Delaware Innovation Week 2016

DELAWAREINNOVATIONWEEK.COM  NOV 11—19  #DIW16 A WEEKLONG CELEBRATION OF TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION IN DELAWARE

ORGANIZED BY

THENEW DELAWARE WORKFORCE REINVENTING DELAWARE'S ECONOMY PG.19 

FULL CALENDAR INSIDE FEATURING

TECH EVENTS

WILMINGTON IS HAVING A MOMENT PG.5  YOUR GUIDE TO DELAWARE’S COWORKING SPACES PG.6 

Work here. Play here.

Starting at only

$10!

Day Pass Hot Desk Dedicated Desk Office Space

Join our tight-knit community of innovators, movers, and shakers!

Schedule a tour!

info@1313innovation.com 1313 N. Market St. Wilmington, DE 19801

WELCOME PROGRAM & MAGAZINE 

TABLE OF CONTENTS  5

WILMINGTON IS HAVING A MOMENT 6

DELAWARE COWORKING GUIDE 8

#DIW16 AWARD NOMINEES 11

CODE OF CONDUCT 13

EVENT CALENDAR 19

THE NEW DELAWARE WORKFORCE 21

#DIW16 SPONSORS 22

#DIW16 PARTNERS

ABOUT  Delaware Innovation Week 2016 presented by 1313 Innovation is the second annual celebration of technology and innovation in the region. The week is organized by local technology news organization Technical.ly, in collaboration with dozens of partners and sponsors.

For the most up-to-date list of partners and events, visit delawareinnovationweek.com.

Technical.ly Delaware is a leading local tech news and events organization.

It publishes daily content on entrepreneurship, access, funding, policy and other ways cities are improving through technology. Its sister publications are in Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. DESIGN AND PRINTING: Red Flag Media

LOGO AND WEBSITE: Jarvus Innovations

A LETTER FROM THE ORGANIZERS 

Technically Media staffers at the company’s 2016 retreat.

DEAR FRIENDS, IF YOU WERE TO LOOK INTO the future at a thriving Delaware, you will almost surely find new generations

of entrepreneurs building businesses and a defined community of technologists solving for big problems.

It’s the case for all communities today, hence the attention paid to growing local tech communities.

Yet today — since the 1970s, really — rates of incorporation remain stagnant across the country. Nationally, competition for engineers and data scientists remains fierce. So there is no sure path from where we are now to where we are going. We must do something about it.

That rallying cry is among the goals for this second annual Delaware Innovation Week, an open calendar of events around technology and entrepreneurship. Bring together and strengthen the community of entrepreneurs and technologists in an effort to welcome people here.

Of course many of you organize events year-round with these efforts in mind — we at Technical.ly do that too. Each February we host our prized NET/WORK tech jobs fair in Delaware and, for the first time, this month we helped organize {OpenBracket, a major coding competition with the finals in Wilmington.

To capture the best minds it can, Delaware needs dynamism 365 days a year. But we also need to grow a big festival that can be ours, a time for reflection and celebration. That’s what Delaware Innovation Week promises. So get out there and see what this state has to offer.

With warm regards, CHRISTOPHER WINK AND THE ENTIRE TECHNICAL.LY TEAM

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Fintech doesn’t have to be so

True Agile Development / Lean Product Design / Cubicle-less & Khaki-free / Hack Weeks chathamfinancial.com

Concept through Commercialization MEETING THE LEGAL NEEDS OF TECHNOLOGY BASED COMPANIES Saul Ewing is proud to support Delaware’s vibrant technology community. Our team of attorneys offers a full range of services for entrepreneurs and startup companies. We look forward to helping you achieve your business goals.

» www.saul.com

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Ask us about our RAMP™ program and our Emerging Company Roundtables.

Gianna J. Arnold 410.332.8913 ¡ garnold@saul.com

Eric G. Orlinsky 410.332.8687 ¡ eorlinsky@saul.com

Richard B. Carroll 302.421.6887 ¡ rcarroll@saul.com

Danielle N. Petaja 302.421.6809 ¡ dpetaja@saul.com

Elizabeth S. Fenton 302.421.6824 ¡ efenton@saul.com

Deborah L. Spranger 610.251.5086 ¡ dspranger@saul.com

Adam F. Kelson 412.209.2512 ¡ akelson@saul.com

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"We want to be a leader in the reimagination of what an independent theater can be," said Zach Phillips, shown here with new Theatre N leadership.

