IDEA Week 2024 aims to create collision points for innovation
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Stakeholders in the South Bend-Elkhart region continue to show a steadfast commitment to founders and business owners in the area. Launched by the University of Notre Dame’s Idea Center in 2017 to foster innovation and entrepreneurship, IDEA Week has morphed into a collaborative effort from several organizations and individuals.
Referencing similar events on the West Coast and South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, the head of the IDEA Center at the time wanted to energize, inspire and create a critical mass of innovative businesses as well as build a collision point for founders, collaborators and investors.
“What we took from those events were these four elements of meet, compete, play and learn,” Bethany Hartley, president of the South Bend-Elkhart Regional Partnership, said. “We want to create a density of ideas and a collision point for folks to meet one another that otherwise may not meet.”
Scheduled for April 20-26, this year’s edition is a culmination of weekly planning meetings over the past year to gain insight from community members and business owners on the kind of programming they would like to see.
“We’re trying to make sure that if someone is looking to start something new, whether it’s a high-tech business, or whether it’s a brick-and-mortar business, that there’s resources to help people in our area,” Kris Priemer, business operations consultant at Priemer Consulting and co-chair of the event’s planning committee said. “IDEA Week’s goal is to make sure that people know that South Bend is the place to grow and start their business.”
The “play” elements include an opening day concert featuring rock band The All-American Rejects on April 20, comedy night with Hasan Minhaj on April 25, and Nashville Nights on April 26. All entertainment events are ticketed.
“We brought in entertainment to IDEA Week early on, knowing that people who are working on their business want to also relax and have fun,” Priemer noted. “So that’s just an important part of IDEA Week.”
Learning sessions are free throughout the week and include keynotes from Michelle Weise, author of Long-Life Learning: Preparing for Jobs that Don’t Even Exist Yet; Maya French, founder of Koia; Zoey Mackenzie, founding partner of Public Ventures; Travis Rosbach, founder of Hydro Flask; and Devan Kline, cofounder of Burn Boot Camp. All 12 learning sessions will take place at the Century Center in downtown South Bend.
The McCloskey New Venture competition makes up the “compete” component. With strong ties to Notre Dame, the competition was extended to include community members in the region as part of IDEA Week’s programming. There’s over $600,000 in cash and prizes awarded, Hartley said.
Opportunities abound to meet new people across the different sessions, but Priemer encourages participants to attend the launch party on Tuesday at the Momentum Entrepreneurship Hub.
“It is the best place for some of that natural networking,” he said. “We’ll be doing some connectivity games so people break out of their shell and meet new people.”
Hartley sees the week-long lineup as a means to demystify entrepreneurship and what it entails. Speakers will touch on what it takes to succeed in the hustle, catch a vision and believe in that vision.
“My hope is that they walk away with connections that lead to either more capital or more contracts for their startup,” Hartley said. “And if they’re not a startup or an inventor, how can they be inspired to support that ecosystem of entrepreneurship in our region?”
Since its inception, IDEA Week organizers have consistently worked to improve the quality of their programming, incorporating feedback and the needs of their audience into the decision-making process.
“We’ve gotten more crisp on the intentionality of the content. This year, we have folks that have just recently started to see success; we’re talking about their recent rounds and that’s relatable,” Hartley said. “Hearing only from the CEO of Zappos, for example, feels so out of reach for a new business. Hearing from people who are only a couple of years ahead will be relatable and really valuable.”
The financial success of McCloskey New Venture winners and participants stand out as an obvious success story for the IDEA Center event, but Hartley said there’s many intangible and immeasurable success stories that come out of the week as well.
“Our leaning-in as a region into entrepreneurship, embracing startup culture, embracing failure, people are starting to show up more, that’s success,” she said. “The connections and business opportunities that result from meeting at IDEA Week have also been incredible.”
Hartley said a mindset shift is also taking place in the region. Instead of blaming Studebaker’s closing 58 years ago for the region’s decline, she said folks are beginning to see the potential for the future and are engaging with it.
Post-event communication and engagement is top of mind for organizers who want to keep the momentum going from IDEA Week. Attendees get notified of other education programs as well as a startup happy hour organized by Priemer’s Momentum Project. The regional partnership also publishes a monthly newsletter detailing all events happening in the region.
“We are actually considering an online platform buildout for an ecosystem where people can communicate with one another,” Hartley said. “I love having a group with a similar theme of why we’re here, but it also requires you to actively participate in it. So making sure we’re intentional about who’s getting access to the platform.”
Partnerships
Attendees can also participate in smaller workshops organized in partnership with other bodies, programs and cities. The city of South Bend and Notre Dame will host an interactive workshop showing small and minority-owned businesses how to capitalize on the opportunities both organizations provide. RISE Fest, highlighting student entrepreneurship, has also been included under IDEA Week’s programming this year.
“We follow Brad Feld’s boulder thesis from his book, ‘Startup Communities,’ and the first thing is that entrepreneurs must lead,” Hartley said. “Kris [Priemer] is a perfect example. He’s an entrepreneur. He’s telling us what he needs, and more than likely, that’s what a lot of entrepreneurs also need and want.”
Organizers have also strategically partnered with TechPoint, the conveners of the annual Mira Awards, to subsume some Indianapolis events under the IDEA Week umbrella.
“Indianapolis is a larger market. It’s the state capital and a lot of decisions get made there. We want the connectivity of our startups to Indianapolis to be as seamless as possible,” Hartley said. “Having IDEA Week in Indy has helped continue to bridge that gap. TechPoint is a great partner as well.”
The South Bend-Elkhart Regional Partnership and the University of Notre Dame are also involved in Elevate Venture’s Rally Innovation Conference happening in August. They are working to get entrepreneurs in the region to attend.
“There’s also the Global Entrepreneurship Congress in June 2025. We want our entrepreneurs to be plugged into that, because it’s physically not going to happen here,” Hartley said. “We pat ourselves on the back for being a hub of connectivity.”
As the event draws closer, Hartley advises attendees to research and create a networking game plan for who they want to meet and why. Asking open-ended questions that require more than a yes/no is also a good way to get the conversation going.
“Most of my career has been through networking. I’ve been able to find opportunities and pursue them because of good network development and being authentically who I am,” she said. “So show up, be yourself and be curious.”
Priemer adds to that by encouraging participants to form genuine connections instead of trying to meet everyone.
“I typically try to find if there’s a way that I can offer them help with something and they’ll often want to offer me help as well,” he added.
There are still volunteer opportunities available. Priemer said volunteering is a good way to be more involved and also check out some sessions you may have overlooked otherwise. You can email Jessie VanDeVeire, if you are interested in volunteering.
“These things only happen if you show up,” Hartley said. “We want cool stuff to happen but we’re like, ‘oh, maybe I’ll go next year.’ No, come this year, even if it’s for five minutes, show up.”