IDEA Week San Diego is a new weeklong celebration of the people, companies, creators, researchers, artists, and organizations shaping what’s next for our region.
IDEA stands for Innovation, Discovery, Expression, and Art. From October 19 to 23, Connect will convene partners across San Diego to host events, activations, showcases, conversations, performances, and experiences that celebrate the intersection of technology, science, entrepreneurship, creativity, and culture.
IDEA Week is not one event in one room. It is a shared platform for the region, bringing together the people and ideas that are moving San Diego forward. The goal is simple: create something bigger than any one organization could build alone.
The four pillars of IDEA Week reflect the energy, creativity, and ambition of San Diego’s innovation and arts communities.
Startups. Technology. Entrepreneurship. Capital. Industry. Innovation highlights the founders, companies, investors, and ecosystem builders creating new solutions and scaling what’s next.
Science. Research. Exploration. Talent. Breakthroughs. Discovery shines a light on the institutions, labs, universities, scientists, and problem-solvers expanding what is possible.
Storytelling. Design. Culture. Identity. Voice. Expression creates space for the stories, perspectives, creative practices, and cultural conversations that shape how ideas move through the world.
Performance. Visual art. Music. Film. Creative technology. Art celebrates the artists, makers, performers, designers, and creative communities that bring imagination to life across San Diego.
Connect is inviting organizations, companies, startups, universities, venues, arts groups, cultural institutions, community partners, and creative leaders to submit programming for IDEA Week San Diego.
We are looking for partner-led events and experiences that align with one or more of the IDEA Week pillars. This could include panels, workshops, demos, exhibitions, performances, receptions, tours, showcases, conversations, or something completely unexpected.
IDEA Week is open to partners across San Diego’s innovation and creative communities. This week is meant to reflect the full range of people building, creating, researching, investing, performing, and imagining across the region.
San Diego is a place where breakthrough science, emerging technology, world-class research, entrepreneurship, defense innovation, life sciences, design, music, art, and culture all exist side by side.
IDEA Week is designed to make those connections visible. By bringing the innovation and arts communities together under one shared platform, IDEA Week will help tell a broader story about San Diego: a region where creativity fuels discovery, discovery fuels innovation, and innovation creates new ways to experience the world.
Connect has spent more than 40 years helping build San Diego’s innovation economy by supporting founders, convening leaders, and creating programs that help companies grow.
With IDEA Week, Connect is expanding that convening role to help bring together the region’s innovation and arts communities in a new way. This is a week for the community, built with the community.
IDEA Week sponsors will help power a shared regional platform celebrating innovation, discovery, expression, and art across San Diego.
Sponsorship opportunities are intentionally tiered to allow organizations of different sizes to participate meaningfully, from major institutional partners to emerging companies and community supporters.