The cross-sector innovation conference Rally will debut in Indianapolis at the Indiana Convention Center on August 29-31, event founding partner Elevate Ventures announced today. Rally was developed to bring together companies, universities, entrepreneurs and investors from around the world to forge the creative, cross-sector collisions that power innovation, and generate new ideas and great companies across disparate stakeholders.

Rally will feature a pitch competition awarding five $1 million cash prize investments, keynotes, content sessions featuring more than 200 speakers, face-to-face investor meetups, workshops and an innovation demo arena. Ticket sales launched on March 15.

“Today is the lowest rate of change we will ever experience. Now, more than ever, innovation requires stakeholders to come together cross-sector. The technologies we will enjoy tomorrow will not come from siloed thinking; rather, they’ll be birthed from intentional collaboration among the private sector, public sector and disparate stakeholders. This is how the next billion-dollar ideas will be born,” said Christopher Day, CEO of Elevate Ventures and Rally visionary.

Entrepreneurship across the U.S. is booming, and Rally will feed that upward trend. According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Business Formation Statistics, total U.S. business applications doubled in 2020 compared to recent years. In 2021 alone, a record-breaking 5.4 million new business applications were filed; 5.1 million were filed in 2022, illustrating post-pandemic stabilization.

Rally will include six innovation studios to guide learning and connection-building:

1. Software
2. Healthcare
3. Ag & Food
4. HardTech
5. SportsTech
6. Entrepreneurship

Registrants will be made up of entrepreneurs; venture capitalists and investors; industry and university thought leaders; legislators; and business leaders and advisors involved in engineering, marketing, sales, operations, customer success and finance — all of whom have a major role in powering cross-sector innovation.

Rally is produced in partnership with Elevate Ventures and the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, with supporting sponsors High Alpha, AgriNovus Indiana, Powderkeg, Sagamore Institute, The Heritage Group, Indiana Health Industry Forum, Butler University and others.