Toronto Tech Week has unveiled the speakers for its headline event alongside the official program calendar as the inaugural citywide initiative anticipates more than 10,000 attendees this June.
Social Capital’s Chamath Palihapitiya and NVIDIA’s VP of AI research Sanja Fidler will join Shopify leaders Tobi Lütke and Harley Finkelstein at Homecoming, hosted at Toronto’s Evergreen Brickworks on June 24. The mainstage event will be streamed live and also feature local tech CEOs Raquel Urtasun (Waabi), Michael Katchen (Wealthsimple), and Aidan Gomez (Cohere).
“Homecoming at Toronto Tech Week will be a defining moment for everyone building, backing, and betting on Canada’s future,” said Toronto Tech Week co-organizer and BetaKit board chair Satish Kanwar. “It will celebrate the bold talent, relentless energy, and quiet conviction driving Toronto’s underdog story to the world stage.”
Toronto Tech Week’s headline event will feature Social Capital’s Chamath Palihapitiya, NVIDIA’s Sanja Fidler, and Shopify’s Tobi Lütke and Harley Finkelstein.
Homecoming is just one of over 100 partner-run events taking place during Toronto Tech Week from June 23-27. BetaKit will effectively kick off Toronto Tech Week with a BetaKit Town Hall featuring SRTX founder Katherine Homuth at the University of Toronto’s Convocation Hall on June 23. Later that evening, BetaKit will host The Most Ambitious Launch Party with the DMZ, an invitation-only event celebrating the launch of BetaKit’s Most Ambitious print issue, which will be available exclusively at Toronto Tech Week events before its digital issue launch on BetaKit.com.
Other notable speakers from partner events include AI godfather Geoffrey Hinton (at the University of Toronto Frontiers of AI Keynote) and Netflix CTO Elizabeth Stone (at the Elevate Talks event).
Data shared with BetaKit by Toronto Tech Week indicates that almost 50 percent of the confirmed events are open to the public or contain some form of public access. While the most popular locations for events are Toronto’s Financial District and King West, Toronto Tech Week will spread across 19 neighbourhoods throughout the week. Events will run the gamut from panels, firesides, hackathons, demos, and social gatherings, with the five most popular event themes being fundraising, B2B, B2C, engineering, and AI.
“AI innovation is rapidly positioning Canada as a global leader, with Toronto emerging as a critical technology hub,” said Waabi CEO Raquel Urtasun. “By bringing together our world-class entrepreneurs, talent, research institutions, and forward-thinking investors, Toronto Tech Week is fostering a technology ecosystem that leverages Canada’s unique strengths and values to create solutions that address both local and global challenges.”
The full program calendar can be viewed on the Toronto Tech Week website, which contains links for attendees to purchase tickets or RSVP for their desired events throughout the week.
Led by a volunteer-run, non-profit organization, Toronto Tech Week has received financial backing from presenting sponsors Shopify, Google Cloud, and the City of Toronto. BetaKit is the official media partner of Toronto Tech Week.
“We’re proud to celebrate and support our dynamic and innovative tech sector,” said Olivia Chow, Mayor of Toronto, in a statement. “In these uncertain economic times, we must do everything we can to support the growth of the sector. I encourage everyone to participate in Toronto Tech Week events.”
Disclosure: BetaKit majority owner Good Future is the family office of two former Shopify leaders, Arati Sharma and Satish Kanwar.
Feature image courtesy Toronto Tech Week.