Schedule | Fast Company Innovation Festival

Influencers are building careers by satirizing corporate culture’s language and tropes. The irony: Most of us laugh at and share this content—then go to the office the next day and participate in the tropes ourselves. Let’s consider the bright side: What would business even look like if we rebuilt it without the swirl of corporate noise? Through a panel and an interactive “BS Shark Tank” activity, professional education and networking platform Luminary and creative agency Beers With Friends will uncover what’s to be gained—in innovation, speed, collaboration, and actual team spirit—by rethinking some fundamentals of modern professionalism.

Join the Goods Mart for a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to build, launch, and grow a consumer brand today. Part neighborhood convenience store, part testing ground for emerging brands, the Goods Mart sits at the intersection of founders, retailers, investors, and consumers—giving it a unique perspective on how a product goes from an idea to the shelf and, ultimately, into customers’ hands.
The experience will kick off with a panel moderated by the Goods Mart founder, Rachel Krupa, bringing together one to two CPG founders alongside voices from the investment and branding worlds. Together, they’ll break down the different roles each plays in building a successful consumer brand and how the ecosystem works together. What makes a retailer take a chance on a new product? How do you create branding that stands out on the shelf? When is a brand ready for investment? How do founders turn early customer feedback into smarter decisions? And what does it take to break through in an increasingly crowded market?
Following the conversation, guests will experience a guided tasting and store tour led by Krupa, highlighting emerging products and sharing a retailer’s perspective on what makes a brand—and a product—stand out.

Wonder is on a mission to make great food more accessible, and the company’s Infinite Kitchen technology is one of the ways it delivers on that promise at scale. In this exclusive Fast Track, guests will hear from Wonder leaders in a moderated conversation about culinary innovation, technology, and the future of food. They’ll then get a kitchen tour and behind-the-counter access to experience the Infinite Makeline in action—placing real orders, seeing made-to-order meals being created in minutes, and enjoying a tasting experience that brings Wonder’s vision to life.

From media and retail to health, hospitality, and technology, businesses are adapting to a consumer who increasingly prioritizes energy, recovery, connection, and well-being. Leaders from some of today’s most innovative brands will discuss how shifting consumer expectations are creating entirely new business opportunities and what every company can learn from the evolution of the wellness economy.

When fans book tickets to the Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, they now meet Jack, an embodied AI agent built on Napster’s platform. In its first month live, Jack handled nearly 15,000 sessions across 21 languages, switching languages mid-conversation with no drop-off. He resolved more than 11,000 fan queries in under two minutes each versus six to eight minutes for a human agent, saving roughly 1,025 hours and driving an anticipated $250,000 in incremental revenue. Napster and Spa Grand Prix will break down how they deployed agentic AI against a live ticketing catalog, from 360-degree seat views that closed VIP sales to a family of five who booked an entire race weekend in one conversation. Attendees will meet Jack live, test the booking flow, and see how an agent gets trained, deployed, and measured in a real revenue environment.

The creator economy isn’t just changing how content gets made; it’s changing how businesses are built, brands stay relevant, and ideas spread. Step inside the Lighthouse for an immersive 90-minute introduction to one of the world's first creator campuses. Through a guided journey across the space, live demonstrations, and candid conversations with the founders, creators, and operators building here every day, you’ll experience firsthand how creator-led thinking is reshaping business, creativity, and culture. More than a tour, this is a chance to experience the ecosystem behind today’s creator economy.

SharkNinja has cracked the code on creating products that go viral—by design. In this immersive Fast Track experience, attendees will move through hands-on zones across SharkNinja’s NYC office, led by the designers, engineers, and storytellers behind these products, each revealing a different layer of how the company turns consumer insight, cross-functional speed, and cultural storytelling into products that positively impact people’s lives. From identifying a real consumer problem and solving it with a disruptive innovation to the moment it launches into culture, you’ll see how intentional design, engineering, and storytelling converge from day one. Walk away with a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to build products that are as thoughtfully designed as they are impossible to scroll past. All Fast Track attendees will be entered to win one of SharkNinja’s latest viral hits.

Step inside the heart of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, behind the rugged brick facade of a century-old former sawdust factory, to explore what might be the most technologically advanced auditory playground in the world. This September, National Sawdust will host the premiere of We Were Fridays, a deeply personal, interdisciplinary masterpiece by visionary cellist and former Kronos Quartet member Jeffrey Zeigler. Commissioned and produced by VisionIntoArt, the project is a sweeping exploration of cultural memory, tracing a lineage from West African Griot traditions through the transatlantic slave trade to South Carolina, and eventually as far as Vietnam and Japan.
Attendees will experience an exclusive preview of the performance scoring, where Zeigler’s cello and electronics bring heritage to life. This session will dive into the story of the Gullah community and Zeigler’s own lineage, tracing back to his ancestor George Washington Friday, to show how immersive tech is the structural narrative engine for modern storytelling.

