Wichita Startup Week rallying nonprofits (and Bill Nye ‘The Science Guy’) to celebrate entrepreneurs
August 13, 2024 | Startland News Staff
Startland News’ Startup Road Trip series explores innovative and uncommon ideas finding success in rural America and Midwestern startup hubs outside the Kansas City metro.
WICHITA — Entrepreneurship and innovation advocates on Tuesday announced plans for an unprecedented, power-packed week of high-profile events and programs — all fueled by a new coalition of nonprofits that support Kansas business owners.
Wichita Startup Week is set to return Sept. 30 to Oct. 4, notably earlier in the fall than in past years when programming overlapped with Global Entrepreneurship Week. Among the planned highlights: an appearance by science, education and media personality Bill Nye “The Science Guy.”
Richard D. Muma, president of Wichita State University, speaks during the 2023 Ad Astra Summit in Wichita; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News
FlagshipKansas.Tech, NXTUS, the Wichita Independent Business Association, Wichita Startup Week, and Create Campaign are set to combine previously separate fall programs and events during this week, to benefit startups, technology professionals and educators, and entrepreneurs from Wichita and around Kansas.
Click here to learn more about Wichita Startup Week.
“We’ll welcome state-wide attendees to engage on tech industry and workforce issues and soak up energy and wisdom from Bill Nye and dozens of presenters and panelists,” said Conner Hampton, executive director FlagshipKansas.tech, which in 2023 brought Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak to its standalone Ad Astra Summit.
ICYMI: Apple co-founder tells Kansas crowd: The real threat from AI is misinformation
Attendees of the Wichita Independent Business Association's August luncheon hear a preview of details from the 2024 Wichita Startup Week; photo courtesy of Third House Co.
Third House Co., announce details of the fall event series during a preview presentation at the Wichita Independent Business Association's August luncheon; photo courtesy of Third House Co.
The collaborative Wichita Startup Week event series is designed to energize the state’s economic landscape — connecting entrepreneurs and innovators to resources, experts, and insights on the latest industry trends, according to organizers.
“This unified effort is all about benefiting our entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem,” said Mary Beth Jarvis, president and CEO of NXTUS. “By joining forces, we can offer a lineup of events that elevates Kansas as a prominent hub for innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship and draws participants in, knowing their week will be jammed with valuable programs.”
This joint week is designed to amplify the impact of the support organizations and allow attendees to benefit from diverse educational and networking programs during a blitz of coordinated events:
- FlagshipKansas.tech’s Ad Astra Tech Summit is set to feature high-profile industry speakers, including Nye, and sessions focused on state-wide technology professionals, startups, and tech educators and advocates, with workforce-focused programming enhanced by the Greater Wichita Partnership and the Workforce Alliance.
- NXTUS plans to culminate two unique NXTSTAGE programs — the Enterprise Engagement Series and Financial Technology Pilot Competition — with events that celebrate entrepreneurs and innovators from around Kansas and the nation.
- WIBA is hosting educational and networking events for entrepreneurs and the business community.
- Wichita Startup Week will offer interactive panel discussions, workshops and showcase events for startups and interested community members, in partnership with community organizations like Create Campaign, Groover Labs, Kansas Small Business Development Center, Wichita State University Center for Entrepreneurship, and more.
“Wichita Startup Week aims to celebrate and uplift our entrepreneurial community and spirit,” said Shae Blevins, a lead volunteer for the week. “Working together with FlagshipKansas.Tech, NXTUS, and WIBA extends this celebration throughout the entire state, creating a high-energy week that everyone will want to experience firsthand.”
This story is made possible by Entrepreneurial Growth Ventures.
Entrepreneurial Growth Ventures (EGV) is a business unit of NetWork Kansas supporting innovative, high-growth entrepreneurs in the State of Kansas. NetWork Kansas promotes an entrepreneurial environment by connecting entrepreneurs and small business owners with the expertise, education and economic resources they need to succeed.
Featured Business
2024 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Chris Boyle wants you to reach for kombucha on instinct; his plan: make it as accessible (and tasty) as your favorite beer
Daily Culture Kombucha’s expansion is not quite as effortlessly self-replicating as the scoby that powers the Kansas City brand’s bold, full-bodied flavors — but a commitment to consistency and authenticity has fermented a strategy founder Chris Boyle said keeps his company on the tip of consumers’ tongues. “We’ve just been growing,” Boyle said, noting Daily…
Olathe restaurateur brings comfort food home from the Mediterranean (starting with falafel bowls)
Summer Salem looked around her city for an authentic Mediterranean restaurant and found a gap in the Olathe marketplace. So a year ago she began planning one of her own. She teamed with her husband, Abraham, who also is a partner in a downtown Kansas City Mediterranean restaurant. But the recipes would be Summer’s own.…
Cook to CEO: Chad Offerdahl sticks to Big Biscuit basics as breakfast industry trends funky — ‘That’s not us’
Chad Offerdahl’s journey with The Big Biscuit didn’t start in an office — it began in the kitchen, explained the CEO of the fast-growing, locally owned breakfast brand. That’s where he first learned the classics that define the company, its mission and the menu. “I started as a cook,” said Offerdahl. “I trained in the…
How this founder’s hobby (plus a little trouble) became Oak Park retail incubator’s biggest success story
“Big Chunky Blankets” — soft as a baby’s cheek and custom knitted in any color of the rainbow — folded into the foundation of what would become Maryann Nzioki Hult’s resilient, nearly pandemic-proof foray into entrepreneurship. They put local Tabu Knits on the online map of must-have-items, and then became the seed of two Johnson…