New Orleans Entrepreneur Week returns to New Orleans March 20-27. Here’s the press release:
Local leaders revealed plans for the 7th New Orleans Entrepreneur Week (NOEW), presented by Iberia Bank, to the New Orleans entrepreneurial community at Il Mercato. Scheduled to take place March 20-27, 2015, on Fulton Street in downtown New Orleans, NOEW is produced by The Idea Village.
NOEW is the annual festival celebrating entrepreneurship, innovation, and advanced thinking. This year, 10,000+ attendees, consisting of entrepreneurs, investors, corporations, nonprofits, students, and professionals, are expected to engage through over seventy unique events designed to foster discussion, debate, education, competition, and celebration to support new ideas and elevate entrepreneurial thinking in New Orleans. Launched in 2009, NOEW has evolved into one of the most authentic entrepreneurship festivals in the country.
“New Orleans Entrepreneur Week is becoming part of New Orleans’ annual rhythms and rituals alongside Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest, and Saints Season,” said Tim Williamson, Co-founder and CEO of The Idea Village. “NOEW is the platform for the entrepreneurial community to connect, as over thirty partners will have their own “stage” to showcase over seventy-five new ventures across strategic initiatives in water, energy, arts, healthcare, education, food, women in business, and youth entrepreneurship. This year, we are also excited to invite other communities to join us at NOEW to learn how we do things differently in New Orleans.”
New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu added, “New Orleans has become a leading entrepreneurial city and we are only going to maintain that status by continuing to scale locally, by continuing to support local entrepreneurs and innovators, and by making New Orleans Entrepreneur Week something we attend each year.”
“Iberia Bank sees great value in New Orleans Entrepreneur Week because it has become a powerful platform for the larger entrepreneurial community,” said Daryl G. Byrd, President and CEO of Iberia Bank Corporation. “We are proud to be the title sponsor of this impactful event and look forward to working together to nurture our thriving business community over the next three years leading up to 2018, New Orleans’ tri-centennial.”
“The NOEW platform has something for everyone,” said Victoria Adams, Director of New Orleans Entrepreneur Week. “The 2015 schedule was created for the expanding entrepreneurial community and incorporates local assets alongside national trends so that the entire community can participate in the entrepreneurial movement.”
Additional information, including the 2015 event headliners, will be released on an ongoing basis via @helloNOEW leading up to NOEW. The full schedule will be released on Monday, February 23rd, when registration opens via www.NOEW.org.
ABOUT NEW ORLEANS ENTREPRENEUR WEEK:
New Orleans Entrepreneur Week (NOEW), presented by IBERIABANK, is the annual festival celebrating business, innovation, and advanced thinking in New Orleans. Produced by The Idea Village, NOEW engages a dynamic global to support growing companies and elevate entrepreneurial successes through eight days of discussion, debate, education, competition, and celebration. This year, NOEW 2015 will take place March 20-27, 2015 and 10,000+ are expected to engage through over 70 events. www.NOEW.org.
ABOUT THE IDEA VILLAGE:
In 2000, The Idea Village was formed by a group of New Orleans citizens who believed entrepreneurship is a catalyst for positive change. The Idea Village formalized in 2002 as an independent 501(c) 3 non-profit organization with a mission to identify, support, and retain entrepreneurial talent
in New Orleans by providing direct service to high impact entrepreneurs, educating the broader community, and supporting initiatives that strengthen our entrepreneurial infrastructure. From 2009-2014, The Idea Village has provided direct support to over 3,411 New Orleans entrepreneurs by engaging over 2,600 professionals to allocate 68,543 consulting hours and $2.5 million in seed capital. In addition, The Idea Village hosts New Orleans Entrepreneur Week, a business festival that has become the platform for the New Orleans entrepreneurial ecosystem. The Idea Village Gold Excellence award from the International Economic Development Council for our Entrepreneur Season model in 2012 and were recognized as a top-three entrepreneurship ecosystem developer in 2014 by the Global Innovation Summit. www.ideavillage.org.
NOEW 2015 Highlights by Day:
Friday, March 20: Opening Celebration
NOEW 2015 will kick off with an innovative, New Orleans-style launch event that is free and open to the public.
Saturday, March 21: The NOLA Next Young Innovators Experience, hosted by Junior Achievement and The Idea Village, sponsored by the Brees Dream Foundation
For local students, the NOLA Next Young Innovators Experience will feature engaging workshops, speakers and demos. It will culminate with the Trust Your Crazy Ideas high school pitch competition.
Sunday, March 22: The Food MiniCon, a collaboration between the New Orleans Culinary and Hospitality Institute and the Idea Village, sponsored by French Market Coffee, New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation and Rouses Markets
This MiniCon will feature the latest food innovations to the public.
Monday, March 23: Pitch Local, brought to you by JP Morgan
Pitch Local will highlight eight different entrepreneur showcase events hosted by local ecosystem partners. They include:
1. The 5th annual Water Challenge hosted by Propeller and sponsored by the Greater New Orleans Foundation
2. The 4.0 Schools Education Pitch
3. The Downtown NOLA Arts Based Business Pitch hosted by the Downtown Development District, Creative Alliance of New Orleans, and Louisiana Cultural Economy Foundation
4. Tulane’s Business Model Competition hosted by Tulane Entrepreneurs Association (TEA)
5. The Women in Business Challenge hosted by the Urban League of Greater New Orleans
6. The VetLaunch Challenge hosted by VetLaunch
7. The JEDCO Entrepreneur Challenge hosted by JEDCO
8. The Startup St. Bernard Challenge hosted by the Meraux Foundation
Tuesday, March 24 – Thursday, March 26: NOEW Interactive
For those looking to learn and connect, NOEW Interactive is the 3-day track of keynotes, seminars, networking events, and open pitch opportunities to be connected, engaged and inspired. Themes are Marketing & Branding, Technology and Raising Capital/Scaling.
Wednesday, March 25 – Friday, March 27: NOEW Investor Track
For investors, the NOEW Investor Track will highlight fifty companies in fifty hours. The NOEW VIP Investor Track is for national accredited investors. For more information, contact alex@ideavillage.org.
Thursday, March 26: Energy and Healthcare Innovation Summits
New to the NOEW calendar, an Energy Innovation Summit, hosted by Southeast Louisiana Energy Initiative. Also new to NOEW calendar, a Healthcare Innovation Summit, hosted by Ochsner Health Systems in partnership with GE Healthcare.
Friday, March 27: The Big Idea
The Big Idea, the culmination of NOEW, is a crowd-sourced pitch extravaganza that will feature twelve of New Orleans’ most promising startup ventures and a celebrity-judging panel. The entire community is invited to attend.