Chicago is second to none when it comes to dining in or eating out. The city is home to cutting-edge companies using tech to enhance customers’ dining experience, food delivery innovators perfecting their service models, and healthy, sustainable food options that are increasingly accessible whether you’re on the go, staying in, or on the town.

Achievements like these didn’t happen overnight. Join us on February 27^th to hear from local food disrupters on their journeys to success and the uniquely collaborative food environment that makes Chicago a center for food and beverage innovation and excellence.

West Coast tech giants permeate our lives and are an increasingly ubiquitous presence in Chicago. From Google's pioneering move to the West Loop to Uber’s establishment of Freight headquarters in the South Loop, these companies help power urban growth, attract skilled talent, and shape industries from real estate to restaurants. How do these companies view Chicago as part of their overall strategy? Why are they growing headcount here? Will it continue? And most importantly what kinds of functions are they locating here versus elsewhere? We'll hear from leaders in the Chicago offices of Microsoft, LinkedIn, Uber Freight, and Google in conversation with Chicago's own tech leader Amanda Lannert.

Palantir Technologies is one of the most valuable and intriguing companies in the world. Its software is a hidden yet ubiquitous presence in Americans' lives, operating at the nexus of government and technology.

Per the New York Times: "Founded in 2004, in part with $2 million from the Central Intelligence Agency’s venture capital arm, Palantir Technologies makes software that has illuminated terror networks and figured out safe driving routes through a war-torn Baghdad. It has also tracked car thieves, helped in disaster recovery and traced salmonella outbreaks. ...”

Palantir’s software has been used to help Airbus build safer planes, BP optimize oil production and share data across their enterprise, and Ferrari accelerate performance of vehicles on the track. Palantir Technologies is a software company that builds enterprise data platforms for organizations with highly complex and sensitive data environments. From building safer cars and planes, to discovering new drugs and combatting terrorism, Palantir Technologies helps customers across the public, private and nonprofit sectors transform the way they use their data.

Join us as Co-Founder and CEO Alex Karp takes us behind the scenes of one of the most powerful and controversial software platforms in the world.