Doors open & networking
Check in, meet the room.
Boston Venture Connect
Greater China AI Showcase
Connecting US-based AI founders from Greater China with Boston's investment and technology community.
Thursday, October 22 2:00 to 5:00 PM EDT Microsoft New England AI Conference Center Free & open to the public
About the event
An afternoon of AI, connecting two ecosystems.
On October 22, AI founders from mainland China and Hong Kong who are building their companies in the US meet investors and Boston's technology community at Microsoft New England, in the heart of Kendall Square, on the second afternoon of International Week.
The afternoon opens with an investor panel on where AI capital goes next, followed by startup presentations from founders, and closes with open networking. The event is free and open to the public.
1 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02142
Program
One afternoon, end to end.
Tentative program — times subject to change-
1:45 PM -
2:00 PM Investor panel
Investors from Boston and Greater China on where AI capital goes next.
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3:00 PM AI startup presentations
Founders from Greater China, now building in the US, present their products and the technology behind them.
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4:15 PM Open networking
Founders, engineers, researchers, and investors in one room.
Presenting companies
Applications are open.
We are selecting US-based AI startups with founders from Greater China to present on October 22. Each presentation is 15 minutes, to an audience of Boston engineers, researchers, and investors.
Applications close September 30, 2026. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis.
Selected companies will be announced here as they are confirmed.
Partners
With thanks to our partners.
Additional partners to be announced.
Kendall Square
The most innovative square mile on the planet.
In 2009, the Boston Consulting Group gave Kendall Square its enduring title — the most innovative square mile on the planet, the blocks within a ten-minute walk of the Kendall/MIT station. Today, Moderna, Biogen, and Takeda share these streets with research teams from Apple, Google, Meta, Amazon and Microsoft, and the investment keeps compounding.
The milestones run deep. MIT's Instrumentation Lab built the guidance computer that flew Apollo to the Moon, and ELIZA — the world's first chatbot — was written a few blocks away. RSA encryption was born here, the W3C and the Human Genome Project's decisive work followed, and the Broad Institute first edited human cells with CRISPR. In 2020, Moderna designed its mRNA COVID-19 vaccine here in a matter of days. The next milestone is being written now, in CSAIL and the AI labs down the street.
- 1966 ELIZA
- 1969 Apollo guidance
- 1977 RSA
- 1990s W3C & Human Genome
- 2013 CRISPR
- 2020 mRNA vaccine
Microsoft New England
Microsoft's home in Kendall Square.
Microsoft came to Kendall Square in 2007, taking floors of One Memorial Drive, the tower on the Charles River at the foot of the Longfellow Bridge, a short walk from the Kendall/MIT station. Known around the Square as NERD, the New England Research & Development Center is one of Microsoft's global development centers. Microsoft Research New England opened here in 2008, pairing computer scientists with economists and social scientists; The Garage maker space followed in 2018, and the AI Conference Center opened in 2019.