1871’s inaugural 3-day event, in partnership with Accenture and World Business Chicago, convening supply chain innovators across the business maturity curve.

From 10.4 – 10.6, global tech innovation hub 1871, hosted the first-ever Supply Chain Innovation Summit in their hometown of Chicago, IL in partnership with Accenture and World Business Chicago.

Over 400 unique corporates, startups, VCs, universities, and others in the 1871 community connected over the possibilities of the Supply Chain Industry from around the world, sending the note out that innovation takes all the players in the space.

The Summit itself capstones 1871’s Supply Chain Innovation Lab experience, where 45 founders and their teams gathered to move through a curated, 4-week immersive program with the ultimate goal of furthering innovation within Supply Chain as we know it. United Airlines and AbbVie being a key program partner to the program experience.

1871 is excited to continue to expand offerings under this vertical, and is already designing Supply Chain Innovation Lab 2023. Again, each Innovation Lab ends in the Summit. 

Interested in partnering on this or another innovation category? Let us know.

Recap of Main Summit Day

Day two took place at the so-beautiful and new Accenture Tower, with opening words from 1871, Accenture, and World Business Chicago’s leadership, followed by a Q+A between 1871 CEO Betsy Ziegler and Former Cheif Customer Office and current leader of Flexport Fund Ben Braverman.

Thereafter, a pitch competition between startup founders kicked off across the following categories: Sustainability, End-to-End, Planning & Procurement & Manu, and Fulfillment (Trans + Warehousing). Attendees voted in real-time re: the best pitch of the day.

Next, juicy conversational breakouts happened regarding:

  • Sustainable Supply Chain – What does that truly mean? 
  • The Role of Data & AI in Supply Chain Transformation 
  • The Great Reinvention of Supply Chain 
  • Supply Chain Resiliency and Business Continuity
  • Chicago’s Startup-focused Economic Development Strategy
  • Building the future supply chain workforce: Human + Machines

In and out of the day, sat “Startup Alley,” where the startups of 1871’s Supply Chain Innovation Lab set booths up for public engagement, investor conversations, and product demos, as a fixture of the event.

All the while, the community was surrounded by emerging tech like the robot dog from Boston Dynamics, 3D printers, AR/VR wearable demos featuring 1871’s VX campus, and Accenture’s Maker’s Space. 

The day ended with a celebration of the winning pitches, closing remarks from 1871 and Accenture, and an afterparty at TheWit.

Winning pitches

Out of 30 supply chain startups pitching, 3 winners took home 3D-printed trophies from Accenture’s Makers Lab.

Kadeya

Agtools

Pollen Returns

Our why and how

When thinking about creating this Summit, our leaders said:

“Our community of innovators is uniquely equipped to come together to tackle today’s most pressing challenges because 1871 serves the entire business maturity curve, from idea all the way to Fortune 50” said Betsy Ziegler, CEO of 1871. “There is no problem we can’t solve when we activate the power of our collective brain. We look forward to bringing leaders , entrepreneurs together and empower them to create the supply chain solutions that will build a brighter future in our city and beyond.”

“There was no better city in the world than to launch the Supply Chain Innovation Lab in Chicago, one of the largest TDL industries in the nation,” said Renato Scaff, Senior Managing Director and North America Supply Chain and Operations Lead at Accenture. “And we’re connecting industry with founders and investors to meet the demands of the world’s economy with innovative technologies and solutions.”

[Source]

Rachael Feuerborn, CPO @ 1871 

Kris Timmermans,  Lead – Supply Chain & Operations @ Accenture

Stephanie Miller, CXO @ 1871

Jorie Sax, Head of Technology Innovation Lab  @ United Airlines

The ecosystem

From entrepreneurs, to startups building and scaling, leaders supporting and innovating, investors growing and developing, and community members cheering, our hold on passion for solving problems across the supply chain was extremely well-represented.

Are you an innovator? What’s innovation? We asked around, and found that we all have our unique answers, while we exist in a similar community.

Lead of Supply Chain & Operations @ Accenture Kris Timmermans welcomes the entire community.

Emerging tech and innovation was the theme of the event, where we’re pushed to envision what’s next or what’s never been done before to create a better tomorrow.

Lakhveer Jajj of startup Moselle shares his experience from the Summit’s Startup Alley.

Pitching startups

Sustainability focused

End-to-End focused

Planning & Procurement & Manu focused

Fulfillment (Trans + Warehousing) focused

Startup Alley

View the whole playlist from the Supply Chain Innovation Summit!

Join as an 1871 Early Stage Member.

Attend info session

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