to host an event are encouraged to attend a planning meeting Aug. 20, wherein Startup Week organizers will outline changes to the event selection process and provide tips for making successful submissions. The meeting will take place from 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. on the fifth floor of the Edney Innovation Center. Applications are due Sept. 7.
Now in its fifth year, Startup Week Chattanooga features an array of community-led events that highlight Chattanooga’s growing startup scene and inspire entrepreneurial thinking. The Company Lab (CO.LAB) is producing and organizing the 2018 experience with support from local partners.
“Since launching in 2014, Startup Week Chattanooga has grown dramatically,” said Marcus Shaw, CEO of CO.LAB. “It has already attracted hundreds of events and thousands of participants in its first few stages of existence. This year, we have an opportunity to reshape Startup Week in a way that allows more players in our entrepreneurial ecosystem to cross paths and team up on events.”
While the overall format and goals of Startup Week will remain the same in 2018, events will be capped at 100.
“Moving forward, we believe we can provide a higher quality experience by reducing the amount of events that overlap with one another,” said Shaw. “We hope this adjustment will encourage more entities and individuals to collaborate on their ideas and proposals.”
To guide the selection process, CO.LAB will assemble an independent committee to evaluate event applications and determine which proposals provide the highest value and most relevant content to local entrepreneurs. Information on judging criteria is available here.
This year, three major anchor events focused on innovation and technology are scheduled in the days leading up to Startup Week 2018 and the last few days of the week itself. The second annual TenGIG Festival will take place Oct. 19 – 21, featuring eSports events and competitions for hundreds of gamers and enthusiast from across the country.
The Chattanooga Mini MakerFaire will also take place that weekend on Oct. 20, bringing hundreds of people together to tinker with technologies, crafts and other creative hands-on learning projects.
During the last two days of Startup Week 2018, leaders in Chattanooga’s software development community will host the first ever Gig CityElixir Conference. The event centers around the Elixir programming language, which is growing increasingly popular across the globe. The conference is expected to attract more than a hundred developers to Chattanooga from across the Southeast and beyond.