LEAD.INNOVATE. BREAK BARRIERS.

Meet your ICON peers over coffee, tea, and an amazing buffet style breakfast!

AI isn’t just a tool for engineers—it’s an opportunity for every one of us to punch above our weight. In this session, you’ll discover how to adopt AI as your collaborator: sharpening your creativity, automating the repetitive, and making smarter decisions faster. We’ll explore practical, beginner-friendly ways to tap into AI’s potential—simple experiments, mindset shifts, and no-code tools that put capability in everyone’s hands. Walk away ready to lean into AI with confidence, no technical background required—and start building with bold intention and real-world impact.

Go-to-market strategy is shifting fast—playbooks that worked yesterday won’t guarantee traction tomorrow. In this panel with founders who are building at the edge, we’ll look ahead at what’s next in GTM: new ways to reach customers, bold bets on community and brand, and how AI, data, and creativity are reshaping how products find their market. Expect candid insights from founders on what they’re experimenting with, what’s breaking the mold, and how today’s choices set the stage for sustainable growth in the years ahead.

There’s no longer a straight line to success—especially in tech. As industries shift, roles evolve, and career ladders get replaced with jungle gyms, how do you chart a path that still feels ambitious and aligned? In this session, we’ll explore how to make smart, intentional career moves in times of uncertainty, how to stay adaptable without losing direction, and how to define success on your own terms—whether you’re climbing, pivoting, or pausing.

In a world where opportunities often come down to perception, your personal brand isn’t a “nice to have”—it’s your calling card. This session will dive into why personal branding is no longer optional, and how to shape a presence that reflects your strengths, values, and ambitions. We’ll explore practical ways to stand out—online and offline—so you can build credibility, attract opportunities, and lead with influence. Because when you take control of your narrative, you don’t just open doors—you set the stage for the career you want.

In this talk, Megan Hofmann will give you a glimpse into the emerging technical revolution of automatic machine knitting. Megan Hofmann leads the Accessible Creative Technologies (ACT) Lab at Northeastern University, where she and her team are working to rebuild the garment industry from scratch to be more sustainable, equitable, and capable of producing advanced textiles that fit perfectly and address critical needs in healthcare and for people with disabilities. We'll start with some examples of the novel soft robotics technologies Megan and her collaborators have created and discuss their applications for healthcare and accessibility. We'll follow this up with a deep dive into the computing technologies behind the knitwear we have today, the major gaps in the technology, and Megan's work to build a new garment manufacturing paradigm. We'll round out the talk with a discussion of Megan's work to open-source these new technologies and efforts to bridge the gap between academic research and building real products. This work has been generously funded by the National Science Foundation.

Being the “non-technical” voice in technical spaces isn’t a weakness—it’s a superpower. This conversation dives into how cross-functional thinkers bring clarity, connection, and critical insight to engineering-driven teams—and why every room needs one.

AI is transforming how we work, and the pace of change isn’t slowing down. The question isn’t whether AI will impact your career—it’s how you’ll adapt and thrive alongside it. This session will explore the skills, mindsets, and strategies you need to future-proof your career in the age of AI. From embracing continuous learning to integrating AI into your everyday workflow, you’ll walk away with practical tools to stay ahead of the curve—and the confidence to see change not as a threat, but as your next big opportunity.