Partnerships are a key ingredient in building a tech community. Sometimes, those bonds must deepen to grow.

The sixth annual Baltimore Innovation Week (BIW) will take place from Sept. 29 to Oct. 7, 2017 across a variety of venues in and around downtown Baltimore to celebrate the region’s technology, entrepreneurship and innovation communities. This year, longtime lead organizer Technical.ly, the network of local tech news sites, will welcome the Emerging Technology Centers (ETC) as a formal organizing partner.

Since 2012, when we first hosted this open calendar of events to bring together the many stakeholders who were already part of Baltimore’s tech community, the ETC has been a supporter and stakeholder. As BIW has grown, the event series needs a more formal local partner to support its future direction. Given its city- and state-backed mandate around supporting and growing a local ecosystem, ETC is an ideal partner.

What does that mean? An even greater push in partnership with ETC and dozens of other partners to make BIW more accessible — to start, we’re rolling back ticket prices to make more events free to attend (with registration).

As in recent years, #BIW17 will include several topic-specific conferences produced by the Technical.ly events team. This year, as part of the partnership with ETC, these conferences will be free to attend:

BIW will also feature more than two-dozen curated community calendar events, many free or low-cost to attend. Registration for all events is still required. See the complete calendar here.

The week will conclude with the annual BIW Innovation Celebration, where the winners of the 5th Annual Baltimore Innovation Awards will be unveiled. (This is one of the only events that has a cost, and we’ve intentionally brought the initial price down.)


Throughout the week, ETC’s Haven Campus will serve as the official HQ for #BIW17. From its former Canton location and current Highlandtown space, ETC has served as a key venue for Baltimore Innovation Week events. ETC President Deb Tillett has been a supporter and frequent participant in the week’s activities over the years, including addressing the City Council.

A major goal of this partnership will be to grow and market Baltimore Innovation Week as Maryland’s largest inclusive, open and accessible celebration of technology and entrepreneurship. A goal of the week will be to develop a path to encourage a true intersection of Baltimore’s various innovation corners.

“A successful Baltimore needs a vibrant economy supported by annual convenings like Baltimore Innovation Week, so we need to make sure all parts of Baltimore can host events and are included,” Tillett said. “It’s important we work together to connect Baltimore to a national conversation.”

With ETC, we at Technical.ly are doing the same work we’ve always done — aiming to bring as many stakeholders together as we can. Now we’re making our goal clear: Let’s make BIW Maryland’s most accessible starting point for our community.

You can stop by during the week to pick up a #BIW17 magazine, T-shirt and chat with someone from the Technical.ly team starting Tuesday, Oct. 2 through Friday, Oct. 7.

Thanks, too, to our other sponsors and partners. Without their continued support, this week could not be possible.

Stay tuned for some major announcements over the next few weeks and brace yourselves for a busy week of gatherings and learnings around technology, entrepreneurship and innovation.

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