Rally roundup: Innovation conference welcomes visitors with balloon wall

Aug 28, 2023

Indianapolis is the rallying point for a new, multimillion-dollar conference that aims to bring together entrepreneurs, executives, investors and others who work in Indiana’s strongest industries. For the latest on this week’s three-day event, which begins Tuesday, check back here for regular updates.

5:35 p.m., Aug. 28

The Indiana Convention Center is all set for the opening day of the Rally innovation conference, which runs Tuesday through Thursday.

The convention center’s Capitol Avenue entrance is decorated with a massive balloon structure that covers an entire wall.

Indianapolis-based Elevate Ventures says it expects a little more than 3,000 attendees for the first-time event. That’s short of the organization’s goal of 5,000, but the event will draw startup founders, investors and innovators from multiple countries.

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4 p.m., Aug. 28

Indiana has long boasted a national reputation as an up-and-coming center for health care and life sciences. The Hoosier state is home to the world’s most valuable pharmaceutical company (Eli Lilly and Co.), the largest medical school (Indiana University School of Medicine) and a sprawling array of nearly 200 hospitals, from academic medical centers to modest community hospitals.

It also has generated hundreds of biotech companies, many of them started from inventions at IU, Purdue University or the University of Notre Dame.

Now, with the Rally conference, Indiana is trying to position itself as a globally known innovation hub. And health care will figure prominently on the agenda.

Eight health-care panel discussions, ranging from gene therapy to generative AI, are part of the conference. A total of 20 experts will discuss the issues and take questions from the audience. In addition, five health-care start-up companies will vie for up to $1 million in prize money.

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3:55 p.m.

Indianapolis is the rallying point for a new, multimillion-dollar conference that aims to bring together entrepreneurs, executives, investors and others who work in Indiana’s strongest industries.

Indianapolis-based Elevate Ventures is organizing the three-day event, beginning Tuesday at the Indiana Convention Center. Its name: Rally.

“It’s really about putting Indiana on that national and global stage from an innovation standpoint,” Erica Schweyer, the chief operating officer for Elevate Ventures, told IBJ this month.

The itinerary for Rally features 220 speakers, including big names such as former Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning and Los Angeles Laker-turned-entrepreneur Earvin “Magic” Johnson; five separate pitch competitions offering up to $5 million in total prize money; and hundreds of meetings between entrepreneurs and investors.

Many of the meetings, presentations and panel discussions are flagged for one of six industries in which Indiana has a strong presence: agriculture and food; health care; hardtech; software; sportstech; and entrepreneurship.

The Indiana Economic Development Corp. is providing $1.5 million in support of the confab. Elevate Ventures is a not-for-profit that serves as a venture capital firm for the IEDC, the state’s public-private job-creation agency.

The groups set a first-year goal of drawing 5,000 attendees from both within and outside the state. As of Monday, individual tickets were selling for $699, with pricing of $599 per person for groups of three or more and $199 for students. More information can be found on the event’s web site.

The event serves as a focus point for several other organizations—including Gener8tor, the Indiana Technology & Innovation Association, Indy Women in Tech and Midwest House—that are planning their own events coordinated around Rally.

For example, the Indiana Technology & Innovation Association is hosting its annual conference on the first day of Rally and will feature panel discussions such as “Unleashing Entrepreneurism in Indiana” at 11 a.m. in Room 237-239.

Other Rally highlights will include a panel discussion on generative artificial intelligence in health care and drug discovery, set for 10 a.m. Thursday. The panelists will include representatives of Indianapolis-based Regenstrief Institute and Eli Lilly and Co.

Elevate Ventures has selected more than two dozen startups that will compete in the pitch contests across five categories. The finalists, which hail from several countries, were selected from 430 applicants from 38 countries. Each contest offers up to $1 million in prize money.

Rally replaces an Elevate Ventures event called Kinetic, which was a much smaller annual event focused on connecting Elevate Ventures’ portfolio companies with potential investors and other resources.

Rally’s vision is much grander: to position Indiana as a globally known innovation hub.

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