Each week we curate a list of events where North Texas’ innovators, founders, funders and makers are showing up. Details shift, so confirm on the official website or registration page before you go. To see our recurring events, click here.
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Next 30 Days in North Texas
Startup & Venture
· 10 a.m.
Rooted Expo 2026
Hosted by Rooted Expo | Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas, 500 W Las Colinas Blvd, Irving
Three days and around 300 brands, gathering the Texas consumer packaged goods community in one room. Day one, October 20, is Ignite: a sampling and discovery event where emerging brands showcase products and connect with buyers ahead of the main show. October 21 and 22 are the Expo proper, with two full days of trade show programming for exhibitors, buyers, retailers, investors, distributors, and industry leaders, including the Rooted Pitch Slam.
Startup & Venture
· 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Plug and Play Frisco Batch 6 Expo
Hosted by Plug and Play Tech Center | Elite Performance Training, 3800 Gaylord Pkwy Ste 120, Frisco | Free
Startups from Plug and Play Frisco's sixth cohort pitch to the regional network of corporate partners and investors after twelve weeks in the travel and hospitality and sportstech verticals. Technologies on show span human performance, smart stadiums, devices and wearables, and immersive training. Opening remarks at 2 p.m., free parking.
Startup & Venture
· 6 p.m.
Unicorn Rodeo 2026
Hosted by Texas-Israel Alliance | Venue TBA, Dallas
A two-day Texas-Israel business conference putting Israeli founders in front of Texas investors, corporate leaders and policymakers. Day one is an invitation-only opening dinner, now sold out; day two carries keynotes and panels on AI and defense, energy, and health and biotech collaboration, plus an Israeli startup showcase and go-to-market Q&A. Announced keynotes include Ben Lamm of Colossal Biosciences, former Mossad director Yossi Cohen, former Texas governor Rick Perry and Dallas mayor Eric Johnson.
Policy & Legal
· 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
What It Takes to Build a Region: 2026 Inland Port Symposium
Hosted by Dallas County Inland Port | Paul Quinn College, 3837 Simpson Stuart Rd, Dallas
The Inland Port Symposium's tenth-year edition widens its scope past logistics to the rest of what regional growth requires. Sessions cover critical infrastructure priorities, regional connectivity, the gap between employers and the regional workforce, and long-term competitiveness, drawing public agencies, elected officials, economic development professionals and industry leaders.
Startup & Venture
· 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.
GrowthTech Summit 2026
Hosted by Start.Pivot.Grow. | Wells Fargo Las Colinas campus, 401 W Las Colinas Blvd, Irving
The inaugural GrowthTech Summit, from AI-powered small business accelerator Start.Pivot.Grow., on how artificial intelligence is reshaping Main Street businesses. Melissa Bradley, founder of New Majority Ventures, keynotes on the applied AI economy reaching Main Street. The half-day programme adds a fireside chat on responsible AI and its legal implications, conversations with investors and founders, and practical scaling strategies, closing with more than $35,000 in accelerator grants awarded live to cohort graduates alongside awards for innovation, AI leadership and community impact.
Startup & Venture
· 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Venture Dallas 2026
Hosted by Venture Dallas | Old Parkland, 3819 Maple Ave, Dallas
Venture Dallas 2026 introduces a new setting and refined format with multiple stages, curated networking, and startup pitches. Tickets and full programming to be announced.
Networking
· 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
DallasMeetup at Legacy Hall
Hosted by DallasMeetup | The Lexus Box Garden at Legacy Hall, 7800 Windrose Ave, Plano
A big-tent, industry-agnostic networking mixer in the open-air Lexus Box Garden. This edition leans heavily toward aviation and mobility: the featured-networker list runs to American Airlines, Southwest, Envoy Air, JSX, Ameriflight, Leviate Air Group, Toyota North America, Toyota Connected, DART and Dallas College.
Networking
· Times vary — see organizer
DFW Alliance of Technology and Women 25th Anniversary Celebration
Hosted by DFW Alliance of Technology and Women | Venue Forty 50, 4050 Belt Line Rd, Addison
DFW ATW marks 25 years of connecting and advancing women in North Texas technology.
