The Fast Company Innovation Festival returns to New York City this September 15–18.
Hosted at Convene Brookfield Place in lower Manhattan, attendees can expect four days packed with informative panels, interactive networking sessions, engaging workshops, signature Fast Tracks that offer a behind-the-scenes look at the city’s most cutting-edge companies, and intimate dinners at the city’s buzziest restaurants.
It’s a lot to take in. So we’ve compiled the top 11 reasons you should attend the 11th annual Innovation Festival.
1. Candid conversations with leaders
Headliners hitting the Innovation Festival stage this year include:
- Jimmy Fallon, Executive Producer and Host, On Brand With Jimmy Fallon; Host, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
- Bozoma Saint John, Chief Marketing Officer and Mentor, On Brand With Jimmy Fallon
- Brené Brown, Research Professor, The University of Texas at Austin; Author, Strong Ground
- Tracee Ellis Ross, Host, Solo Traveling With Tracee Ellis Ross; Founder and CEO, Pattern Beauty
- Damian Kulash, Lead Singer, OK Go
- Jonathan Haidt, Author, The Anxious Generation
- Norma Kamali, President and CEO, Norma Kamali
- Justin McLeod, Founder and CEO, Hinge
- Myechia Minter‑Jordan, CEO, AARP
- Shay Mitchell, Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Béis Travel
- Brian Niccol, Chairman and CEO, Starbucks Coffee Company
- Ego Nwodim, Actress, Comedian, and SNL Cast Member
- Artemis Patrick, President and CEO, Sephora North America
- Joy Reid, Journalist, Political Analyst, Best-selling Author
- Hailee Steinfeld, Cofounder, Angel Margarita
- Luis von Ahn, Cofounder and CEO, Duolingo
2. Field trips for adults
Our signature Fast Tracks offer attendees an behind-the-scenes look inside some of New York City’s most innovative companies. There are over 50 Fast Tracks this year—here’s just a glimpse:
- A brownie baking class with Tony’s Chocolonely
- Playing Pickleball at Life Time
- An office tour and pop-a-shot tournament with TNT
- An intimate gallery walkthrough highlighting Harlem’s economic and cultural impact on the arts at GPGallery
- A look at the art of hiring and understanding when to kill a product with Ramp executives.
3. Food for thought
Taste of Innovation is a unique dining experience showcasing powerhouse chefs and restaurant executives—not to mention some of the best food in the city. At each Taste of Innovation experience, you’ll dine, drink, and mingle with fellow attendees and Fast Company’s editorial staff, as well as hear intimate conversations with leaders in the food space. This year’s Taste of Innovation lineup features:
4. Workshops to solve work’s biggest problems
Another signature of the Innovation Festival are our workshops. These are sessions that create space for a more hands-on approach to problem solving. Just some workshops this year include:
- What Does Your Brand Sound Like?
- The Return of Creative Craft
- If Your Brand Isn’t Awake, It’s Dead
- Unscrambling the Productivity Paradox
- Humans, Machines, and the Art of Teaming
5. New experiential moments
There’ll always be a place for informative panels and one-on-one conversations at the Innovation Festival. But we’re making room for something to really engage your senses and emotions. New this year are our experiential sessions. From using sound to reset your nervous system to reconnecting with play and self-celebration through confetti, these sessions are designed to be highly interactive and deeply personal:
- Why Intuition Is the Leadership Advantage AI Can’t Replace
- The Celebration Lab
- Discover and Design Your Personal Sound Care Ritual
6. New breakout sessions
Sometimes 30 minutes isn’t long enough to dig into the topic at hand. Also new this year at the Innovation Festival are breakout sessions which are an extension of our workshops created to give attendees more access to workshop hosts and more time work through their questions and gain deeper insights:
- A Deeper Dive into Bettering Your Brain
- Networking That Works
- Turn a Burning Question into a Bold Next Step
7. Celebrating good times
It wouldn’t be the Innovation Festival without celebratory moments! In addition to our Kickoff Party and Closing Night Party, we’re having exclusive parties for honorees on our recognition lists Innovation by Design and Best Workplaces for Innovators, as well as a dinner for our Impact Council members.
8. Activations and giveaways
Throughout the Innovation Festival Hub are activations including custom bandana embroidery from Teton Ridge and an AI-powered racing simulator powered by IBM. There are also several giveaways at different sessions. On the Innovation Festival schedule page, click the “filter by feature” option and then “giveaway” to make sure you’re in the right place at the right time!
9. Insights on today’s biggest topics
The Innovation Festival is all about exploring the driving forces of business, technology, and creativity. While there’s ample choices in programming, here are some topical sessions worth putting on your radar:
- Will AGI Be a Reality—and Are We Ready?
- From Automation to Autonomy: Navigating the Rise of Agentic AI
- On the Front Lines: Inside the ACLU’s Fight for Civil Rights
- Digital Defense: The Battle for an Open and Secure Internet
- How Workforce Inclusion Sparks Innovation
- More for Less: Maximizing Social Impact with Minimal Resources
- The Changing Face of Aging
10. Networking with your fellow attendees
One of the main attractions of the Innovation Festival is how widely you can expand your network. Year after year, attendees have said this is one of their most valuable takeaways from the event. We have sessions that are specifically catered to networking. However, just hanging out and working in the Innovation Festival Hub is the perfect place to meet someone new.
11. Becoming a better you
The Innovation Festival is a place for you to learn. We pack in a lot during the event, so you can create a robust agenda that’s tailored to your interests, whether that’s in leadership, creativity, branding, technology, or beyond. We hope you take the insights and knowledge you’ll gain over the week and apply it to your work life—or even your personal life.
Visit our event page to buy your Innovation Festival passes and to stay up-to-date on our session agenda and speaker lineup.
And a special thanks to this year’s Innovation Festival sponsors: IBM, Lilly, NYU Langone Health, Texas A&M University, Delta, Esri, Fetch, GS1 US, Huge, Hyland, Innovate Alabama, Maven AGI, Penske, PepsiCo, Project Management Institute, SAP, Synchrony, Teton Ridge, Uber for Business, Virginia, The Weather Company, Webtoon, Wellhub, and Williams.