Credit: Courtesy of Theatre N

FEATURE

WILMINGTONIS H A V I N G A M O M E N T THE LOCAL TECH SCENE IS PUSHING FORWARD INITIATIVES THAT ARE MAKING THE CITY, WELL, COOL. CAN IT SUSTAIN THE MOMENTUM?

BY PEAK JOHNSON AND JULIANA REYES 

I

N A WAY, we have the Wilmington tech scene to thank for Delaware’s newest brewery.

Dew Point Brewery, a playful take on DuPont, opened in August just outside of Wilmington in Yorklyn’s historic Garrett Snuff Mill. It’s owned and run by Nick Matarese and his family. Matarese is a Wilmington tech fixture, the founder of a branding agency called The Barn.

Dew Point’s launch is just one of the ways that the state’s tech and entrepreneurship community is bringing the cool to Wilmington. Because real talk? Wilmington has historically not been cool. It’s not been of the Brooklyn or Philadelphia ilk, places where young people flock for the nightlife, beer gardens and artisanal shops. But the tide is turning. Millennials are driving the real estate boom in downtown Wilmington, according to Jones Lang LaSalle's 2016 Wilmington Skyline Review.

Still, Will Minster, the director of business development at Downtown Visions, is candid about the pace of this change.

“To be honest, it’s really been kind of a slow process,” he said, when we asked him if Wilmington is becoming a hotspot for millennials.

He said it started in 2010, when Wes Garnett, Steve Roettger and Pedro Moore started the coIN Loft coworking space, where Matarese’s

The Barn was originally headquartered. The founders, Minster said, were looking for a place for the community to come together.

Fast forward six years and as the tech scene grows, it’s kicking off a slate of developments designed to liven up Wilmington. We’re talking Matarese’s brewery, a craft mead company, a pop-up beer garden and a reimagined indie theater. Can these projects help Wilmington shed its sleepy corporate culture and make it more of a destination?

Take the indie theatre: Theatre N. Two tech scene leaders, Robert Herrera of the sleekly-designed coworking space The Mill and Zach Phillips of video production house The Kitchen hope to turn the theater into “a cinema destination in the region,” said Phillips. The crew took over from the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs, which used to own the spot, and are giving it a new look and series of events.

Then there’s the pop-up beer garden in Hercules Plaza that incubator 1313 Innovation co-organized, complete with live music and food trucks.

There's Liquid Alchemy Beverages, the crowdfunding-backed craft meadery run by Terri Sorantino and Jeffrey Cheskin that opened in an industrial building off Little Mill Creek in Wilmington in

December. (If cool means artisanal takes on esoteric goods — and c'mon, it so often does — this certainly hits the mark.)

While these efforts are a point in the "cool" column, it's still just the start.

“There's always more work that needs to be done," said Herrera of The Mill, who's done design for coworking giant WeWork but left New York to come home and build something in Delaware. "I think [Wilmington] is making great strides, I think it’s at a point where the growth is going to start happening exponentially. There’s definitely a rising tide happening here."

But for Wilmington to actually be cool? It's gonna take more than just creative businesses and hip alcohol companies. If you want the cool factor to actually mean something, the city needs to be able to keep the creative class here. That means amenities, like those mentioned by itr8group cofounder Rory Laitila as pain points for him as he lives, works and plays in the city: things like fresh produce ("I eat a lot of canned food," he told us), better transportation options, new restaurants.

And yet, Laitila is bullish on the direction the city is going in. "There is a real direction in terms of creative culture down here." Let's see if the cool can keep on comin'.

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FEATURE

COWORKINGSPACES

BY RANA FAYEZ 

THE MILL SPACE

 1007 N Orange St, Wilmington, Del.  12,000 sq ft.

The Mill Space is located in the old Nemours building in downtown Wilmington. Founded by Delaware-native and architect Robert Herrera, it is the newest coworking space in downtown. Herrera is an architect by trade, which is why he wanted to build out a space outfitted with custom leather chairs and open spaces. The space also includes access to the reimagined Theatre N auditorium.

