Organizers focus on content quality, speakers for 2024 tech summit

While jetpack man might not be returning this year, the 11th Northwest Arkansas Technology Summit should have one of the best speaker lineups in its history, organizers said. This year’s theme, Homegrown, will showcase the technology originating from the region.

The Greater Bentonville Area Chamber of Commerce will host the summit from Oct. 28 to 29 at Rogers Convention Center. Like last year, about 2,000 people are expected to attend.

“We’ve been very intentional about having a summit that is focused on those technologies that are unique to Bentonville and Northwest Arkansas,” said Brandom Gengelbach, president and CEO of the Greater Bentonville Area Chamber of Commerce. “I think the intent has always been to be able to be a place for people to come and hear about the latest happenings as it relates to technology in Northwest Arkansas. And this year, we really wanted to dive into it in a greater way.”

Gengelbach said he’s excited about the talent, especially the keynote speakers. He said the focus was to develop good, quality content first, and build the conference around the content.

“While maybe there won’t be as much jetpacks flying around, I do think there’s going to be the capability to interact with some really smart, talented folks who are doing things in the area that maybe most people don’t know about,” he said. “I’m excited to unveil those keynotes and that information to the audience. I think it will be really enjoyable.”

Chamber staff worked with a content committee of area technology professionals to create the Homegrown summit focused on three key areas, including retail value chain, advanced mobility and health tech.

“We call these areas right-to-win technology, meaning we are currently doing things in these areas that allow us to have a competitive advantage from other parts of the country,” Gengelbach said. “I think in the past, a lot of the technology that we had, we showcased and the organizations that we featured had really unique technology. But the technology wasn’t necessarily from Northwest Arkansas or from companies based in Northwest Arkansas. So this year, it was what areas within the technology industry are we excelling in a greater way.”

He noted that health tech is in the beginning stages of technology in which the area has a competitive advantage.

“There is so much development that is happening within health tech and health in general in Northwest Arkansas with all the different investments that for us it made sense to make sure that we were going to include that as part of our areas of focus,” he said.

The summit will include four tracks: advanced mobility, emerging technology, health tech, and retail value chain. He said the emerging technology track is “sort of a hodge-podge … of different technology that could end up being right-to-win … But, yes, you will have four different track options when you come to the event.”

Following are the four keynote speakers:
• Shelley Simpson, president and CEO of Lowell-based J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc.
• Cyrus Sigari, co-founder and managing partner of UP.Partners.
• Michael Newcity, chief innovation officer of Fort Smith-based ArcBest and president of ArcBest Technologies.
• Marcus Osborne, chairman of RightMove Health.

Gengelbach said Simpson will kick off the event. She’ll talk about how the region is helping to shape global innovation. Sigari will be the keynote speaker for advanced mobility and delve into transportation trends and innovations. Newcity will be the keynote speaker for the retail value chain and highlight supply chain innovations. Osborne will be the keynote speaker for health tech and discuss omnichannel health care. The first three will speak on Oct. 28, and Osborne will speak on Oct. 29.

Gengelbach said each track will have multiple breakout sessions. A retail value chain session will include speakers from Walmart and Sam’s Club. Others will focus on generative artificial intelligence and its impact on retail jobs. Gaming, drones and autonomous vehicles will be topics of other sessions.

He said the summit will have nearly 60 speakers, mostly from Northwest Arkansas or who regularly do business here. Along with showcasing the technology originating from the area, he said the event will also be an opportunity for people to connect with others in the industry, allowing teachers and students to attend so that they can learn about what technology is being developed here.

PITCH COMPETITION
“We’re also having a big focus on the entrepreneur landscape and make sure that we can have a healthy dose of entrepreneurs who are also presenting and interacting with larger, more established corporations and businesses,” Gengelbach said. “We’re going to have a pitch competition that Startup Junkie is putting together for us during the tech summit.”

The pitch competition final is set for Tuesday, Oct. 29, at the event.

The early bird rate is $150, and the two-day pass is $200. Tickets are available online at nwatechsummit.com. Attendees will include those in the tech industry, entrepreneurs, students and teachers, and community and business leaders.

“It’s really the whole gamut of people,” he said. “If you want to be connected to the industry, if you want to see and hear the latest happenings, if you want to understand the trends that are happening, and then just see the other things that are going on,” he said. “That emerging tech sector is really going to be an interesting opportunity for people to see and hear some different things that are happening that are not necessarily part of those three groups.”