KICKOFF to the Big Idea Showcase 

• Introducing Moderator, Cliff Weitzmann, Founder and CEO, Speechify

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

Featured Fireside Chat Presentation

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

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.

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

• Featuring Ayan Kishore, CEO of Benetech

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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.

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

• Featuring Alan Schwarz

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.

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

• Featuring Reid Jewett Smith from Disability:IN

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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.

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.

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 Google, Samsung, and Marriott 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.

CLOSING REMARKS

NETworking and Cocktail reception for all guests