Home » Technology, entrepreneurship, and tech arts conference coming to downtown Lexington Sept. 19-21

Technology, entrepreneurship, and tech arts conference coming to downtown Lexington Sept. 19-21

LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Technology Association of the Bluegrass’s (TAB) is bringing the TECX conference for the first time ever to downtown Lexington, Sept. 19-21. With a focus on technology, entrepreneurship, and creative, TECX will present a mashup of breakout sessions, keynotes, a hackathon, and a career expo. The mission of the conference is to bridge our technological, entrepreneurial, and creative communities to foster innovation.

“Lexington’s tech sector is big and getting bigger. We will soon be one of the largest gigabit cities in the country,” Mayor Linda Gorton said. “TECX supports that growth with good information and opportunities to network.”

Locations include the Central Public Library, tech incubators Awesome Inc and Base 110, the historic Lyric Theatre, Pam Miller Downtown Arts Center, and the new state-of-the-art University of Kentucky Gatton Student Center. Conference hours are from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. each day with entertainment and activities in the evenings.

“We are hoping that the first ever TECX conference will be a time when students and professionals can step away from their day to day to gain knowledge, connect, and be inspired.” says Katy Brown, executive director, TAB.

The keynote speakers are joining from out of state and bring with them a passion to inspire other tech, entrepreneurial, and creative communities to grow and thrive:

Anne Ward will be keynoting wind a talk titled, “Privacy is the New Luxury.” Ward is the founder and CEO of Circleclick Media, is an IBM Futurist Thought Leader, an O’Reilly Author, was named “Top Inspirational Entrepreneurs to Watch” by Entrepreneur Magazine in 2017, and named “The Mother of Startups” by CNN in 2017.

Toli Lerios will lead a keynote titled “Startup Ecosystems Beyond Silicon Valley.” A serial entrepreneur and advisor who holds 26 U.S. patents including the early Invisalign orthodontics, Lerios won Stanford’s Walter J. Gorges Award for Excellence in Teaching, and created Facebook’s dynamic image processing infrastructure for photo layouts in timeline.

Lerios mentioned, “TECX captures the soul of startup innovation: unbridled creativity and diverse experiences mixed with practical advice to make disruptive change materialize. It reminds me of the early days of Austin’s South-by-Southwest conference which was at the core of the town’s transition from sleepy college town and government seat to the high-tech capital of Texas.”

There is an incredible line-up of lecture style, hands-on instructional, interactive, and panel discussions that will challenge and inspire.

Mary Quinn Ramer, president of VisitLEX said, “VisitLEX is thrilled to welcome TECX participants to Lexington. We love the cross-disciplinary nature of this event, and we look forward to seeing how entrepreneurs, creatives and tech communities engage with and learn from one another.”

Attendees can also look forward to art-tech installations at locations throughout, an augmented reality tour of downtown Lexington, a look-and-learn at UK’s solar car “Gato del Sol VI”, an evening art gallery hop, and more.

For more information and to reserve a ticket, head to tecx19.com.