We at Technical.ly hosted our inaugural Delaware Innovation Week. It was our smallest community yet to do something like that, so we anxious to see what would happen.
The early signs show the model worked — new people came to take part in the week and join the community. So we’ll be back in November 2016.
Since it was the first year, I thought I’d share some surprises that came across.
The core community clearly rallied for this first year. The week was better received, better attended and more meaningful than the first year of other initiatives we’ve done in other markets. Find all our coverage of the week here.
- The week’s kickoff led by sponsor JP Morgan Chase was well-attended and meaningful — from the business community and policymakers to the younger, newer tech-inclined group we’re aiming to bring into the fold.
- We got more than 2,000 votes for the first ever Delaware Innovation Awards.
- Policymakers participated in the week, including a speech from a Wilmington City Councilman.
- Our Dev Talks half-day conference packed more than 70 technologists into the state’s first coworking space, but most still had never been there before.
- Notable #opengov speaker Mark Headd made a call to action for a new civic hacking community.
- An entrepreneur built and launched a product with #DIW15 as his deadline.
- Our closing party at the Hercules Building in Wilmington brought a true cross-section with more than 150 people.
We have some photos here on Facebook.
