Rivaling the magnitude of South by Southwest, the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) will launch the second annual Los Angeles Innovation Week with a series of events from Oct. 1 through Oct. 22. Tens of thousands are expected to attend an array of more than 100 dynamic events focusing on the use of education, culture, and both high and low technology to drive urban growth and support innovation-intensive industries.
Los Angeles provides a unique convergence of innovation, from the arts to aerospace, traditional and digital entertainment to transportation and trade. Over the course of three weeks, a variety of events hosted by businesses and organizations across Los Angeles will celebrate and highlight the talent and ingenuity found across Los Angeles County. Events encompass the breadth of innovation and include panels, showcases, demonstrations, workshops and mixers covering myriad topics.
“LAIW celebrates the extraordinary things happening in Los Angeles such as the connections between cultural, industry and geographic diversity that define Los Angeles, and the creative collisions and collaboration at overlapping fringes of industries, unleashing new ideas, industries and businesses. This is the novel kind of innovation defining our region,” said David Flaks, Chief Operating Officer of the LAEDC.
Events will kick off on October 1 in the City of El Segundo, with a focus on the city’s highly-innovative and fast-changing signature industries of Aerospace and Energy.
Elevon will host the kickoff event and share findings from the highly anticipated study regarding the aerospace industry in Southern California, looking at coming trends in the industry, as well as providing recommendations on how to better accommodate those looming trends and attract more of these innovative businesses and high-value jobs to respective cities/districts.
The full gamut of the 100 plus events can be found here.
These events highlight the diversity of programming and the breadth of innovation to be celebrated:
ACE CLEARWATER – INNOVATING IN COMPTON – On October 2, ACE will host MFGDAY, showcasing traditional, innovative and futuristic, state-of-the-art processes and technologies.
HHF BRINGING DIVERSITY TO TECH – The Hispanic Heritage Foundation (HHF) will host its 2nd Leaders On Fast Track (LOFT) Coder Summit on October 3. The summit is part of the LOFT Code as a Second Language national initiative.
EPIC FOUNDATION BRINGS INNOVATION TO PHILANTHROPY – Alexandre Mars, a leading technology and social entrepreneur, will launch the Epic Foundation in the Los Angeles area October 5, to bridge the gap between a new generation of donors and high impact organizations.
GIRLS BUILD LA CHALLENGE – On October 6, the GBLA Grants Challenge starts a 6 month project in which teams of girls identify a specific challenge and propose a program that the LA Fund will fund up to $2,000. The application is open to all public schools, district or charter, across Los Angeles County.
THE FANTASTIC FUTURE OF TRANSIT – October 2 will be an evening of inspiring and thought-provoking conversation around the future of high-speed, energy efficient mass transit alternatives, skyTran and LA Metro’s evolving transit system in Los Angeles.
INNOVATIONS IN LEARNING AT iGRANDA – The Robot Ball on October 6 will showcase the next generation of engineering professionals, as the Granada Hills Charter High School’s Robotics team will be demonstrating their innovative projects in action live robot demonstrations, computer-aided design, software programming, and more.
THINK.MAKE.INNOVATE – The Exploratory, an innovation education design lab, will host an event on October 16 designed by 10 girls who spent three weeks at the Exploratory developing initiative programs for their community.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: NEW SOURCES, NEW SYSTEMS – October 20th – Featuring entrepreneurs who are challenging the conventions of one of our most traditional industries; agriculture in general, and food in particular. “Food for Thought” puts a spotlight on the disruption happening across the food value chain in Southern California.
HACK THE GENDER GAP – October 9 – 11. MediaShift and the USC Annenberg School for Journalism and Communication are hosting a Women’s Hackathon — a weekend designed for students to develop technological and entrepreneurial skills critical to the journalism jobs of the future, and gain hands-on experience with immersive journalism and virtual reality.
BOOTSTRAP BEACH STARTUP BOOTCAMP – October 19- This is the first of a four part series of workshops designed to guide new and would-be entrepreneurs through four fundamentals of starting up: Concept Development, Business Planning, Marketing Planning and Launch.
thinkLA YOUNG STARS – Starting October 22, this new quarterly series will showcase LA’s top professionals under 35 from media, tech, agencies, and brands, discussing their personal paths to success, as well as challenges, and provide some unconventional advice along the way.
About Los Angeles Innovation Week
Los Angeles Innovation Week is a countywide celebration of the breadth of innovation and creativity within our region. From cleantech to gaming to aerospace and digital media and beyond, Los Angeles is a leading global center for innovation and entrepreneurship rooted in boundless creativity and diversity. Los Angeles Innovation Week is made possible by teaming up with Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Los Angeles Times, along with key sponsors like Blackstone Charitable Foundation, Kaiser Permanente, Wells Fargo, Elevate My Brand, Los Angeles Community College District, Elevon, PMBC Group, PWC, and AECOM. Learn more at www.Innovate.LA.
Add Comment