1819 leaders share innovation insights at StartupCincy Week 2026
Entrepreneurship tips abounded as StartupCincy Week took over OTR
One of Cincinnati’s highest-profile stages for entrepreneurship arrived in Over-the-Rhine in early October during StartupCincy Week 2026, and UC’s 1819 Innovation Hub showed up in a big way.
Leaders from across the building offered their thoughts on innovation and entrepreneurship, while current Bearcats brought forecasts from the next generation. Businesspeople and community members packed UC’s stages throughout StartupCincy Week to hear 1819 experts give practical tips on pressing topics.
While StartupCincy Week may be over, its key takeaways remain relevant. Read on to learn about the trends rippling through America’s and Cincinnati’s startup ecosystems in 2026.
The Queen City’s entrepreneurial community has been expanding for years, with UC graduates establishing companies and newcomers heading to Cincinnati to launch. The regional startup world is following a similar upward path, with the 1819 Innovation Hub, CincyTech, Cintrifuse, Alloy Development Co., Mortar and Blue North leading the way.
These partners, along with JobsOhio and REDI Cincinnati, are igniting a business ecosystem making a name for itself. PitchBook recently called Cincinnati the world’s third-fastest-growing startup community based on the six-year change in its deal value and count, exit value and count, and fund value and count.
I cannot say enough about the rich untapped potential of this innovative ecosystem, and I’m thrilled for the future.
Aftab PurevalMayor, City of Cincinnati
Mayor Aftab Pureval kicked StartupCincy Week off by praising the Cincinnati startup scene’s vibrancy and growth. “I cannot say enough about the rich untapped potential of this innovative ecosystem,” he said, “and I’m thrilled for the future as companies expand and scale up right here.”
Following him was futurist and trend forecaster Valerie Jacobs, who also serves as an adjunct professor at UC’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning. She walked the audience through five indicators of the Queen City’s rise. Examples included next-generation talent picking Cincinnati, CNBC naming Ohio as America’s best state for business and the city’s ascendant arts and fine dining scenes.
Jacobs was one of many at StartupCincy Week feeling optimistic about Southwest Ohio in 2026. “This ecosystem, this room, this week – this is what the future looks like when it’s being built in real time before the rest of the world knows what to call it,” she said. “The future isn’t something we wait for; the future is something we build.”
Cincinnati is forging stronger connections between the public and private sectors, creating new opportunities for collaboration and growth. Various Queen City startups are commercializing UC research to their advantage, while entrepreneurs are turning city infrastructure into an innovation proving ground.
The UC Office of Commercialization, which leads technology transfer initiatives, explained to StartupCincy Week attendees how it connects the school’s groundbreaking research with startups and corporate leaders hungry for new technology. It plays a matchmaking role, of sorts.
Technology transfer session at StartupCincy Week. Photo/Mary Dwyer
“We want to partner with UC vendors and researchers to help carry [available technologies] along to commercialization,” stated Patrick Brown, director of commercialization at the university, “and hopefully, to have those things create an impact in the world.”
One key beneficiary of partnering with the UC Office of Commercialization is 1819 Innovation Hub partner Sensory Robotics, which has a research space in the building. Chief operating officer and co-founder Mark Gagas said his company has been thrilled to leverage available technologies through the UC Office of Commercialization, located just one floor above it at 1819.
“I can’t imagine the great things sitting on shelves at this university and not being used,” he said. “Having support to commercialize that and help get the grants has been just a huge advantage.”
At a separate StartupCincy Week session, UC Venture Lab venture analyst Ben Booker moderated a panel on Cincinnati’s “City as a Lab” initiative. The program began in earnest in the summer of 2025 with a live demonstration by aircraft safety firm Airtrek Robotics at city-owned Lunken Airport. Airtrek is based at the 1819 Innovation Hub, graduated from the Venture Lab program and uses the 1819 Ground Floor Makerspace to build its robotic equipment.
City as a Lab session at StartupCincy Week. Photo/Mary Dwyer
“The City as a Lab concept has been something that’s been bouncing around the ecosystem for many, many years,” said Abby Grimm, director of engagement and experience at Cintrifuse. “And there have been instances where startups and founders have been able to work with the city, but not necessarily because of any program or infrastructure or designed scenario.”
What followed was a game-changer: the City of Cincinnati, along with the 1819 Innovation Hub and other members of the region’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, launched a program to connect private, local businesses with municipal needs. Since then, companies such as Vixiv and Venture Lab graduate Subterra AI have benefited from the program.
Subterra AI founder and CEO Robert Lee acknowledged that working with the city isn’t always easy. He mentioned that startups need more opportunities to “test, trial and validate” technologies as part of the City as a Lab partnership. All members of the panel acknowledged there’s additional room to grow – this is a novel initiative, after all.
A region’s greatest strength is the people who power its progress. Fortunately for Greater Cincinnati, the area’s talent pool is robust – boasting Ohio’s largest workforce – and only getting stronger as time goes on.