Corporate & Business
· Times vary — see organizer
Bloomberg Invest Dallas 2026
Hosted by Bloomberg Live | Venue TBA, Dallas
Bloomberg convenes exchanges, issuers, investors, banks and regulators around the question of whether Texas is becoming a genuine second centre of US capital markets, with NYSE Texas operating, the Texas Stock Exchange newly trading and Nasdaq expanding locally. Themes span exchange competition, listing strategy, capital formation, the DFW wealth influx and front-row views on data centres, commercial real estate and energy. Speakers include TXSE Group chairman and CEO James Lee, JPMorgan's Elaine Agather and Mavericks CEO Rick Welts.
Tech & Infrastructure
· 12 p.m.
FuturOps 2026
Hosted by FuturOps | Venue TBA, Dallas
A practitioner-led, independent conference for the Palantir ecosystem, organised around real deployments rather than vendor keynotes. Day one runs a Data Wranglers hackathon and a fireside chat on AI sovereignty, followed by a PwC-hosted reception; day two carries a Fujitsu keynote on multi-agent enterprise transformation, parallel breakout tracks from Deloitte, ISG, Unit8, Canon and Palantir itself, and a panel arguing that talent, not technology, is the real constraint on enterprise AI. Closes with the FuturOps 2026 awards dinner.
Startup & Venture
· 8 a.m. to 9 a.m.
Frisco Plug-In (October)
Hosted by Plug and Play Tech Center | Comerica Banking Center, First Floor, 17 Cowboys Way, Frisco | Free
Plug and Play's monthly morning meetup for the Frisco innovation community. Introductions from 8, then open networking over coffee with founders, investors, and corporate partners.
Health & Life Sciences
· Times vary — see organizer
MedCity INVEST Digital Health 2026
Hosted by MedCity News and Health Wildcatters | Pegasus Park, 3000 Pegasus Park Dr, Dallas
A digital health investing conference bringing founders, investors, and health system leaders to Pegasus Park.
Networking
· 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Extraordinary Women in Tech: Dallas Executive Summit 2026
Hosted by Extraordinary Women in Tech | Venue disclosed on registration, Plano | From $45
An invitation-and-application gathering of roughly 70 C-level executives, senior leaders and founders, built around the conversations that rarely happen on stage. This year's theme, The Next Chapter, covers leadership, AI, transformation and career pivots, with a keynote from Fern Johnson of The Fern Effect, two panels, the signature EWiT Open Mic and an executive reception.
Save the Date
Startup & Venture
· Times vary — see organizer
CodeLaunch World Championship 2026
Hosted by CodeLaunch | Gilley's Dallas, 1135 Botham Jean Blvd, Dallas
CodeLaunch's championship pitch event, pairing early-stage startups with development teams to build and present a prototype.
Tech & Infrastructure
· 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Mind & Machine at SMU: The Economics of AI
Hosted by Mind & Machine DFW | EY Gallery, SMU Cox School of Business, 6214 Bishop Blvd, Dallas
A special edition built around what enterprise AI actually costs: FinOps, token and model consumption, infrastructure economics, governance and ROI. The keynote comes from Amy Chaney, SVP and technology COO for global technology, cybersecurity, risk and control at Citi. A panel moderated by Single Fin CEO Zack Tembi brings together Palo Alto Networks, TAHO Labs and Slalom on agentic workloads, compute utilisation and scaling AI without scaling waste. Capacity is capped at 200.
Startup & Venture
· Times vary — see organizer
Global Entrepreneurship Week North Texas 2026
Hosted by GEW North Texas | Multiple venues across North Texas
North Texas' arm of Global Entrepreneurship Week, a week of founder-led programming staged across the region under the banner 'For Entrepreneurs By Entrepreneurs'. The 2026 schedule had not been published as of early October; the organisers were still at save-the-date stage.
Health & Life Sciences
· Times vary — see organizer
SMU Cox Healthcare Conference: Technology-Driven Healthcare
Hosted by SMU Cox School of Business | James M. Collins Executive Education Center, SMU Cox, 3150 Binkley Ave, Dallas
SMU Cox convenes healthcare and technology leaders on how technology is reshaping care delivery.
Startup & Venture
· 12 p.m. to 7 p.m.
INNOVATE 2026
Hosted by MassChallenge | Pegasus Park, 3000 Pegasus Park Dr, Dallas
MassChallenge's flagship Dallas convening, subtitled Beyond Venture Capital, builds a day around the capital stack that carries research from lab to market when venture money alone will not do it. Sessions pair Island CEO Mike Fey with D CEO's Maria Lawson, Pharos Capital's Kneeland Youngblood with Lyda Hill Philanthropies CEO Nicole Small, and former White House COVID-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha with Dallas County health leaders on a first-of-its-kind biological threat detection pilot. Ken Hersh closes with lessons from The Fastest Tortoise.
