Innovation Showcase Part of ‘Virtuous Cycle’
The Innovation Showcase is organized by the Venture Club of Indiana
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowApproximately 1,000 innovators, investors and technology leaders are expected at today's seventh annual Innovation Showcase at the Dallara IndyCar Factory in Speedway. The event includes pitches from more than 70 fundable startups from Indiana and neighboring states and has attracted investors from the Midwest and both coasts.
"We're no secret anymore," says Launch Fishers founder John Wechsler. "We now have a critical mass of big enterprises, but also startups that are attracting investors, and that creates a virtuous cycle."
The first showcase was held in 2009 at the Purdue Technology Center in Indianapolis and attracted about 200 attendees. Today's event will attract a crowd five times that number and includes a record number of startup entrepreneurs who are competing for a prize package valued at more than $70,000 in cash and services.
The pitch lineup includes the event's first high school presenter, a youthful entrepreneur from Detroit. "When you look at infusing entrepreneurship at the high school level, we know we are creating the next generation of entrepreneurs and innovators," said Wechsler.
The Innovation Showcase is organized by the Venture Club of Indiana, Verge, VisonTech Partners and Launch Fishers.