What is Techtober?

Techtober is not an event,  it is a season of independently created events, all displaying the innovative energy that drives discovery and entrepreneurship, all celebrating technology, creativity or the energy of startups.  There are major multi-day events that draw hundreds and grow each year.  In Central Arkansas, these include the Little Rock Tech Fest and the Jolt Hackathon. Northwest Arkansas has a week of events linked to their Technology Summit.  Northeast Arkansas is the home of the Arkansas Science Festival.  There are also single-day events that move location.  These include the Maker Summit, the Arkansas Academy of Computing annual meeting, and the Arkansas Computer Science Leadership Conference.  

There are dozens of other events, some scheduled as recurring events at the Entrepreneurial Support Organizations (ESOs) in the state, including the Venture Center,  Conductor, Startup Junkie and Innovation Hub.  As an example, the Innovation Hub's October Hub UB will feature a talk by local firm CAE and Southern Arkansas University called  "Design for Real" about their partnership to bring real world problems to students. 

There are events related to education - including Encounter East,  the East Initiative's open house that will also feature virtual reality, and the EdTech Arkansas Conference of Technology.  There are events that are entertaining - the Startup Crawl (Fayetteville - 40 companies,  4 stages and 12 craft breweries) and the Ozark Mountain Brawl (battling robots in Searcy) are even on the same day.  AMP Fest 2019 (with beer sampling, technology activation and live music) and the Conway EcoFest also provide fun.

There are many more events, listed under our Events page, along with lists of organizations supporting events and blogs about the season and events.  If you wish to submit an event to add to our calendar, click on the “Submit Event” button. Techtober has grown to such a huge event in Arkansas that some events may not be shown on our calendar.

This year also features scholarships for computer science teachers to attend Little Rock Tech Fest bringing together the strong computer science education program in Arkansas with the community of developers and employers.

As we celebrate Techtober, we look forward to a year of even more creative excitement and growth in technology and entrepreneurism in Arkansas.

Have fun, learn something new, and work together to build Arkansas.  It's Techtober 2019!