VENTURE DEVELOPMENT CENTER AT UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE HORN PROGRAM IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP

 132 E. Delaware Ave., Newark, Del.  5,000 sq ft This space is not open to the public and is exclusively available to University of Delaware Horn Program in Entrepreneurship students.

The Summer Founders program, an academic program that encourages students to create startups, operates out of this “pre-accelerator” space on the UD campus.

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THE COIN LOFT AT START IT UP DELAWARE

 605 N Market St, Wilmington, Del.  4,500 sq. ft.

Founded by Wes Garnett, Steve Roettger and Pedro Moore, the coIN Loft brought the idea of coworking to the area as the first coworking space in the state.

Photos by Jay Greene Architectural Photography

1313 INNOVATION

 1313 N Market St, Wilmington, Del.  About 10,000 sf.

Operating as a subsidiary of McConnell Johnson Real Estate Company, this space opened in late 2014 as a collaboration between McConnell Johnson and Digital Vikings. The space is sprinkled with bean bag chairs, an XBox gaming system, writable walls, ping-pong tables and, not one, but two 3D printers. It recently expanded to a satellite location at Ursuline Academy to offer curriculum for high school students.

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DELAWARE INNOVATION AWARDS NOMINEES

FULL EVENT LISTING ON PAGE 18 ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR

Nick Barba and/OR Kevin Kriss, COAKT Idris, Vibrating Therapeutic Apparel 3. Vijaya Rao, DeliveryCircle 4. Greg Star, Carvertise 5. Bryan Tracy, White Dog Labs 1.

2. Amira

TECH STARTUP OF THE YEAR 1.

SimUCare

3.

Prominence

2. Coakt

4. InsiteHub 5. WhyFly

TECHNOLOGIST OF THE YEAR Tariq Hook, Zip Code Wilmington 2. David Ginzberg, Open Data Delaware 3. Pauline Rubin, First Ascent Design 4. Darrick Hayman 5. Aiyani Martin, Bank of America 1.

EMERGING ENTERPRISE CENTER

 12 Penns Way, New Castle, Del.  5,300 sq. ft.

This incubator is based in a professional park, not quite the urban environment you’d get in a downtown area but there’s free parking. This space also comes with workshops and a membership to the New Castle County Chamber of Commerce.

TECH BUSINESS OF THE YEAR 1.

Archer Group

2. ChiroFusion

Swift Capital Encima Group 5. SecureNetMD 3.

4. The

INNOVATIVE CORPORATE OF THE YEAR JP Morgan Chase One 3. Christiana Care 4. WSFS 5. Barclay's 1.

2. Capital

SCIENTIST/SCIENCE GROUP OF THE YEAR 1.

Greenhill Pharmacy

2. MySherpa

White Dog Labs Dover 5. ANP Technologies 3.

4. ILC

TECH MISSION ORG OF THE YEAR 1. Open

Data Delaware Code Wilmington 3. Girl Develop It Wilmington 4. Delaware Division of Libraries 5. The Challenge Group 2. Zip

NEXTFAB (OPENING JANUARY 2017)

 501-509 Tatnall St., Wilmington, Del.  10,000 sq. ft.

NextFab already has a few sites in Philadelphia, but founder Evan Malone has decided to expand into downtown Wilmington. This “gym for innovators” is bringing its hardware chops to the area.

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DELAWARE INNOVATION AWARDS NOMINEES

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8 DEV PRODUCT OF THE YEAR 1.

Open Data portal (data.delaware.gov)

3.

WhyFly

2. Geoswap 4. TenantU 5. Counsl

DESIGN/DEV FIRM OF THE YEAR First Ascent Design Barn Creative 3. Squatch Creative 4. Möbius New Media 5. Delaware Government Information Center 1.

2. The

NEWARK COWORK

 276 E. Main St., #208, Newark, Del. Located in the heart of downtown Newark, this community-minded space offers free parking right on Main Street. Founded by UX/UI architect Brian Feister, this space has kept quiet because its community was always meant to be small.