The University of Cincinnati welcomed its largest ever incoming class in 2026, and over 54,000 students count themselves as Bearcats. Nearly 60% stay in the region upon graduating, helping sustain the population growth being experienced across Greater Cincinnati and in the urban core.
UC graduates are well-educated and job-ready due to the school’s strong co-op and internship program, ranked first in the country among public universities. Many leave UC with over a year of job experience, leading to quicker onboarding and stronger performance in their first roles.
“Ninety percent of my skill set in the workforce today came through the internships that I did,” said Bruce Seidel, a UC graduate and director of insights and capital allocation at eGateway Capital, during StartupCincy Week. “It’s not just skills that you can always get in a classroom … It was transformational for me and helped shape my career.”
Straka speaking during StartupCincy Week. Photo/Mary Dwyer
Large numbers of Bearcats land local co-ops and internships due to UC’s strong relationship with Cincinnati businesses, further deepening their connection to the region. The university maintains business ties through the College of Cooperative Education and Professional Studies (CCPS) and through its partner companies and startups located at the 1819 Innovation Hub.
“[In] the development of 1819, we’ve really tried to focus our efforts around industry engagement and position the university as a thought partner to sit with you and talk about how we can be creative and plug in students,” said Annie Straka, associate dean of CCPS.
“Academia is not typically known for speed or agility, but we really try at UC to be different from some of our peers in that way.”
Artificial intelligence is currently mid-transition between breakthrough technology and everyday business tool. The conversation is no longer about whether to use AI; now, it’s around how to incorporate it most effectively.
As companies rethink AI-driven automation, many are recognizing the continued value of human talent as firms hire back workers for roles they expected to automate. That’s not due to AI failing; businesses simply overshot expectations of AI’s abilities and underestimated humans’ impact.
You have the edge of … decision-making, making judgments, having that context and making a decision with it.
Sarah NazzalForesight researcher, NEXT Innovation Scholars
“You have the edge of … decision-making, making judgments, having that context and making a decision with it,” noted Sarah Nazzal, a foresight researcher in UC’s NEXT Innovation Scholars (NIS) program. “And, of course, the creativity that comes with being a human that AI just can’t replicate.”
Nazzal was one of three NIS students selected to speak at StartupCincy Week about the future of AI and society. Business and thought leaders from Southwest Ohio and beyond packed the room to hear how AI applications are shifting mindsets and frameworks among the public. The conversation was particularly relevant due to NIS students being undergraduate researchers – these were next-generation insights straight from members of the next generation.
NEXT Innovation Scholars presenting at StartupCincy Week. Photo/Mary Dwyer
“With automation, you reduce friction,” said Arya Garg, an NIS researcher who presented. “And as Gen Z, we’re realizing that some parts of that reduced friction are necessary to learning, to collaborative work and to self-sustaining work in general.”
Garg walked through an example of the friction AI is eliminating, explaining how people previously performed their own research on Google before making a purchase. Now, ChatGPT will produce a result and many people run with it, without analyzing whether it’s the right call or not.
It’s critical that employees stay engaged while using AI people are giving up one of their most valuable assets: the ability to think critically about a subject
Thought leadership at 1819
Map of the Cincinnati Innovation District. Photo/Stephen Kenney
The 1819 Innovation Hub had a near-constant presence during StartupCincy Week, with leaders from across the building presenting before packed rooms.
UC’s NEXT Innovation Scholars examined the future from a Gen Z perspective, members of the Office of Commercialization revealed how companies can benefit from university research and Venture Lab leaders broke down UC’s talent pipeline and initiatives with the city.
Meanwhile, corporate partners and startup ventures at 1819 and throughout the Cincinnati Innovation District shared insights on their varied pathways to success. Many of those stories included positive moments at 1819; all of them pointed to the growing momentum felt in Cincinnati’s startup community.
Frequently asked questions
What is StartupCincy Week?
StartupCincy Week is an annual event in October celebrating Cincinnati’s startup community. Held in Over-the-Rhine, the four-day event draws over 1,000 attendees and shows the power and promise of entrepreneurialism in Cincinnati.
Was UC part of StartupCincy Week?
Yes, the University of Cincinnati played a key role in StartupCincy Week. Speakers included professionals from the UC Venture Lab business accelerator, the NEXT Innovation Scholars program, the UC Office of Commercialization, the 1819 Innovation Hub and the College of Cooperative Education and Professional Studies, among other locations.
How do I join Cincinnati’s startup community?
To join the Cincinnati startup community, bring your idea to one of the city’s startup accelerator programs. The UC Venture Lab in particular offers a structured training program for founders, is known as one of the region’s largest sources of nondilutive funding and serves as a key access point to highly skilled entrepreneurs in residence.
Featured image at top: NIS presentation during StartupCincy Week. Photo/Mary Dwyer
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