Tech & Infrastructure
· Times vary — see organizer
North American Blockchain Summit 2026
Hosted by North American Blockchain Summit | Dallas
Hosted by the Texas Blockchain Council, NABS convenes C-suite executives, policymakers, and infrastructure operators around energy and digital infrastructure. The 2026 edition, themed Blueprints, focuses on the technical, energy, and regulatory frameworks behind North American digital infrastructure, alongside capital deployment and partnership building.
Startup & Venture
· Times vary — see organizer
SMU Dallas 100 Entrepreneur Awards
Hosted by Caruth Institute for Entrepreneurship, SMU Cox | SMU Cox School of Business, Dallas
The Caruth Institute's annual ranking and awards night for the fastest-growing privately held companies in Dallas.
Startup & Venture
· Times vary — see organizer
Holiday Hustle Market and Pitch
Hosted by The DEC Network | Fort Worth
The DEC Network pairs a holiday makers' market with a startup pitch event, aimed at founders and the wider community.
Research & Higher Ed
· 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
State of Public Education
Hosted by Dallas Regional Chamber | The Astoria, 3216 Royalty Row, Irving
Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath delivers a keynote on statewide student achievement, campus and district performance, and the rollout of a historic state investment in public education. A panel of local experts then examines how AI is affecting classroom instruction, student learning, and academic outcomes.
Tech & Infrastructure
· 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Chief Innovation Officer Summit: Innovation Strategy and Leadership During Exponential Change
Hosted by SMU Lyle School of Engineering | SMU Lyle School of Engineering, Dallas
A full-day summit on how innovation leadership is changing as AI, quantum, and digital twins reshape what organizations can build. Speakers include CTOs and innovation chiefs from Texas Instruments, AT&T, NVIDIA, Lockheed Martin, Caterpillar, Ericsson, Samsung, Toyota North America, IBM, Ford Pro, Humana, Jacobs, Gartner, NASA, and DFW International Airport, alongside founders from Worlds, Matic, ByteTrail, and SMU Impact Lab. The format mixes keynote panels with closed-door boardrooms, brainstorm sessions, and a Birds of a Feather luncheon, closing with a reception showcasing SMU faculty and student research.
Dallas Innovates is an official media partner of this event.
Research & Higher Ed
· Times vary — see organizer
Texas Innovation Conference and Awards 2027
Hosted by TCU | Brown-Lupton University Union, 3rd Floor Ballroom, TCU, 2901 Stadium Dr, Fort Worth
TCU's statewide innovation conference and awards, gathering university, industry, and startup participants.
Tech & Infrastructure
· Times vary — see organizer
Convergence AI 2027
Hosted by Convergence AI | Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas, 500 W Las Colinas Blvd, Irving
A Dallas AI conference bringing together practitioners, researchers, and enterprise adopters.
Recurring in DFW
Startup & Venture
Every Wednesday, 9 to 10 a.m.
1 Million Cups Fort Worth
Hosted by 1 Million Cups / Sparkyard / The DEC Network | Create FW, 400 Bryan Ave, Fort Worth | Free
A weekly morning session where two early-stage founders present to the Fort Worth entrepreneurial community and take questions from the room.
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R E A D N E X T
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The hybrid event in August will take place in person at SMU and virtually. The seventh annual Dallas Startup Week powered by Capital One is Dallas-Fort Worth's largest event focused on driving entrepreneurial success, economic impact, and innovation in the region.
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You'll find deadlines coming up for a new accelerator program; and many more opportunities.
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You’ve found Dallas Innovates’ archive of news briefs from July to September 2021.
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Nonprofit BUiLT is hosting the event to highlight the success and possibilities of Black tech talent in the region. “There is no talent pipeline problem,” says Peter Beasley, co-founder of the Blacks United in Leading Technology International. “Black tech talent is widely available, especially in North Texas.”
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With Dallas ranked as one of the top cities in America for tech pros, UT Dallas and Fullstack have launched four skills training bootcamps focused on coding, cybersecurity, data analytics, and DevOps. The online bootcamps begin in November with tuition at $11,995 each.
