9:00 - 9:30 AM

Morning Networking Reception

9:30 - 9:45 AM

Welcome and Introductory Remarks

• Regina Kline, Founder and Managing Partner, Enable Ventures & Founder and Chair, SmartJob

9:45 - 9:55 AM

KICKOFF to the Big Idea Showcase 

9:55 - 10:55 AM

“What’s the Big Idea?” Showcase

10 startups, 6 minutes each, in front of a live audience

This showcase will focus on high impact startups in the disability technology sector that have vied to present from the Disability Innovation Forum’s stage. A beloved feature of the Innovation Forum, the Big Idea Showcase is back by popular demand as an elite technology showcase of high impact companies. The Disability Innovation Forum seeks to highlight early stage companies with big, bold ideas, new voices, and fresh takes that will introduce innovative solutions to persistent challenges in the disability sector. We are happy to give our platform and stage to 10 new companies during this session, to present their work and engage in animated Q&A with our moderator. 

• Start Up Presenters: AccessibleWorld (AccessTrader), Cboard, Haptic, Kara Technologies, Neursantys, Percy Sleep, Rosarium Health, Trembo, Waypoint Learning, and Workback

10:55 -11:20 AM

Spotlight Session: Metabodies, Beauty, and Beyond

In this captivating, TED-style keynote discussion, world-renowned "bionic pop artist" Viktoria Modesta takes us on a journey through the evolution of human augmentation, disability identity, and sci-fi in real life. From her historic performance at the Paralympics wearing a diamond-encrusted prosthetic to her viral music video Prototype, Modesta has spent her career reimagining beauty, the human body, and the technologies that serve it through the lens of imagination.

Now, she presents the body as the latest frontier of innovation. A creative director, futurist, and former MIT Media Lab Director's Fellow, Modesta shares her groundbreaking work, including zero-gravity research and her latest visual AI human design research project, Metabodies.Ai, showcasing how innovations emerging from disability solutions are converging with cutting-edge R&D to drive a new era of human augmentation.

• Presenter: Bionic Artist Viktoria Modesta

11:20-11:50 AM

PANEL: AgeTech and Disability: How Enterprise Scale and Startup Innovation are Shaping the Future of AgeTech  

As global demographics shift toward an aging population, the number of people who are aging into disability is increasing. Designing for physical, cognitive, and sensory disabilities for older adults requires accessible, user-centered solutions built to scale.

This panel convenes industry pioneers to discuss how cross-sector collaboration, inclusive design, and emerging technologies (including ambient AI and smart home integration) are redefining independence for aging adults.

• (Moderator: Fred Moltz, Verizon) Panelists:  Amelia Hay, AARP, Tim Balz, Kalogon, Dhaval Patel, Lotus Labs; Chemu Lang’at, Best Buy Health. 

12:20 - 1:00 PM

Featured Fireside Chat Presentation

• Roy Schwartz, Co-Founder, Axios interviewed by Assistant Managing Editor, Forbes, Alan Schwarz

1:00 - 1:10 PM

Hollywood Film “Flash Before the Bang” Update

• Presenter: Delbert Whetter, Deaf producer and film executive

1:10 - 1:40 PM

Panel: Leveraging Inclusive Technology to Access Healthcare

The panel will focus specifically on the relationship between ensuring healthcare access and leveraging new and emerging, highly inclusive technologies to do so. Today, driving robust innovation programs and exploring novel technological pathways to bridge gaps in care for underserved and diverse populations has developed into a critical, topline trend. As emerging technologies rapidly reshape the healthcare landscape, we aim to discuss how the industry can strategically leverage these tools to foster health equity, break down traditional barriers to care, and propel a new generation of inclusive products and services that advance ethical frameworks and drive accessibility.

• (Moderator: Brandon Andrews) Panelists: Shea Tanis, University of Kansas; Colby Takeda, Founder & CEO, PearSuite; Bill Gianoukos, Founder and CEO of Goodpath; and David Jones, Director, Administration on Community Living, Department of Health and Human Services 

1:40 - 2:10 PM

Panel: Meet the Entrepreneurs that Scale Impact as they Scale Revenue

How do you build a high-growth business while solving some of society's most pressing disability-related barriers and challenges? Join the founders of Kalogon, Wheel the World, Deepwalk, Tiimo, Hapware, and Signapse for a dynamic discussion on the future of double-bottom-line innovation. From AI-driven sidewalk inspections and smart assistive hardware to inclusive travel and neuro-inclusive design, these trailblazing entrepreneurs will share firsthand insights into how they unlocked massive, underserved markets. Discover how prioritizing social impact can serve as your ultimate competitive advantage, proving that purpose and profit can scale at the exact same rate.