COLOCATION COMMUNITY OF THE YEAR 1313 Innovation Mill 3. Emerging Enterprise Center 4. Barrel of Makers 5. Newark CoWork 1.

2. The

BEST LOCALLY-BUILT INDIE VIDEO GAME OF THE YEAR haberdashery, Jeff Fisher of Wilmington University 2. Blind Blades, Heavy Key Studios 3. Fourth Barrier, Matt Sharp, Momoji Studios 1.

INNOVATIVE CREATIVE GROUP OF THE YEAR

Catherine Lindroth, The Summer Learning Collaborative 2. The Kitchen 3. Artist Ave Station 4. Ryan Media Lab 5. Artist Solid 1.

TECH MEETUP OF THE YEAR First State .NET Meetup 3. TechTalk Tuesday Downstate 4. Java Users group meetup 5. Delaware Tech Meetup 1.

2. Blockchain

MIDDLETOWN BUSINESS INCUBATOR AND COLLABORATE WORKSPACE

 402 N. Cass, Middletown, Del.  3500 sq. ft.

The lesser known coworking space is a project of the Middletown Chamber of Commerce.

Nestled halfway between the beaches and the banks, this space houses 18 businesses and has seven on a waiting list.

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From mobile apps and advanced web interfaces to interactive exhibits, Jarvus provides the development experience to bring your creative visions to life.

http://jarv.us

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hello@jarv.us

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DELAWAREINNOVATIONWEEK

CODEOFCONDUCT

THIS CALL FOR CIVILITY AND INCLUSION COMES FROM A DESIRE TO WELCOME MORE PEOPLE AND PERSPECTIVES INTO THE DELAWARE TECHNOLOGY COMMUNITY.

BY CATHERINE SONTAG 

D

ELAWARE INNOVATION WEEK, the annual open calendar of events celebrating technology and innovation in the Delaware region, is here!

There are nearly 20 events and we are expecting thousands of attendees this year. But it’s always important to start things off right.

That's why the first thing we're highlighting is the Code of Conduct. We're asking all event organizers and attendees to abide by it.

The pledge doesn't stem from any specific incidents. In fact, the Delaware tech community has a fairly strong reputation for striving to be inclusive, but the technology sector nationally still has a reputation for being something of a monochromatic boys club.

Most specifically, the goal of having this code is to let us all think about the goal of having a big week of events crammed together: to give attention to worthy people and pursuits, and to serve as an entry point for new people in our community.

We should all be particularly interested in bringing new voices into the conversation that we're all working to strengthen. A more equitable future for our city and country depends on it.

Here is our DELAWARE INNOVATION WEEK CODE OF CONDUCT: 

Delaware Innovation Week is dedicated to providing a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, or religion. We do not tolerate harassment of conference participants in any form.

All communication should be appropriate for a professional audience including people of many different backgrounds.

Sexual language and imagery is not appropriate for any conference venue, including talks.

Be kind to others. Do not insult or put down other attendees.

Behave professionally. Remember that harassment and sexist, racist or exclusionary jokes are not appropriate for Delaware Innovation Week. Attendees violating these rules may be asked to leave events without a refund at the sole discretion of the conference organizers.

Thank you for helping make this a welcoming, friendly event for all.

This Code of Conduct was inspired by PyCon’s Code of Conduct Policy, which is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

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CALENDAR PROGRAM & MAGAZINE 

TRACKS 

ACCESS

BUSINESS

CIVIC

CREATIVE

DEV

MEDIA

SCIENCES

FIND THE COMPLETE, UP-TO-DATE CALENDAR AT DELAWAREINNOVATIONWEEK.COM THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10  COCKTAILS AND TRENDS

 7:00 PM–9:00 PM @ The Grand Opera House, 818 N. Market Street  Free (Stratfi)  TRACKS: Mix and mingle for conversation and ideas.

