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Tough Tech Summit & The Engine's Next Chapter

The 2023 Tough Tech Summit has wrapped, what a fantastic two days! On October 3rd and 4th more than 800 attendees joined us here in Boston, as did Mayor Michelle Wu, who applauded our city’s crucial role in the broader innovation ecosystem, particularly as a home for Tough Tech.

Here are some other highlights from the Summit:

  • David Fialkow and Katie Hall explored the current investment landscape for Tough Tech startups

  • Bob Mumgaard, Yuri Maricich, Catherine Feuillet, Alec Nielsen and Leah Ellis shared their inspirational founder stories.

  • Veery Maxwell, Ken Pontarelli, Marc Mezvinsky, Russell Tham and Jim Matheson discussed the financial needs of scaling new climate companies and technologies.

  • 31 Tough Tech startups pitched their groundbreaking technologies - you can learn a lot in just 5 minutes!

  • Richard Law, Nathan Benaich, William Abecassis and Rachel Sha outlined how biopharma startups can leverage key partnerships to create value.

  • Andy Bamford, Brian Deese, PJ Maykish, Nidhi Thakar and Fiona Murray explored the increasing use of industrial policy and how it impacts Tough Tech investors and entrepreneurs.

  • 18 Tough Tech leaders participated in our “unconference” roundtable discussions.

  • Boston Metal, Cellino and Infinitum presented case studies on solving real-world challenges facing leading Tough Tech companies.


What makes the Tough Tech Summit so special is the connectedness of our community. Our collaboration is a powerful differentiator and it fuels our audacity to believe that together, we can solve the world’s biggest problems.

As Katie Rae announced in her remarks at the Tough Tech Summit, to continue to best support the incredible Tough Tech ecosystem, we’re excited to share that moving forward The Engine will operate as two entities: The Engine Accelerator and Engine Ventures.

As a public benefit corporation, The Engine Accelerator curates comprehensive programs, provides access to specialized infrastructure and convenes the Tough Tech ecosystem. Engine Ventures will continue to invest in the next generation of founders unlocking massive opportunities in climate, human health and advanced systems & infrastructure.

Outgrowing our original structure is a testament to how rapidly we’ve scaled and we couldn’t be more excited about this next phase of growth. More to come soon!