SOUTHFIELD — The Annual Collaboration for Entrepreneurship 2017, better known as ACE’17, will be held at the Westin Southfield on Thursday, Jan. 26 from noon to 7 p.m.
This annual celebration of all things entrepreneurial draws hundreds of attendees for education and connection with the Michigan startup ecosystem. Each ACE features an exciting community of innovators, entrepreneurs, investors, and business owners. Southfield Mayor Ken Siver will provide opening remarks. More than 500 people are expected for ACE’17.
The program will feature presentations and conversations on managing business innovation centers, opportunities for entrepreneurs in autonomous vehicles, mobile marketing strategies, capital attraction, support services available to entrepreneurs, a mini “Failure Lab,” and more.
Also featured this year will be the ACE’17 Challenge, a competition among early-stage companies for $20,000 in cash and prizes. The winner will be chosen by ACE attendees, investors, sponsors and support organizations, who will vote with “ACE dollars” for their most investable companies.
The Westin Southfield is located at 1500 Town Center.
Online registration at the regular price of $25 is available through Monday, Jan. 23 at 5 p.m. Walk-up registrations are welcome at a price of $40. For online registration, and more information on the program, visit www.ace-event.org. For an audio preview of the event with Miche Rayment, co-chair of ACE’17, visit this link.
Lawrence Technological University is a managing partner of the event. The lead sponsor is the city of Southfield, while the partner sponsor is the Michigan Economic Development Corp. Co-event sponsors include Amy Cell LLC, Automation Alley, Bamboo Detroit, The Hire Effect, the LTU Collaboratory, and the Michigan Angel Fund. The Crowdlink sponsor is the Oakland County One Stop Shop Business Center. Contributing sponsors include BlueWater Angels, Brinks Guilson & Lione, the Build Institute, Collective Metrics, Constant Contact, the Central Michigan University Isabella Bank Institute for Entrepreneurship, Dawdy Imagery & Design, Failure Lab, Lenawee Now, the Michigan Business Incubator Association, MyISMInc.com, the University of Michigan’s Zell Lurie Institute, Grand Valley State University’s Muskegon Innovation Hub, the Mobile Technology Association of Michigan, the Michigan Corporate Relations Network, Start Garden, the MTEC SmartZone Business Accelerator, the Southfield Area Chamber of Commerce, Stanislaw, ArborMoon, and TechTown Detroit.
Participating companies in the ACE’17 Challenge include AIRS – Advanced Interactive Response System (Newaygo); Airway Innovations (Grand Rapids); Brightable (Clawson); Business Link (Ypsilanti); Clingfish Products (Ann Arbor); ContentOro (Ann Arbor); Coupon Wallet (Sterling Heights); Deeptalk (Ann Arbor); Epic Technology Solutions (Flint); epiSCI (Ann Arbor); Equipment Tracking Solutions (Walled Lake); Fathom (Holland); Infinitekey (Holland); Interactive (Grand Rapids); LivePicture LLC (Sterling Heights); Map-N-Tour (Midland); Mi Padrino (Jackson); MyAaliyah (Detroit); Navel Novelties (Sylvan Lake); Nirmal for Disruptive Eating (Ypsilanti); Oakland Aquaponics (Clarkston); OPS Solutions LLC (Novi); Orindi Ventures (Holland); PayLow Rate (Detroit); re-Contour LLC (Royal Oak); Ring Cam (Holland); Sci-Zone (Holland); SciTech Development LLC (Grosse Pointe Farms); Selestial Soap (Traverse City); SignOn (Detroit); SPLT (Ann Arbor); StabiLux (Houghton); The SafetySit (East Lansing); and TwoScoreTwo (Ann Arbor).
Lawrence Technological University, www.ltu.edu, is a private university founded in 1932 that offers more than 100 programs through the doctoral level in its Colleges of Architecture and Design, Arts and Sciences, Engineering, and Management. PayScale lists Lawrence Tech among the nation’s top 100 universities for the salaries of its graduates, and U.S. News and World Report lists it in the top tier of best Midwestern universities. Students benefit from small class sizes and a real-world, hands-on, “theory and practice” education with an emphasis on leadership. Activities on Lawrence Tech’s 107-acre campus include more than 60 student organizations and NAIA varsity sports.