Professional futurist Jim Lee of StratFI will share insights on why personal reinvention is becoming an essential skill for today's world.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11  FREE 2-DAY SMALL BUSINESS OWNER'S BOOT CAMP

 9:00 AM–4:00 PM @ Emerging Enterprise Center located at the New Castle County Chamber of Commerce, 12 Penns Way  Free (Emerging Enterprise Center)  TRACKS: The Small Business Owner’s Boot Camp is a FREE, comprehensive two-day education program for small business owners. The program will feature a series of panel discussions led by experienced business experts which will provide a broad overview of the challenges facing small business owners today. Audience members will have several opportunities to interact with the expert panelists throughout the day. Complimentary lunch will be served on both days. The event is November 11 from 9-4 and November 12 from 9-4. Breakfast is sponsored by Costco Wholesale.

Lunch is sponsored by Marino's Pizza. Space is Limited, Sign up today!

CHANGE THE GAMIFICATION? A CONVERSATION WITH KARL KAPP  5:00 PM–7:00 PM @ 1313 Innovation, 1313 N Market St  Free (1313 Innovation)  TRACKS: Everyone loves games! No matter who you are or what you do, chances are you play games because they are fun. On Friday, November 11th, Insitehub and its supporting partners are hosting a free event for anyone interested in hearing what amazing things can happen when fun games are combined with learning objectives, incentives, and technology. As a lead-in to Delaware Innovation Week 2016, we have invited Karl Kapp, one of the world’s leading experts in Gamification, to make his debut Wilmington performance! Kapp is an

TECH2GETHER

 Wednesday, November 16, 10:00AM–6:00 PM @ World Cafe Live at the Queen, 500 N. Market Street  $60-$80 (1313 Innovation) Tech2gether 2016 (T2G16) is the largest annual tech conference in the region that promotes the organizations and individuals on the forefront of innovation in Wilmington and the surrounding areas. # D I W 16 • T E C H N I C A L . LY/ D E L AWA R E • D E L AWA R E I N N O VAT I O N W E E K .C O M

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author, professor, and consultant, and was instrumental in forming Bloomsburg University's on-line E-Learning Developer's Certificate. He has also taught several global online learning courses. He is a regular featured speaker at Gamification and Learning industry events, and recently presented at TEDxNavesink. For more about Karl Kapp, visit his website http://karlkapp.com

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14  NINTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON EDUCATION

 8:00 AM–12:00 PM @ Clayton Hall Conference Center, University of Delaware, 100 David Hollowell Drive,  $25 (Vision Coalition of Delaware)  TRACKS: The Annual Conference on Education brings together voices from around the state and beyond for an engaging and interactive day focused on the future of education in Delaware. This year’s conference will feature “Idea Exchanges:” small group conversations matched to the core areas of Student Success 2025. Education, government, nonprofit, and business leaders will facilitate these informal conversations to bring participants together around a variety of issues, including technology in the classroom. Topics like “Developing Growth Mindset through Gaming”, “Reimagining Learning through Technology”, and “Investing in Technology Infrastructure” will explore the ways in which tech facilitates and enriches learning. We will also be joined by Barrel of Makers, Delaware’s first makerspace.

ANGELS AND ENTREPRENEURS SPEED DATING

 10:30 AM–12:00 PM @ 1313 Innovation, 1313 N. Market St, Suite 140A  Free (1st State Angels, Delaware Innovation Fund, 1313 Innovation)  TRACKS: Be ready for a burst of effective meetings in an exhilarating 2 hour period. A select group of entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to meet one-on-one with investors and present their startups. Angels and Entrepreneurs Speed Dating is an event collaboration by First State Angels and 1313 Innovation.

EDTECH HAPPY HOUR HOSTED BY RODEL TEACHER COUNCIL  3:30 PM–5:30 PM @ Stone Balloon Ale House, 115 E. Main Street, Newark, DE 19711  Free (Rodel Teacher Council)  TRACKS: Technology has changed the way teachers teach and students learn. Join the Rodel Teacher Council for happy hour to learn and share with other educators about how the innovative use of tech tools can enhance your students’ learning.

Come to network, ask questions, and share your favorite tools and tricks with other educators.

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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15  INSPIRING WOMEN IN STEM CONFERENCE

 8:30 AM–6:00 PM @ DuPont Country Club, 1001 Rockland Road  $295-$395 (Delaware Bio, Delaware Sustainable Chemistry Alliance)  TRACKS: A day of learning, inspiration and professional growth for women in science, technology, engineering, and math fields.

