Wilmington’s annual Cucalorus film festival, which starts this week, will again seek to unite local business leaders though innovation and to bridge the gap between technology and creativity as part of the Connect business conference. The conference will begin Wednesday, Nov. 9 and run through Sunday, Nov. 13.
A large focus of the event will be on startups. The Port City Pitch competition will help the best startup idea launch their idea to the marketplace through a cash award sponsored by the Blake & Bailey Family Fund.
This year’s pitches include communication platforms, learning applications, sustainability projects, a process for identifying fecal waste in natural waters and a DNA tagging product.
The groups will present throughout the conference, a few of whom will present their products at the Ironclad Brewery on Wednesday at 7 p.m. while others will pitch at noon on Thursday. Their pitches will be accompanied by a key note speech, “You’ve Got a Great Idea, What’s Next” by Louis Foreman of Edison Nation, a product development and licensing company.
Participants in Port City Pitch at Ironclad Brewery this year include:
Wednesday, Nov. 9, 7 p.m.
- Fecal Finders
- ten8tech.com
- Greenflair
Thursday, Nov. 10, Noon
- Plastic Ocean Project
- SeekerDNA
- Turnip Learning
Following the speech, four of last year’s Port City Pitch startups will highlight the advancements they’ve made in the last twelve months.
Connect will also feature a promotional video competition, hands on workshops, speeches and panel discussions on varying subjects including women in business, nonprofit organizations, education and crowd funding.
The conference is presented by the local business, tekMountain, and University of North Carolina Wilmington Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Many of the speakers and participants are UNCW graduates at the undergraduate, graduate and PhD levels.
Events will be hosted at various locations in downtown Wilmington including Thalian Hall, Cape Fear Community College Union Station, Jengo’s Playhouse, Ironclad Brewery, Bourgie Nights and Expo 216.
