By Krysten Brenlla
April is #MiamiTechMonth – Miami’s time to shine in tech innovation, creativity, and connection. It one of the most exciting times of the year for South Florida tech.
Throughout the month of April, South Florida is coming together to bring happy hours, workshops, events, conferences, learning, and more. Miami Hack Week and Miami Tech Week activities are already off and running, but there’s still time to fill up your calendar.
Here’s our guide to a sampling of the dozens of events worth checking out the rest of the month. For more #MiamiTechMonth events, visit https://www.miamitechmonth.com/.
April 11: Miami Startup Festival
Location: The Lazo Founders House (501 SW 24th Rd., Miami, FL. 33129)
Time: 11 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Venture Miami and Lazo House are hosting the Miami Startup Festival to help the community connect with founders, investors, and mentors. Participants will also get the opportunity to hear from startup industry leaders, and witness startup pitches. From 6 p.m. – 8 p.m., the event will close out at the Beer Garden, featuring live music, food trucks, and more. For more information and to secure your spot, visit their event website here.
April 11-12: Smart Cities MIAMI 2024 Conference
Location: University of Miami, Coral Gables campus | Expo Center (1280 Stanford Drive, Coral Gables, FL. 33146)
The University of Miami School of Architecture and Frost Institute for Data Science and Computing present the 8th annual Smart Cities Miami Conference. This year’s Smart Cities Conference, titled “City of the Future: Unleashing the Power of AI in Urban Development,” will provide a forum for leaders in academia, industry, and government to highlight Artificial Intelligence and its role in the design and management of smart cities. For more information, visit the University of Miami website here.
April 13-14: Maker Faire Miami
Location: Watsco Center at the University of Miami Coral Gables Campus (1245 Dauer Dr, Coral Gables, FL 33146)
Time: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Maker Faire Miami is welcoming 130 local, national, and international makers to display their projects for a weekend full of family-friendly fun, exploration, and creativity. Guests can expect to hear from national speakers in STEM, participate in hands-on activities, and witness robotics firsthand. Single day ticket passes to attend are $19 per adult, and $16 per child, ages 7 to 12. 2-day ticket passes for adults (ages 13 and up) are $25, and two-day ticket passes for children (ages 7 to 12) are $18. To learn more about Maker Faire Miami, such as how to volunteer or attend this year’s Faire, visit their website at https://miami.makerfaire.com/ or check out our recent story.
April 16: Endeavor Celebrate Miami Tech
Location: Tea Room Miami(788 Brickell Plaza, Miami, FL 33131)
Time: 5 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Endeavor Miami is hosting a panel and happy hour, in partnership with Dell for Startups and Dell Technologies, celebrating Miami’s tech community with Endeavor Entrepreneurs, program participants, mentors, and the community. Attendees can enjoy cocktails and light bites. RSVP by April 11.
April 17 – Miami Tech Summit
Location: Perez Art Museum Miami
Time: noon – 6 p.m.
Speakers include Dan Marino, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, Kaseya CEO Fred Voccola, Moonpay CEO Ivan Soto-Wright, and others. Fee applies; find out more and request an invite here.
April 17 – Miami Venture Day
Location: Builders Collective (215 Northwest 24th Street, Miami, FL. 33127)
Time: 5 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Miami Venture Day, presented by OneSixOne Ventures, will bring together startup founders and investors in Miami to build valuable connections the day before eMerge.Featured speakers include Josh Hug, co-founder of Remitly; Jeff Ransdell, GP at Fuel Venture Capital; Yousuf Khan, GP at Ridge VC; Laura Lucas, GP at L’ATTITUDE Ventures; Kathy Chiu, GP at DeepWork Capital; Justis Mendez and Pablo Casilimas, GPs at OneSixOne Ventures. Tickets are $80. For more information, visit their Eventbrite here.
April 18 – April 19: 2024 eMerge Americas Conference + Expo
Location: Miami Beach Convention Center (1901 Convention Ctr Dr, Miami Beach, FL 33139)
The biggest tech conference in the nation, eMerge is back at the Miami Beach Convention Center, featuring venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, and technology innovators from around the world. This year’s 200+ speaker lineup includes Pitbull, Shane Battier, Tatiana Calderon, Peter H. Diamandis, the founder and executive chairman of the XPRIZE Foundation, William Hurley, (Whurley), the founder and CEO of Strangeworks, among many others. For more information, visit their website here. [photo at top of post is from eMerge 2023]
April 19-20: React Miami 2024 Conference
Location: Miami Beach
Featuring speakers, workshops and networking and more, the React Miami conference founded by Michelle Bakels will come to eMerge Americas at the Miami Beach Convention Center on the first day and feature off-site masterclasses and an “Unconference” on day 2. Find out more and buy tickets here.
April 25: BITE-CON 2024 Conference
Location: 315 Northeast 2nd Avenue Building 8, 5th Floor, Miami, FL 33132
Time: 10 a.m.
BITE-CON, made possible by the BITE-CON Foundation, is a yearly conference that aims to educate, engage, and expose the Black and Brown community to new technologies and innovation. BITE-CON is an opportunity for the community to come together and learn about web3, NFTs, the Metaverse, Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, eSports, and more. Tickets start at $199 per person. For more information, visit their website here.
April 26: Microsoft AI Latino Program 2.0 Demo Day
Location: The Loft, Mana Common
Time: 6 p.m. – 9 p.m.
As an essential part of the Miami Immersion Programs where founders get to pitch their startups in front of top entrepreneurial players of Miami, Mana Tech and Microsoft are co-hosting this one with pitches from top AI startups from Latin America. Find out more and request an invite here.
READ MORE MIAMI TECH MONTH COVERAGE IN REFRESH MIAMI:
- Hiring companies, 1,000 jobseekers connect at Miami Dade College for Venture Miami Tech Hiring Fair and Tech Talent Summit (last week)
- Miami Hack Week returns with new partnerships and immense opportunities for founders and developers (ongoing)
- Mayor Suarez kicks off Miami Tech Week, celebrating milestones and movers of the tech ecosystem (earlier this week)
- Lazo’s Founders House is back! Here’s what to expect (ongoing)
- Bring the family to Maker Faire Miami, a weekend of creativity, learning and fun (coming up)
- Why eMerge Americas is putting healthtech innovation front and center at 2024 conference
- From The Bronx to South Florida, this ed-tech founder is working to build STEAM skills for our future workforce - April 25, 2024
- TENNTS introduces AI robot to co-working center as part of Miami proptech’s commercial market expansion - April 11, 2024
- Get your calendars ready for all that #MiamiTechMonth has to offer - April 10, 2024