Last week was Boulder Startup Week. This year was particularly good. 🌟
I had so much fun this year, I started to wonder if I might really be an extrovert… until the social exposure hangover started to kick in mid-week. Truly, never have I had so much fun “networking.” So many people I met showed up open, considerate, and curious.
Among all the events and the programming, here’s what I saw as the themes and my take aways from the week:
🤖 AI, of course. Many sessions were dedicated to AI as a topic, and it still was a prominent part of the conversation in many of the sessions that weren’t focused on AI. Mostly people really want to know: 1. what opportunities it creates for their industry, 2. its implications across strategy and operations, and 3. practical, tactical ways of getting value from it.
⚕️ Everyone’s looking to healthcare innovation. Healthcare was represented in a big way, from startup and healthcare org participation to programming content. Many considerations discussed by panelists across sector types struck me as consistent across healthcare settings, and even were very familiar to me having worked on design strategy and modernization of clinician workflows at the Veterans Health Administration. For example, speaking with a clinician who is founding a health services startup, my knowledge of EHR data and the implications for patient and clinician experience informed different framing of her strategy during a friendly happy hour conversation. What is different across healthcare contexts is what evolving technologies and demographic needs / preferences mean about the specifics of implementation and new value opportunities opening up.
🌡️ More climate programming, please! I was surprised to see relatively modest programming around climate innovation given Colorado’s active presence in the field. There’s much to explore around what climate-related opportunities become possible with new computational abilities, especially as Boulder positions itself as a leader in the quantum space. And with climate medicine programs like at Colorado University on the rise, I would love to see a dovetail on the programming between healthcare, tech and climate (areas where strategic design can add a lot of value, and that WHOLE Innovation & Design focuses on) next year.
🫂 The power of genuine connection. After a few years of relative isolation and disruption, people want to feel connected and in community. Whether in thoughtfully structured networking sessions or in panels addressing the future of the startup community, I saw a real counter response to transactional exchanges and a move toward meaningfully engaging with one another. Innovation requires new technology and new framing of opportunities, and this week made the case for vibrant human connection, too. For me, the most valuable part of the week was the people.
