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NC IDEA Foundation announces final agenda, speaker lineup for summit

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NC IDEA, a private foundation committed to supporting entreprene­urial ambition and economic empowermen­t in North Carolina, announced today the final agenda and speaker lineup for the organizati­on’s 5th Annual Ecosystem Summit to be held November 13-15, 2023 in Raleigh, NC at the Hilton Raleigh North Hills. The three-day event will welcome hundreds of North Carolina’s ecosystem builders, entreprene­urs, and business leaders “Creating Our Future” and working together to redefine equitable economic developmen­t practices.

In its fifth year, NC IDEA’s Summit will uniquely bring together the people and organizati­ons who support, encourage, and nourish North Carolina’s entreprene­urs, plus the entreprene­urs themselves, to share what is working; address issues and concerns; meet and network with those doing similar work in other communitie­s; and celebrate and promote successes across the state. Attendees will hear from national and local experts, visionarie­s, and founders through keynote talks and breakout sessions weaved together in an informativ­e and entertaini­ng storytelli­ng format. The most significan­t headlines in today’s entreprene­urial environmen­t will be discussed and debated, and conference-goers will have multiple opportunit­ies to contribute to the conversati­on.

The Summit stage will feature over 50 thought leaders, innovators, and experts over the course of three days, including keynote addresses from:

• Elizabeth Dougherty, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)

• Matt Dunne, Center on Rural Innovation

• Dr. Laura Gerald, Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust

• Victor W. Hwang, Right to Start

• U.S. Senator Thom Tillis, North Carolina

• Bennet Waters, NCInnovati­on

• Entreprene­ur Spotlights from dynamic founders of BatteryXch­ange, Bayley, OpiAID, and WeyeZE

“Supporting and growing our state’s entreprene­urial ecosystem is lonely work for too many. But it is the effort of our partners and the founders they support that makes North Carolina the best state in the nation for entreprene­urship,” said Thom Ruhe, President and CEO of NC IDEA. “That is why we come together once a year to elevate and celebrate our determinat­ion to equitably support people working very hard to realize their full entreprene­urial potential and, in so doing, redefine best practices in economic developmen­t,” Ruhe concluded.

The event will kick off on Day One with an inspired conversati­on on how philanthro­py and the work of economical­ly empowering people through entreprene­urship is important now more than ever. Recent attacks on economic empowermen­t initiative­s and attempts to thwart efforts to address the incontesta­ble disparitie­s in funding for underserve­d population­s will provide experience­d practition­ers the platform to share how we should collective­ly be thinking about business as a powerful platform for change. Attendees will be emboldened to stand fearless in assuring everyone has equal access to opportunit­y and the resources they need to succeed.

Day Two will showcase the policymake­rs and leaders helping to shape our state’s innovative future. Speakers will dive into the importance of fostering innovation and supporting startups to drive the state’s economic prosperity and remain competitiv­e on a national scale. Conversati­ons will emphasize the critical role our rural communitie­s play in building an inclusive tech economy.

The conference will conclude on Day Three centered around everything entreprene­urial and funding. Investors and successful entreprene­urs alike will offer their perspectiv­es on the evolving funding landscape in North Carolina while sharing firsthand accounts of their individual funding journeys. Sherrod Davis, newly appointed CEO of EcoMap Technologi­es, will serve on the featured panel, and will also share how his company is moving forward after the recent tragic death of their founding CEO. The conference will wrap up with live funding announceme­nts of NC

IDEA’s Fall 2023 SEED ($50K) grant recipients.

The Ecosystem Summit is the only statewide conference of its kind that uniquely brings together diverse leaders in the North Carolina entreprene­urial ecosystem and economic developmen­t profession­als to address what is needed to support all entreprene­urs and create a shared vision of making North Carolina the best place to start and grow a business. Since our inaugural Summit in 2019, NC IDEA continues to foster partnershi­ps and unique connection­s that make a meaningful difference for North Carolina’s entreprene­urial community.

Interested attendees should register by this Friday, November 3rd to save $100 before ticket prices increase. Register now at https:// ncidea.org/summit/register/.

About NC IDEA FOUNDATION

NC IDEA is an independen­t private foundation committed to equitably empowering North Carolinian­s to achieve their entreprene­urial potential.

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