Join us for a celebration of Fast Company's annual Innovation by Design honorees.

AI is now transforming the way every industry works—even those defined by human interaction, like hospitality. At Ci Siamo, recently ranked a top-100 restaurant in New York City by The New York Times, you’ll hear from Union Square Hospitality Group’s (USHG) chief brand officer, Rachel Kornafel, and its VP of digital innovation, Morgan Wiley Howland, on how Danny Meyer’s famed restaurant group is harnessing AI to make the hospitality experience feel more human, not less—focused on better understanding, connecting with, and delighting guests. You’ll gain an understanding of how to apply USHG’s learnings to your own organization, regardless of industry—and enjoy a few surprises from Ci Siamo’s executive chef, Hillary Sterling, along the way.

As AI transforms how consumers discover brands and how companies communicate, earning consumer trust has never been more complex or more important. What role do storytelling and earned media play in building the credibility, trust, and emotional connection that algorithms can’t manufacture? Join Jennifer Bett Communications for a conversation about the evolving role of communications in an AI-driven marketplace, and why authentic storytelling, cultural relevance, and human connection may be the new currency of consumer trust.

Most breakthrough innovations aren’t invented from scratch. They happen when someone takes a successful business model from one category and applies it to another.
Think about it. Uber applied a manufacturing utilization model to transportation. Airbnb applied the same model to hospitality. Ikea changed furniture retail with a showroom model that later influenced brands in other categories (like Bonobos in apparel). Again and again, innovation comes from borrowing, adapting, and reapplying a business model from one context to another. And it’s successful.
During this Fast Track, branding agency CBX’s Principal Evan Gettinger and CCO Mark Christou will explore the most successful business models of the last century and unpack how they moved across categories. Attendees will then work in small groups to apply a proven business model in an entirely new category context, tangibly demonstrating what new opportunities, products, services, or experiences might emerge for brands and consumers alike. And of course, we’ll award prizes for the most innovative group.

There’s a reason bathhouses have existed in nearly every culture across human history, and Bathhouse is updating the experience to meet modern design and hospitality standards. Join Bathhouse Flatiron to discover how the company has turned contrast therapy into New York’s ultimate social ritual.
This Fast Track begins with a 15-minute Aufguss, a performance that uses heat, essential oils, and music for a multisensory sauna session. Next, enjoy an hour and 15 minutes of open access to move freely between the facility’s thermal pools, cold plunges, saunas, and steam room. To close, pull up a seat for a 30-minute candid Q&A with cofounder Jason Goodman to learn how he and his cofounder, Travis Talmadge, turned a passion for sauna into one of New York City’s most innovative wellness concepts. Please bring your swimwear and water bottle. Bathhouse will take care of the rest.

AI is helping companies move faster, scale bigger, and operate more efficiently than ever. But as businesses capture the benefits of this transformation, what does it mean for consumers? Will AI lower costs, improve experiences, and expand purchasing power for shoppers, or will it simply increase profits to organizations deploying the technology? This conversation explores whether a true “consumer dividend” is possible and what responsibility brands, platforms, and policymakers have in ensuring AI-driven growth delivers meaningful benefits to the people who drive the economy.

As AI, shifting consumer behavior, and new technologies rapidly reshape entire industries, yesterday’s winning business model can quietly become tomorrow’s liability.
In this interactive workshop, you’ll put your own business under the microscope. Through a guided series of exercises, participants will identify a product, initiative, or growth strategy they’re betting on, uncover the assumptions holding it together, and pressure-test what happens if those assumptions no longer hold.
You’ll leave with a clearer understanding of what is most vulnerable in your business and what may not exist five years from now, and a practical action plan for what to stop, question, or start testing today.

As AI takes on more work, a new leadership challenge is emerging: Are you automating tasks, or quietly eroding your organization’s ability to think? The companies that thrive today won’t just deploy smarter tools—they’ll build teams that continue to exercise judgment, develop expertise, and make better decisions over time.
In this interactive workshop, participants will examine how decisions are made inside their organizations—and where AI is beginning to reshape, or replace, that process. Through a guided audit, you’ll map a critical decision pipeline, identify where automation could weaken institutional knowledge or slow the development of future leaders, and uncover the hidden risks that come with outsourcing judgment to machines.
You’ll leave with a visual map of your organization’s decision-making pipeline, a set of “red flags” highlighting areas of concern, and a practical framework for ensuring that AI strengthens human intelligence rather than replacing it.

Space is limited for this experiential session, so sign up soon!

For years, brands have tried to crack the Gen Z code through campaigns, influencers, and trend chasing. The companies breaking through today are taking a different approach: inviting Gen Z into the creative process from the very beginning. Join Joon Silverstein, chief marketing officer at Coach, and Ziad Ahmed, head of Next Gen at UTA and founder of ZCON, as they unpack what it means to co-create with a generation that expects participation over persuasion. You’ll learn how brands can rethink authorship, build cultural credibility, and create work that resonates in an increasingly fragmented attention economy.

