The Future of Commerce aims to highlight the intersection of technology, entrepreneurship, and community impact. From AI-powered workshops to a Maker Faire showcasing Chicago’s finest builders, this event is designed to inspire collaboration and spark new ventures! This year’s main event: Hack-A-Thon
AI Builder Day is an exclusive, hands-on Chicago Tech Week experience designed for developers, architects, and technical leaders building production-ready AI applications.
Together, MongoDB and LangChain will help attendees move beyond AI experimentation and explore how modern teams are designing, building, and scaling intelligent applications using agents, retrieval, memory, and operational data.
Hosted by nativeMsg (an RCS for Business messaging platform,) the event walks through what makes RCS different from SMS: verified sender identities, full brand control, and interactive, app-like experiences delivered straight to the native messaging inbox. Attendees will see live examples of RCS in action across both inbound and outbound use cases — from outbound campaigns and promotions to inbound conversational flows where customers browse, book, and buy without leaving the message thread. We’ll also cover how RCS drives meaningfully higher open, engagement, and response rates than text-only SMS, with automatic SMS fallback so no audience is left behind. Speakers: Michael Lamb (President & Co-founder) and Kelly Wiethuchter (Strategic Sales Lead)
A full day dedicated to the explosive rise of women’s sports. Hear from team owners, league executives, pro athletes, founders, and investors driving the next era of growth — and connect with the people building it alongside you.
Partnerships Powering the Future of Healthcare AI
Join an exclusive Chicago Tech Week discussion featuring leaders from NVIDIA, Microsoft, Anthropic, and AWS as they explore how strategic partnerships are accelerating the next generation of healthcare innovation.
Designed for healthcare founders, executives, investors, and innovators, this panel will provide a behind-the-scenes look at how startups can access the technology, infrastructure, expertise, and ecosystem support needed to successfully build, scale, and deploy AI solutions in healthcare. Attendees will gain practical insights into partnering with leading AI organizations, navigating emerging opportunities, and leveraging resources that can accelerate growth and impact.
The discussion will be moderated by Lisa Thee, a globally recognized AI executive, entrepreneur, and author who has spent her career helping organizations leverage emerging technologies to solve complex challenges. Lisa is known for her work advancing responsible AI adoption across healthcare, government, and enterprise sectors, and for founding initiatives that use technology to improve outcomes for underserved communities around the world.
Together, these industry leaders will discuss the future of healthcare AI, responsible innovation, and the collaborative partnerships shaping the industry’s next decade.
Whether you’re building the next breakthrough healthcare company or looking to expand your organization’s AI capabilities, this session offers a unique opportunity to learn directly from the leaders helping define the future of AI. Hosted during Chicago Tech Week, this invite-only event will bring together founders, policymakers, healthcare leaders, investors, and technology executives committed to advancing the future of healthcare through responsible artificial intelligence.
A half-day Community Summit bridging enterprise AI capability and community readiness — ensuring our communities lead the AI revolution, not just observe it.
Bring your real marketing question. Get a live diagnosis. Tech Chicago Week 2026.
Most marketing advice is generic because it’s given without context.
This isn’t that.
The Marketing Hot Seat is a small, application-only room of 12 to 15 B2B founders during Tech Chicago Week. You bring the real marketing question you’ve been circling for months. Ari Krzyzek diagnoses it live, in front of the room. Then the next founder goes. Everyone learns from everyone’s question.
No panel. No slides. No generic frameworks.
In 4 years, the AI media industry will grow from $8B to $80B annually. So what does that mean for filmmakers? For Creators? For You?
We’ll explain how the landscape has changed and how to keep your creativity intact while staying current with the market. In this interactive workshop, you’ll create and submit a movie to film festivals (and win some awards!) right on the spot!
In a climate shaped by layoffs, career pivots, and rapid technological change.
More people are asking the same question:“What can I build for myself?”
Hosted during Chicago TechWeek in partnership with TechNexus, this event brings together founders, investors, creatives, and operators for an honest conversation about entrepreneurship, AI-era opportunity, and building with limited resources.
This is not another startup fantasy panel.
It’s a space for real conversations about turning skills into income, ideas into businesses, and uncertainty into momentum, especially for people building without massive funding, insider access, or large teams.
We’ll explore:
• How to turn a career pivot into a business opportunity
• What makes an idea actually viable
• How founders are using AI and lean tools to launch faster
• How to start with limited capital, clarity, or time
• Identity, resilience, and access in entrepreneurship
• What it really takes to build something sustainable
What to Expect:
✨ Actionable startup insights
✨ Founder + investor perspectives
✨ High-impact networking
✨ Real conversations about building in today’s economy
✨ Free drinks included (21+)
This isn’t just a panel. It’s a pivot.
Secure your spot and build boldly!
The future of tech is here and you’re invited. As part of TechChicago Week 2026, Chicago State University at Center for Workforce Equity is hosting Smart Tech, Big Dreams: Learning AI for the Future, a one‑day, high‑energy event designed to spark curiosity, creativity, and real talk about tech‑powered careers. Industry and community partners are bringing the real inside game with hands-on, high-impact experiences that break down what it truly takes to step into tech-enabled careers.
Through interactive activities designed for all ages, you’ll build real skills while exploring in-demand career pathways and gaining unfiltered insight from professionals in the field. Whether you’re brand new to tech, exploring AI, or ready to take your next big leap, this is your space to experiment, learn by doing, and step confidently into what’s next.
Fast, fun, and future‑focused, Smart Tech, Big Dreams is all about learning, connecting, and imagining what’s possible, because the future is smart, and it needs you in it.