It’s one of the densest business clusters in the world, but we know there isn’t yet an overflowing of identity for the mid-Atlantic.

That imprecise geographic strip roughly between New York and Virginia is an old one by our nation’s standards. Joining D.C., there are big cultural hubs that have at times distant relationships with each other – New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore, chief among them.

Since we at Technical.ly publish in all of these communities, we’ve felt a responsibility to try to tie these remarkably similar tech communities together. We piloted a few years back with our civic tech-infused Rise conference. Now we have something new in this spirit.

Join us for Technical.ly’s inaugural Introduced conference during Philly Tech Week Presented by Comcast NBC Universal, which runs for the eightth year next Friday through the following weekend May 5. The event is called Introduced, as we’re aiming to drive quality, curated relationships to our hundreds of attendees.

In addition to the sessions and exhibit floor you can expect, we’re making direct connections between founders and potential customers, in addition to mentors, investors and services. Several residents of The District are speaking:

• Entrada ESL founder and CEO Erin Janklow will join founders from several mid-Atlantic communities discussing the similarities and differences in growing a tech company outside Silicon Valley.
• ISL Director of Digital Caresse (Duford) Giles will offer lessons from product launches.
• USA Today OnPolitics reporter Jessica Estepa will speak on fake news and technology’s relationship with truth.
• Former Obama White House Social Secretary Deesha Dyer will join the fake news discussion.
• La Colombe Roasters CEO Todd Carmichael and Honeygrow Chief Brand Officer Jen Denis, two brands familiar to D.C., will also be speaking on building company identity.

The one-day conference will close out with a keynote conversation of investors featuring Arlan Hamilton, the Backstage Capital founding investor whom 1776 recently hosted to discuss her investments in underrepresented communities, in addition to First Round Capital‘s Josh Kopelman and Maya Baratz of Techstars. The day will also feature many corporates worth pursuing for client relationships, including representatives from household names like Hershey’s, Campbell’s, Comcast, Amtrak, Vanguard, JP Morgan Chase and more.

In all, Philly Tech Week features 100 events on tech and entrepreneurship.