A packed week of innovation events organically popped up during the last week of February — and Khalif Cooper saw an opportunity to turn those gatherings into something bigger.
“Baltimore is a hidden gem. I want people to see what I see.”
Khalif Cooper, Baltimore Tech week
Cooper, who spearheads the BLK Tech Connect meetup in the city, had long wanted to revive a dedicated week for Baltimore’s tech community. So he figured, with a foundation already laid, why not start one now?
“So many other cities have a tech week,” Cooper said, “and I was like, I can’t fix it myself, but I can help start it.”
In just a few days, including an overnight coding session, Cooper rallied other local tech event organizers and launched a website to market the week as a coordinated, citywide effort.
From Feb. 23 to Feb. 27, ecosystem heavyweights will host meetups, mixers and coworking opportunities centered around the annual Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) basketball tournament, a marquee showcase for Historically Black Colleges and Universities along the East Coast.
The tournament features a Tech Summit House and other professional and cultural programming — a built-in audience for Baltimore’s rebooted tech week, Cooper said. The CIAA recently renewed its contract with Baltimore through 2029 and draws thousands of visitors to the city each year.
The week’s events are organized independently and aggregated on the Baltimore Tech Week website.
Among them is Palava Night, organized by Towson University student Daniel Kai. He launched the semi-monthly meetup in coordination with his startup, Palava Hut, a civic tech platform. Each gathering centers on a different theme tied to technology and current events.
A comeback story
Emerging Technology Centers (ETC), a subsidiary of the Baltimore Development Corporation, ran a similar effort for more than a decade in partnership with Technical.ly: Baltimore Innovation Week.
Over its tenure, the conference brought together tech leaders across industries, with its last edition separating sessions into tracks such as creative, science and education.
The initiative went on hiatus in 2023 following a leadership change at ETC. Cooper is eager to pick up the reins and turn it into a more established conference in the years ahead.
“Baltimore is a hidden gem,” Cooper said. “I want people to see what I see.”
Kai, who is helping Cooper with marketing assets for Baltimore Tech Week, said it’s essential for the city to have an annual gathering that spotlights the local tech ecosystem. And, hopefully, it’ll see wins like DC’s Startup and Tech Week, which draws over 8,000 attendees from across the country.
“There’s still a lot of work for Baltimore to do to become a big tech city,” Kai said. “But things like this are the spark that creates the fire that makes us big.”
