More than 1,500 people are expected to attend Demo Day at Georgia Tech’s Exhibition Hall on August 28, where over 100 startups developed through the CREATE-X accelerator will be showcased. The event is free to attend, but registration is required due to limited space.
Demo Day highlights solutions addressing a range of current challenges. Startups will present innovations such as mRNA therapies aimed at improving vaccine access, energy-efficient AI chips, and inspection tools already used by companies like Tesla for rapid defect detection. Attendees will have the opportunity to interact with new products and meet the founders behind them.
Donnie Beamer, senior technology advisor for the City of Atlanta, attended a previous Demo Day and commented on his experience: “The founders of NeuroChamp had a headband that reads brainwaves. It makes me call into question what I was doing in college!” Beamer said.
Participants in Demo Day have completed a 12-week program with CREATE-X’s Startup Launch accelerator. Rahul Saxena, director of CREATE-X, explained the significance of this process: “Every founder in that room will have spent the summer chasing the right problem and building a solution to solve it,” Saxena said. “Demo Day is proof that entrepreneurship can be taught and developed, from ideation to customer discovery.”
Beamer noted how CREATE-X encourages innovation: “Georgia Tech is a safe place to try and fail and innovate, which is invaluable. Instead of just telling students to do X and expecting them to execute on it, CREATE-X allows for creativity and discovery,” Beamer said. “That can be transformative for students, the Institute, and the city of Atlanta.”
Unlike traditional startup events featuring stage presentations or pitches, Demo Day offers attendees direct interaction with founders in an informal setting. Previous events have resulted in venture funding opportunities and strategic partnerships for participating startups.
Beamer addressed perceptions about Atlanta’s entrepreneurial landscape: “There are a few kinds of naysayers; for example, some who think Atlanta doesn’t have much entrepreneurial activity and others who feel isolated from communities like this one,” Beamer said. “Demo Day lets them look behind the curtain and see the vibrant, innovative ecosystem that they can be a part of in our city as we look to become a top-five tech hub in the nation. Georgia Tech is a huge part of that.”