NEW CASTLE COUNTY OPEN FOR BUSINESS

 9:00 AM–11:00 PM @ The Mill, 1007 N. Orange St.  Free (Emerging Enterprise Center)  TRACKS: NCC Open for Business is a free, informal open house for small businesses to meet 15 organizations/agencies that provide services and resources for small businesses!

LIVE 2 LEAD SIMULCAST (WITH SIMON SINEK, JOHN C. MAXWELL & OTHERS)

 2:00 PM–6:00 PM @ Delaware States Chamber of Commerce, 1201 N. Orange Street, Suite 200  $97 (Delaware Leadership.com)  TRACKS: A leadership development experience designed to equip you with new perspectives, practical tools and key takeaways. Whether you’re the CEO, a manager, or a team member, you’ll breathe new life into your personal and professional leadership during this information-packed half-day event.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 16  TECH IN DELAWARE: WHERE ARE WE GOING?

 5:30 PM–7:30 PM @ World Cafe Live at the Queen, 500 N. Market Street  $25-$40 (Technology Forum of Delaware)  TRACKS: Tech Forum is hosting Happy Hour after the Tech2gether Conference! While enjoying good food and drinks, we'll share opinions on key issues that lead to a vibrant and thriving environment for growth and innovation: Talent, Collaboration & Support, Funding, and Reputation. Join us for an engaging, insightful, and collaborative experience!

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17  26TH ANNUAL ENTREPRENEURIAL & BUSINESS WOMEN'S EXPO  9:00 AM–6:00 PM @ Chase Center on the Riverfront, 815 Justison Street  Price Varies (New Castle County Chamber of Commerce)  TRACKS: A full day celebrating the entrepreneurial spirit of

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Delaware Business Women. The morning consists of workshop sessions to build business skills.

The Luncheon features, Liz Scott, Co-Director of Alex's Lemonade Stand, and the winners of the Woman Entrepreneur of the Year and Business Woman of the Year. The afternoon consists of the Exhibitor's Showcase. An exciting day, and not for women only.

GOVERNMENT CONTENT STRATEGY SUMMIT: CHANGING THE DIGITAL FACE OF GOVERNMENT WEBSITES

 6:30 PM–8:30 PM @ The Mill, 1007 N. Orange St.  Free (Technology Forum of Delaware)  TRACKS: Government websites can be confusing, frustrating entities. Come meet the teams that are trying to untangle the Content Strategy of government websites on a local, state, and federal level.

DELAWARE STARTUP LAUNCHPAD “LESSONS LEARNED” & DE TECH MEETUP

 6:00 PM–9:00 PM @ The coIN Loft at Start It Up Delaware, 605 N. Market St, 2nd Fl.  Free (University of Delaware, Horn Program in Entrepreneurship, Start It Up DE)  TRACKS: During this special edition of our monthly Delaware Tech Meetup, Start It Up Delaware, in partnership with The University of Delaware Horn Program in Entrepreneurship, and Delaware Founders' Initiative, proudly present the "Lessons Learned" presentations, which serve as the final requirement for startup founders and teams participating in the new Delaware Startup Launchpad series.

DOWNLOAD GEOSWAP Get the best attendee experience possible with

Register for events, find out which are near you, connect with other attendees and much more.

Available for download on iOS and Android.

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BUSINESS CONFERENCE 

LUNCH & LEARN: WORKSHOP YOUR BUSINESS

 Monday, November 14, 12:30 PM – 4:00 PM @ Young Conaway, 1000 North King Street  $25 (Technical.ly) In these hands-on, interactive workshops, learn from professionals how to better your business with feedback that is specific to you. Get help with the formal language of your business plan.

Receive real time feedback on your VC pitch, before you're in front of potential investors.

Create a solid marketing statement and brand for your particular product, service, etc…and more!

TECHNICAL.LY INTRODUCED: A CURATED B2B EVENT

 Monday, November 14, 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM @ Young Conaway, 1000 North King Street  Free (Technical.ly) There are a surplus of opportunities in Delaware to meet local startups. The real challenge for some of these successful entrepreneurs is meeting their next client, the decision makers at large corporations.

