12 Aug Forward Festival continues to grow
Thousands of entrepreneurs, investors and like-minded professionals are
expected to attend the seventh-annual Forward Festival, which has more than 40 events taking place Aug. 18-25 throughout the city, organizers announced today.
“Forward Festival, now with the most events to date, could not thrive without our community’s support of entrepreneurs,” Laura Strong, festival committee member and president of Quintessence Biosciences, said. “That’s why we’ve made the festival as accessible as possible, as all events are open to the public and many are free.”
The festival’s main event is the Forward Technology Conference (Aug. 23), which again is paired with the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce’s neXXpo and Pressure Chamber events. Amy Africa, e-commerce expert, and Jordan Eisenberg, entrepreneur and venture partner, will be the keynote speakers.
Other highlights of the festival include the Black Entrepreneur’s Summit (Aug. 20), the Badger Startup Summit (Aug. 22 featuring Keith Witek from Tesla) and the inaugural Mini-preneurs event (Aug. 20), which aims to inspire children to start thinking of their dream business.
On Wednesday, Aug. 24 UBER is running an event at this year’s Festival as attendees can request a 15-min. ride with an investor to pitch a startup or business idea.
The Forward Festival is sponsored by local companies including American Family Insurance, MG&E, Neider & Boucher, WEDC, The QTI Group, Urban Land Interests, Associated Bank, M3 Insurance, AlphaTech, Isthmus and Ideas that Evoke.
For a detailed listing of events taking place during the Forward Festival, please visit www.forwardfest.org.