Name: Badger Startup Summit 2026
Start: 2026-08-17T09:00:00-05:00
End: 2026-08-17T16:00:00-05:00
Location: Engineering Centers Building

The Day

Schedule at a Glance

9:00 – 9:45 AM	Breakfast & Arrival	Atrium Engineering Centers Building Check-in, entrepreneur posters, company tables. Complimentary continental breakfast and an all-day beverage station.
9:45 – 10:00 AM	Welcome & Kickoff	Tong Auditorium Engineering Centers Building Opening remarks and a welcome from Bonnie Bachman, Director of the Technology Entrepreneurship Office.
10:00 – 10:45 AM	Fireside Chat	Tong Auditorium Engineering Centers Building A conversation, not a prepared keynote, with Hudson Hollister, CEO of HData. Meet Hudson →
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM	Workshop Block 1	“0 to 1” Tong Auditorium Engineering Centers Building From Ideas to Product Room 2180 Mechanical Engineering Building Explore the tracks →
11:00 AM – 2:00 PM	Mentor & Investor One-on-Ones	Room 1047 Engineering Centers Building Drop in for a one-on-one any time from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM. About the one-on-ones →
12:00 – 1:00 PM	Lunch & Networking	Atrium Engineering Centers Building Buffet lunch, dine in Tong — posters and company tables open throughout.
1:00 – 2:00 PM	Workshop Block 2	From UX to AX Room 1045 Engineering Centers Building SBIR: Beyond the Basics & Reauthorization Updates Room 2188 Mechanical Engineering Building
2:15 – 3:00 PM	Pitch Sessions	Tong Auditorium Engineering Centers Building Five startups pitch live with sticker-based People’s Choice voting.
3:00 – 3:10 PM	Break & Open Networking
3:10 – 3:30 PM	Awards & Recognition	Tong Auditorium Engineering Centers Building Pitch competition winners announced.
~4:00 PM	Forward Fest Kickoff Celebration	Delta Beer Lab 167 E Badger Rd, Fitchburg Keep the momentum going at the official Forward Fest Happy Hour Kickoff Party →

Most of the day takes place in the Engineering Centers Building. Rooms 2180 and 2188 are next door in the Mechanical Engineering Building. See the floor plans ↓

Maps

Find Your Room

Session rooms are highlighted in orange. Tap either map to view it full size.

10:00 – 10:45 AM · Tong Auditorium

Fireside Chat

A conversational session with a guest from the founder community — candid stories, no slides.

This year’s guest: Hudson Hollister — CEO, HData. Co-founder of an AI platform helping energy companies and agencies handle bureaucracy, founder of the Data Coalition, and a veteran of the SEC and Congress. Meet Hudson

Hands-on

Workshop Tracks

Up to three tracks run concurrently in each block. Pick the sessions that match where you are on the journey.

Block 1 · 11:00 AM · Tong Auditorium

“0 to 1”

Led by Michael Szewczyk (Okkanti), Elly Kruse & Sumanth Karnati (DataLily AI), and Sanket Deshpande (Dirac Labs)

The full founder arc in one session — design-thinking and ideation, finding your first customers, and what it takes to scale from there, told through the founders’ own stories.

Block 2 · 1:00 PM · Room 1045

From UX to AX: Design in 2026

Led by Jorge Reyna

Tracking the emergence of Agent Experience (AX) and how UX designers can expand their skill set for the new paradigm. Hands-on session building an agentic skill for a design system.

Block 1 · 11:00 AM · Room 2180 · Mechanical Engineering Building

From Ideas to Product

Led by Todd Strother, PhD & Rob Baranowski, MS, JD — Wisconsin CTC

Taking an idea to a real product with Wisconsin CTC — Lean Startup methods for customer discovery and hypothesis validation, plus navigating SBIR/STTR grant funding along the way.

Block 2 · 1:00 PM · Room 2188 · Mechanical Engineering Building

SBIR: Beyond the Basics & Reauthorization Updates

Led by Anya Hanson — Wisconsin CTC

SBIR beyond the basics — program updates and what reauthorization means for founders pursuing federal R&D funding, from the CTC’s Department of Defense liaison. SBIR-specific content; attendees should self-select.

11:00 AM – 2:00 PM · Room 1047