Join us and get the opportunity to meet some of these large businesses and pitch your product or service to members of their purchasing departments.

BUSINESS HAPPY HOUR

 Monday, November 14, 4:30PM – 6:30PM @ Young Conaway, 1000 North King Street  Free (Technical.ly) Join us for our Business Conference Happy Hour. Network with current and aspiring entrepreneurs and startups. # D I W 16 • T E C H N I C A L . LY/ D E L AWA R E • D E L AWA R E I N N O VAT I O N W E E K .C O M

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DEV CONFERENCE 

DEV INTRO WORKSHOPS

 Tuesday, November 15, 8:30 AM – 12:00 PM @ Delaware Technical Community College – Wilmington Campus, 300 N Orange St  $50 (Technical.ly) Whether you're new to programming or wanting to sharpen your skills, the Dev Intro Workshops are perfect for you. Workshops will be focused around today's most used languages and programs.

DEV TALKS

 Tuesday, November 15, 12:00 PM – 4:30 PM @ Delaware Technical Community College – Wilmington Campus, 300 N Orange St  $10 (Technical.ly) Join us for an afternoon of high-level dev talks focused around problem solving and innovative solutions.

You'll hear from over 10+ dev experts talking about real world scenarios and the tools they're using.

DEV HAPPY HOUR

 Tuesday, November 15, 5:00 - 7:00 PM @ Merchant Bar, 426 North Market Street  Free (Technical.ly) Network with the local Dev community and enjoy some complimentary drinks and snacks!

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Learn from top entrepreneurs in cities across the country what helps them thrive.

Technical.ly and Comcast’s Tomorrow Toolkit ebook features real stories that teach things you should know about growing businesses in places like Delaware. See it today at technical.ly/ebook/tomorrow-toolkit

Problem solved.

No matter how complex the legal challenge, our attorneys are up to the task. We’ll help you make the right moves and find solutions that work for your business.

Uncommon Value

ATLANTA CHICAGO DALLAS DELAWARE INDIANA LOS ANGELES MICHIGAN MINNEAPOLIS OHIO WASHINGTON, D.C. btlaw.com Rubik’s Cube used by permission Rubik’s Brand Ltd. www.rubiks.com ®

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TEDxWILMINGTONSALON

 Thursday, November 17, 10:00 AM – 3:30 PM @ Wilmington Public Library, 10 East 10th Street  Free - Seats are limited (TEDxWilmington, Delaware Division of Libraries) Hear from 9 speakers in 8 talks as they focus on the theme: Information is Power.

#DIW16 INNOVATION CELEBRATION

 Friday, November 18, 5:00–8:00 PM @ 1313 Innovation, 1313 N Market St  $40-50 (Technical.ly) End the 2nd annual week-long celebration of technology and innovation with a bang.

Enjoy the last night of DIW16 mingling amongst the best of Delaware's tech community.

Come see the awards ceremony and stay for the food, drinks and cool tech!

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COVER STORY

THENEW DELAWARE WORKFORCE INSIDE AN EFFORT TO REINVENT THE STATE’S ECONOMY.

BY RANA FAYEZ

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T

HEY’RE NOT NECESSARILY WORKING 9-TO-5 and they’re not necessarily working in a cubicle. Say hello to the new Delaware workforce.

Gone are the days of manufacturing as a complementary powerhouse to Delaware’s financial sector. It was pretty obvious when Chrysler and General Motors shipped off their operations elsewhere after 2008 that manufacturing could no longer carry the weight of the First State’s economic opportunity. The future is in entrepreneurship, innovation, technology and coding. Instead of reminiscing about the good old days, the new Delaware workforce is answering the need to think outside the box. It can optimize a company’s operation by writing code that will automate functions that were previously tedious and time-consuming. The new Delaware workforce has arrived and is quickly growing in size.

Delaware’s economy is being reinvented, and a group of key stakeholders is leading the charge.

There are three pretty meaningful and semi-related efforts happening around Delaware economic development that are worth knowing about. Reinventing Delaware is the name of an annual dinner and stakeholder group looking to spearhead the effort. Silicon Valley East is the internal working name of a volunteer effort that came out of the last Reinventing Delaware event. A major outcome of that includes the {OpenBracket coding competition, which drew dozens of top-flight developers to Wilmington earlier this month.

