Community Partner Celebration
We're taking the party underground.
This year, KC Digital Drive's annual Community Partner Celebration is heading to the basement of Tech Central. The space is still a little raw, a little unfinished, and very much a work in progress. We think that's part of the fun. We're turning it into a basement party and filling it with the community organizations, companies, universities, startups, funders, public sector leaders, and other partners who make our work possible.
Come for good food and drinks, unexpected connections, and a chance to spend time with the people doing interesting work across the region.
Program Highlight: Building What's Next
In the middle of the party, we'll bring everyone together for a conversation with two of the Kansas City region's leading innovation catalysts.
Dr. Anthony Caruso, UMKC Vice Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives and founder of Critical Materials Crossroads, and Melissa Roberts Chapman, President of KC BioHub, are helping lead two ambitious regional initiatives that recently secured major federal investments in critical materials, advanced manufacturing, biologics, and biomanufacturing.
Moderated by Aaron Deacon, the conversation will look beyond the awards to explore how big regional ideas actually get built: bringing institutions and industries together, competing for national investment, navigating the hard parts of collaboration, and turning momentum into long-term economic opportunity.
It's a timely conversation about what Kansas City can accomplish when people across the region build together.
And We're Still Building
KC Digital Drive's projects span digital inclusion, entrepreneurship, emerging technology, health innovation, civic problem-solving, and innovation-led economic development. Much of what we do is the often-invisible work of connecting the right people, creating room for new ideas, and building the capacity to act on them.
Join us as we look ahead to what's next for KC – new ideas, new partnerships, new opportunities, and a stronger, more connected regional innovation ecosystem.
The basement isn't finished yet, and neither are we.