At Tech2Gether, planning for Wilmington as innovation hub

Yesterday, Jordy Levy of Softbank Capital opened the second day of the Tech2Gether conference in Wilmington. He’s from Buffalo, N.Y., and is rallying for his hometown to become, once again, a thriving city.
So what’s Buffalo got to do with Wilmington?
“The city is the soul of the community,” said Levy, who told the audience at World Cafe Live that Delaware is in an ideal location to become a technology hub.
The first-ever event, created by 1313 Innovation, featured speakers from the technology and innovation sectors.
Technical.ly’s Christopher Wink spoke at the event.
See his slides
He was followed by David Freschman, who spoke about the intersection of fashion and technology. He cited Wilmington’s entreDonovan (a boutique we covered here), which uses technology to create custom business clothing.
Delaware native Wayne Kimmel, of SeventySix Capital, encouraged attendees to embrace forming meaningful professional relationships.
“Every time it’s someone’s birthday, it’s the opportunity for you to network. It’s a great thing that everyone has birthdays,” Kimmel said.
Following Kimmel, Mona Parikh moderated a five-team startup panel, featuring John Kirk of MUNI-Tech; Mac Nagaswami of Carvertise; Katie O’Hara of Katie O’Hara Design; Wes Garnett of Kurbi; and satirist Bob Hirschfield. Each of the speakers are members of The Loft coworking space in downtown Wilmington.
“It’s definitely a home away from home. I probably spend 15 hours a day here. It’s what it takes to get the company off the ground,” Nagaswami said. “We went through the Horn Program of Entrepreneurship. It’s interesting to see the difference in each ecosystem. It’s been an absolutely fantastic experience so far.”
Jeff Davison of Leading Edge Ventures rounded out the morning of speakers. We previously featured the Newark-based VC firm — read that here.
Prior to breaking for lunch, Gov. Jack Markell, a surprise visitor, stopped in to encourage technologists to keep moving Delaware forward with innovation.