There’s also Accelerate Delaware, an effort from community stalwarts the Longwood Foundation to push the live-work dynamism of Wilmington and beyond. These are the major economic development efforts from some of the state’s biggest players. And change is afoot.

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If you don’t believe us, here’s more evidence: The U.S. Department of Education recently launched the Educational Quality through Innovation Partnerships (EQUIP) program, which focuses on non-traditional education. In partnership with Wilmington University, Zip Code Wilmington was one of the few schools nationwide that benefited from this federal effort.

Now students will be eligible for Pell grants and college credit. Additionally, U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez recently visited Zip Code Wilmington as a part of his tour to highlight important skills that are needed in the workforce of today and tomorrow.

“I spent a long amount of time when I was at DuPont at a manufacturing plant, I love manufacturing,” venture capitalist Ben duPont said in an interview with Technical.ly. “It’s in my DNA. But I think it’s something Delaware absolutely has to do,” he said of supporting a new generation of workforce development efforts. “Coding is going to be a better investment than manufacturing.”

Emerging Enterprise Center Program Director Frank DeSantis is a longtime champion of First State entrepreneurship efforts. He also thinks it starts with a fresh approach to skills training.

“At first glance one could say this is not really integral to entrepreneurship because a lot of those individuals who are going to the coding school and learning coding aren’t themselves going to be entrepreneurs,” he said. “But it gets to how different pieces all come together for the entrepreneurial ecosystem to have all the components you need.”

With the rise of fintech, there is no doubt that that the banking industry absolutely needs more coders in Delaware.

“If that talent doesn’t exist here in Delaware, they’re going to have to go elsewhere to find it,” DeSantis said of the tech-driven corners of the financial industry. “In my opinion that’s why

PLACES LIKE SILICON VALLEY ARE OVERSATURATED. DELAWARE HAS THE CHANCE TO BE THE NEXT TECH HUB, TO BE THE NEXT AUSTIN, TEXAS. –TARIQHOOK Director of Education, Zip Code Wilmington you have the birth of something like Zip Code, in order to create a pipeline of people who can code in the fintech industry.”

If Delaware does not create the pool of qualified applicants for these jobs, the community risks these companies going elsewhere. The Delaware community lost a promising company last year, Cnverg, to the Austin tech scene due to a scant pool of talent in the area, according to Zip Code Wilmington Director of Education Tariq Hook.

“Places like Silicon Valley are oversaturated,” Hook said. “Delaware has the chance to be the next tech hub, to be the next Austin, Texas.”

Mona Parikh, tech community liaison and adjunct professor at the University of Delaware Horn Program in Entrepreneurship actually recalls a time when she left her native state of Delaware because there were no coding bootcamps around.

“I went to a 12-week code bootcamp, I knew it was the future back then,” she said of her decision in 2012. “That was where we needed to go as a community in Delaware. During the earliest days of coIN Loft we ran coding workshops. We knew the interest was there in coding. We were so excited when Zip Code formed.”

So instead of focusing on what Delaware used to be and trying to bring that back, the community should focus on the future and what possibilities lie ahead. “Regardless of whether or not if manufacturing is coming back, I don’t think it’s going to hurt anyone if we doubled down on teaching people code,” said Parikh.

This is a call for the community to work together and focus on the future of the state’s economy. “Zip Code is not the end-all-be-all, by all means,” said Hook. “Just like there are a number of colleges here in Delaware, there can be more code schools.”

For those in training, now is the time to make the decision, whether to be a part of this movement or be left behind. “As far as labor, I think there’s going to be two types of jobs: People who tell computers what to do and people who are told what to do by computers,” said Ben duPont.

Which would you rather be?

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Market Street is a unique, engaging and energetic destination – NEW places to live, NEW things to experience, NEW venues to explore, taste, shop and meet-up in Wilmington, Delaware!

While you EXPERIENCE Wilmington’s INNOVATION WEEK, enjoy everything Market has to offer.

It’s all here. NewMarketWilm is YOU!

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