DISCOVER THE EVENT LINEUP
Innovation Crawl
Join us for the 4th Annual Innovation Crawl to kick off RI Startup Week! This year the Greater Newport Chamber of Commerce and RIHUB are teaming up to tour some of Rhode Island’s most innovative companies and spaces. We’re hopping on buses and taking a tour around the Ocean State. Starting and ending in Newport the bus tour will visit several centers of innovation around the state. Join us after the crawl for a happy hour! Seats are limited, so be sure to purchase your ticket soon. (Ticket price includes bus transport, a light breakfast, lunch, and one complimentary beer at happy hour.)
Bahar Bilgen
Placeholder (Change me)
yconic AI Summit Day 1
Join us as yconic leads us on the cutting edge of AI innovation from 9:00 to 2:00 on Monday the 21st and Tuesday the 22nd. Speakers and topics to be announce soon!
Hard Hat Tour: Building the Small Business Collective
Before the furniture arrives. Before the paint dries. Before the doors officially open. We'd love to invite you inside. Join us for a special Hard Hat Tour of the future home of the Small Business Collective and get a first look at a community being built for Rhode Island's entrepreneurs, small business owners, creators, problem-solvers, and changemakers. This is not simply a tour of a building. It's an opportunity to experience the space, hear the vision, meet members of the growing SBC community, and learn how we're creating a place where people can connect, collaborate, learn, and grow together. As we walk through the unfinished space, we'll share what we're building, why we're building it, and how individuals and organizations across Southern New England are helping shape what comes next. Small Business Collective was founded on a simple belief: when people come together to share knowledge, relationships, encouragement, and opportunity, remarkable things happen. The walls are still going up. The community is already taking shape. Come see what we're building together.
Mollie Frazer Williams
How to Successfully Find a Co-Founder
Starting a business requires far more than one person’s expertise. Successful founders recognize that turning an idea into a thriving enterprise often depends on partnering with someone whose strengths complement their own. The right co-founder can bring sharper strategy, stronger execution, and greater focus to the business journey. In this interactive workshop, two entrepreneurs will share why they made the strategic decision to bring on co-founders and how those partnerships contributed to their success. Participants will learn the criteria they used to select the right partner, the expectations they established from Day One, and the practical steps they took to build cohesive, productive, and high-performing working relationships.
Beth Carter
Bahar Bilgen
Ozge Whiting
Peg Fradette
Meaghan Krupa
yconic AI Summit - Day 2
Join us as yconic leads us on the cutting edge of AI innovation from 9:00 to 2:00 on Monday the 21st and Tuesday the 22nd. Speakers and topics to be announce soon!
URI Innovations Showcase
This event will bring together academia with investors and industry partners to showcase startups, founders, researchers and professors at URI who have developed innovative and inspiring work. This will be a great opportunity to connect with the entrepreneurial ecosystem and provide you with a glimpse of current startups developing innovative products, as well as emerging projects that are in their early stages. Our goal is to bring the ecosystem together, light a spark and see what we can inspire when you put entrepreneurial talent and great partners in the room together.
Heart of Rhode Island Networking and Referral Group (Paid Event)
NOTE: This is a separate but connected event that costs $12.50 to attend. Register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-heart-of-rhode-island-networking-referral-group-tickets-1990234875087?aff=erellivmlt Where strangers leave as friends. ☕️ Rhode Island’s fastest-growing networking community. 150 seats. Always sold out. The Heart of Rhode Island was founded in March 2022…and it is STILL going strong! With 150+ attendees each month and a sell-out streak since September 2023, this gathering has become Rhode Island’s go-to space for authentic connection, community, and collaboration. Led by me and our incredible Heart of RI Committee: Cathy Andreozzi, Dawn Apajee, Mark Berger, Aaron Bishop, Michael Cabral, Elizabeth Hamilton, Xander Honor, Lisa Jones, Sarah McCooey, Stephanie McNamara, John Pagliarini, Stacey Silva, and Bridget VanDemark! This is where real relationships begin. Where ideas come to life. And where Rhode Island’s changemakers unite.
Calamari Tank
What's for Lunch? Squid! Join us as 3 entrepreneurs pitch to earn their spot as the top Squid! This is RI's version of SharkTank and your vote counts in deciding the winner. Watch the event live or watch from your computer to see some RI entrepreneurs make their pitch to be the Top Squid.
Pat Sabatino
VR Beyond Gaming
VR Beyond Gaming is an evening where guests eat, drink, and socialize while exploring what virtual reality can do beyond entertainment. Step into immersive experiences that showcase VR as a tool for training, skill learning, career exploration, and more all in a relaxed, social setting. Whether you're curious about the technology or want to see how it's being used to teach and train in the real world, it's a hands on look at the future of VR in a fun, come as you are atmosphere.
Toye Onikoyi
Ocean Tech Day
Newport Investor Summit
THIS IS A PAID EVENT - Visit www.newportinvestorsummit.com to register Welcome to beautiful Newport, where capital meets innovation. We gather with a clear mission: to connect great investors with bold entrepreneurs, those with real, ready-to-go ideas that can spark meaningful change. With guests joining us from around the world, from Paris to Puerto Rico, this event celebrates the powerful tradition of American innovation, built on the fusion of creativity and capital. • 36 startup pitches — each with 5 minutes to shine • Three great tracks — Health & Life Sciences, Ocean Tech and • Dual Use and the Showcase Track • A room full of investors ready to discover the next big idea • Opportunities to connect, collaborate, and build the future
