This week we’re featuring Nick Ellingson, Director of Product, and the driving force behind Seattle AI Week — an event series uniting startups, enterprises, artists, academics, and more. His mission? To showcase Seattle as a global AI hub while breaking down barriers between tech and non-tech communities.
40+ events. Countless connections. Register for an Seattle AI Week event today!
What inspired you to create your Seattle AI Week?
We created #SeattleAIWeek to celebrate all the amazing AI innovation happening in Seattle, to promote our state as a global AI hub, and to bring people together from all walks of life because AI is for everyone and affects everyone. Also it sounded fun and like a great way to bring the community together.
How does your Seattle AI Week serve the tech community?
#SeattleAIWeek brings together techies from startups to enterprises and everything in between for 40+ events including networking, pitch contests, hackathons, conferences, panels, and more. It helps build a community that spans not just tech but arts, academia, nonprofit, government, and anyone else interested in AI.
We believe that Washington can lead at the intersections of emerging technologies like AI and our other strengths from life sciences to clean energy to arts to agriculture.
What’s the most innovative or interesting thing about Seattle AI Week this year?
We’re bringing the intersection of arts and tech across the entire week, and a big shout out to Seattle Creates and Future Arts for working with us on that!
What do you love the most about the Seattle AI Week?
The thing I love most is how intentional and effective we’ve been at expanding the tent beyond just techies. If we can come together as a state and region to lean on all of our strengths, we’ll be better positioned to lead on AI and other emerging technologies. No more tech and non-tech divides, let’s come together for the benefit of us all!
What is one of the highlights, or memorable moments, for you in doing this work?
I’m from Seattle – it’s my home and my community. What I love doing most is growing that community and finding ways for us all to work together. It’s been awesome working with people from artists to investors to founders to elected officials to students to foreign trade groups to hear what gets them excited about AI and to make the week an awesome experience.
Who should we spotlight next?
In each issue of the New Tech Newsletter we feature a Spotlight Q&A with founders, angels, New Tech alumni presenters, and other people or companies in our community we believe you’d like to learn about. Reach out if you’d like to recommend a startup, founder, angel, accelerator, or New Tech alumni presenter for us to spotlight for the PNW tech community!