Events Roundup: Resources for women entrepreneurs, legal AI and more

Typically, the spring events calendar is packed with communal events in Baltimore. But with the blossoms arriving amid a pandemic once again in 2021, many of the city’s hallmark communal events aren’t going forward as usual.

Some, like Flower Mart, will have to wait another year and opt for a virtual format. Others, like Preakness, will be open to fewer attendees.

But with a year of pivoting and innovating under their belts, event organizers are continuing to get creative and keeping the traditions that are bound up with the city’s identity going. Take American Visionary Art Museum‘s much-loved Kinetic Sculpture Race. True to form, this year’s event is dubbed “Honey, I Shrunk the Kinetic Sculpture Race.” The May 1 event will involve 3D, miniature “Dream Machine” models of the human-powered sculptures that race through the city, but they’ll still be traversing over land, sea, mud and sand. RSVP here to watch online, and relive the big in-person event with our 2019 coverage.

Meanwhile, virtual events that bring together entrepreneurs and technologists are continuing, offering plenty of chances to learn and check in with familiar faces. Check out the full calendar below:

Founder City: Growing Talent

Founder City, the entrepreneurship event series from Betamore and Frederick’s FITCI, is hosting a panel on closing the talent gap with industry and education leaders in Baltimore such as Catalyte CEO Jacob Hsu, Cecil College President Dr. Mary Bolt, Emily Branchaw, the director of operations at UMBC Training Centers, and Arnold Packaging President Mick Arnold.

• Wednesday, April 28
• Register

Baltimore Techies For Good: New Tools

The meetup group at the intersection of tech and impact will host a roundtable to discuss tools that were particularly effective in 2020. “We’ll cover tools such as Zoom, Teams, WebEx, live streaming tools like Twitch, virtual meeting/event platforms like Remo, messaging platforms like Slack and Discord, etc.,” the Meetup event description states.

• Wednesday, April 28
• 6:30 to 8 p.m.
• RSVP

ATHENAPowerLink: Challenges and resources for women entrepreneurs 

Baltimore mentorship program ATHENAPowerLink is bringing together panelists including University System of Maryland Venture Development Director Lindsay Ryan and Tenax Technologies CEO Tamera Rush for a conversation moderated by General Linda Singh to discuss challenges and resources available for women entrepreneurs in Greater Baltimore.

•  Thursday, April 29
• 1:00 pm to 2:00pm
• Register

AI Roundtable: Legal AI Opportunity

TEDCO’s Artificial Intelligence Roundtable is hosting a discussion featuring a pair of startup founders working in legal tech and AI: BlackBoiler‘s Dan Broderick and YoTengoBot’s Jared Jaskot.

• Thursday, April 29
• 4:00 to 5:30 p.m.
• RSVP

Hexcite: Pitching & Polling

The Johns Hopkins Technology Innovation Center’s Hexcite pre-accelerator program is hosting a Pitching & Polling competition for the early stage digital health teams in its program. The teams bring together members from  Johns Hopkins, MICA, and the University of Maryland, and they will be evaluated by industry judges.

• Friday, May 7
• 12 p.m.
• Register

Baltimore Innovation Week

Baltimore Innovation Week is on the horizon. The three-day, virtual celebration of forward-thinking companies and entrepreneurs in Baltimore is designed to highlighting the city’s leaders, and offer lessons for the people building new ventures. Check out the lineup and register for the packed schedule of events at the 2021 Baltimore Innovation Week site.

• May 18 to 20
• Register

Donte Kirby is a 2020-2022 corps member for Report for America, an initiative of The Groundtruth Project that pairs young journalists with local newsrooms. This position is supported by the Robert W. Deutsch Foundation.