• (Moderator: Amy Kenny) Panelists: Camilo Navarro, Wheel the World; Brandon Yates, Deepwalk; Helene Lassen Nørlem, Tiimo; and Sally Chalk, Signapse, Bryan Duarte, Hapware 

2:10 - 2:20 PM

Big Idea Spotlight: Accessible Learning, Accelerated Together: The Accessible EdTech Win-Win

• Presenter: Ayan Kishore, CEO of Benetech

2:20 - 2:30 PM

BREAK

2:30 - 3:00 PM

PANEL: Building Inclusive Entrepreneurship Pathways During a Time of Great Change

The panel will focus specifically on the disability sector's approach to entrepreneurship in the age of Artificial Intelligence and other major shifts in technology. Today, driving robust innovation programs and exploring novel pathways for people with disabilities to achieve self-employment and for new breakthrough products to emerge has developed into a critical, topline trend. As emerging technologies rapidly reshape the economic landscape, we aim to discuss how the sector can strategically leverage AI and other emerging technologies to foster self-sufficiency, break down traditional employment barriers, and propel a new generation of products and services that advance ethical frameworks and drive equity.

• (Moderator: Mary Fernandez, Cisco) Panelists: President Roberta “Bobbi” Cordano, Gallaudet University; Marcie Roth, Executive Director of the World Institute on Disability; Rebecca Vallas, National Academy of Social Insurance

3:00 - 3:10 PM

Big Idea Spotlight: The Forbes 200 and Beyond: Update from Forbes

• Presenter: Alan Schwarz, Assistant Managing Editor, Forbes

3:10 - 3:40 PM

PANEL: Robotics, Mobility, and the Near Future

The intersection of AI, advanced robotics, and biomechanics is quietly triggering a revolution in how we move, age, and recover. No longer confined to the realms of heavy industry or science fiction, wearable robotics and intelligent tech are actively integrating into our daily lives and acting more than ever before like seamless extensions of the human body. This panel brings together pioneering founders and leading academic minds at the forefront of the "movewear" and neuro-assistive movement. 

• (Moderator: Nathan Bomey, Axios) Panelists: Luke Mooney, Founder & CEO, Dephy; Jeremiah Robison, Founder & CEO, Cionic; Professor Greg Sawicki, Georgia Tech; and Dr. Cheri Blauwet, Shirley Ryan Ability Labs.

3:40 - 3:50 PM

Big Idea Spotlight: The Growing Economic Power of the Disability Community

• Presenter: Reid Jewett Smith from Disability:IN

3:50 - 4:00 PM

BREAK

4:00 - 4:30 PM

PANEL: Investing in Disability and Inclusive Design to Unlock the Future

This panel will convene funders to provide their rationale for investing in inclusive tools and technologies. They will offer insight into the successes that their teams have been a part of, their theories of change, and perspectives that entrepreneurs can keep in mind as they look to drive innovation in the space and bring new solutions to market.

• (Moderator: Lauren Sercu) Panelists: Christine Looney, Mission-Related Investments, Ford Foundation; Regina “Gina” Kline, Founder and Managing Partner, Enable Ventures; Donovan Ervin, AlTi Global,  Stephen Vicinelli, Social Finance.

4:30 - 5:00 PM

Panel: Building the Pipeline of New Companies: Disability Innovation & Entrepreneurial Support Organizations

This panel brings together the leaders and builders of disability innovation infrastructure and ecosystems. Every great generation of entrepreneurs is built on the back of an ecosystem, including accelerators, mentors, and business development engines that turn raw talent into fundable, scalable companies. The disability entrepreneurship space is growing across the world, proving that talent alone doesn't move capital, infrastructure does. This panel brings together leaders from the accelerators, ecosystem support organizations, and entrepreneurship curriculum leaders shaping the disability entrepreneurial ecosystem.

• (Moderator: Sebastian Espinosa, Smartjob) Panelists: Varun Chandak, Access to Success; Sofie Poirer, MARS; William Chernicoff, Toyota Mobility Foundation; Leandro Palmieri, Onovolab. 

5:00 - 5:30 PM

Panel: Beyond Compliance: How Global Brands are Co-Designing the Future of Disability Tech

This panel will explore the role of corporate enterprises in the disability tech ecosystem. The next breakthrough in accessibility or inclusive product design won't come from a single line item on a corporate responsibility report,  it will come from enterprises willing to push their own advancements in accessibility and also open their doors, their insight, and their distribution to the founders and communities closest to the problem. In this session, leaders from global corporations will join us to go beyond the press release and get candid about what it actually looks like to partner with disability-led startups and the disability and aging communities.

• (Moderator: Najia Sabir, Hyatt) Panelists: Lauren Lobrano, Amazon, Sam Sepah, Google, Jacklyn Doig-Keys, Meta

5:30 - 5:40 PM

CLOSING REMARKS

• Ruby Moore, DIF Steering Committee and SmartJob Board of Advisors Member

6:00 PM

NETworking and Cocktail reception for all guests

• Location: Grand Hyatt’s Grand Foyer