Innovation runs on momentum. Yet for many organizations, financial operations still create friction through manual approvals, disconnected systems, and limited visibility. As AI-native automation converges with modern financial infrastructure, finance is evolving from a back-office function into a strategic driver of speed, adaptability, and growth. This panel brings together leaders from banking, fintech, and high-growth companies to explore how intelligent finance is reshaping the way organizations operate – and why the businesses investing in this foundation today are better positioned to innovate and scale tomorrow.

Artificial intelligence is no longer an experiment happening at the edges of business, it is rapidly becoming embedded in the core of how organizations operate, compete, and create value. As companies move from pilots to production, leaders face a new generation of challenges around governance, workforce adoption, infrastructure, customer trust, and operational risk. This session explores the strategic and cultural shifts defining the next era of AI and what it will take to deploy intelligent systems responsibly, transparently, and at scale. The next era of business will be defined not by AI experimentation but by AI execution at scale.

Our capacity to innovate, adapt, and collaborate depends heavily on how we manage our daily energy. But rather than viewing energy as something to hack, stack, and optimize, what if people treated it as a resource to unlock higher personal potential and foster healthier, more vibrant cultures, both inside and outside of the workplace? 
At 113 Spring, a new wellness destination in SoHo, attendees will experience the space’s newest theme, which explores the importance of energy, the role it plays in longevity, and what it means to view energy as a shared resource. Join 113 Spring for a tour of the space, a brief Q&A, and personalized services curated to help you understand your energy and transform your relationship to it. 

Join award-winning PR pro Hannah Cranston and a curated group of founders and tastemakers for a panel discussion about how standing out in today’s AI-saturated market and media landscape takes a mix of not just the right tools but also taste—the editorial instinct and cultural fluency to know what’s actually worth saying, and how to say it in a way that earns attention. The experience opens with a 30-minute panel conversation on how brands are navigating an environment that changes daily, and how the most successful ones are using AI without losing the instinct that actually earns coverage. From there, attendees move into a social hour with bubbles and elevated bites, where they’ll have the opportunity to go deeper with the panelists and explore how “taste” is becoming a defining skill set alongside the latest technology and tools. You will leave with exciting ideas about how AI can genuinely strengthen your brand, plus new connections made over great conversation and even better company. This session is perfect for founders, CMOs, creative directors, and anyone building a brand who wants to do it with both intelligence and a point of view.

Join us for a celebration of Fast Company's annual Best Workplaces for Innovators honorees.

What happens when a restaurateur starts thinking like a world-builder? Simon Kim’s 550 Madison was one of the most anticipated restaurant openings in New York City this year—and the wait has been worth it. Six years in the making, 550 Madison’s sprawling three-level concept, including Bar Chimera, Cote 550, and Sushi Yoshitake, reimagines what restaurants can be: part culinary destination, part hospitality laboratory, part cultural experience. Designed in collaboration with legendary architect David Rockwell, 550 Madison is one of New York City’s most iconic postmodern architectural landmarks. Together, Kim and Rockwell have created a collection of distinct hospitality experiences that honor the building’s heritage while embracing a new vision of blending the communal experience of Korean barbecue with the hallmarks of a classic American chophouse. 

As the youngest CEO in Walmart U.S. history, David Guggina has spent his career modernizing the retail giant from the inside out, helping transform it into a technology company powered by AI, automation, and one of the world's most sophisticated supply chains. Join Guggina for a conversation on how the company is using technology to stay relentlessly focused on what matters most: keeping prices low, making shopping faster and easier, and earning customer loyalty in an increasingly competitive market. 

AI has moved beyond chatbots toward autonomous systems that can reason, plan, and execute tasks across devices, which is fundamentally reshaping how we work, build products, and interact with technology. Join Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon for a look at what's coming next. From the rise of agentic AI to the semiconductor breakthroughs making it possible, Amon will unpack the technologies poised to redefine computing—and what every business leader needs to know now to stay ahead.

AI, electrified mobility, and always-on devices are pushing energy systems beyond what today’s infrastructure was built to support. The next phase of the clean energy transition is no longer just about generation—it’s about storage, resilience, recovery, and safety at scale. In a world powered by batteries and distributed systems, failures are inevitable.
The question is whether our infrastructure can contain risk, recover quickly, and keep operating. From battery safety to critical-material recovery and circular supply chains, this panel explores how resilient energy systems will power the future.

Siegel+Gale’s World's Simplest Brands 2026: B2B Report offers compelling insights into the relationship between simplicity and business performance. As organizations grow, complexity often follows through products, processes, technology, and brand experience. At what point does complexity stop reflecting expertise and start creating friction? To stand out when customers face tyranny of choices, being understood is as important as being innovative. Why do some organizations become more difficult to navigate as they scale, while others build trust, loyalty, and competitive advantage through clarity? This conversation explores the relationship between simplicity and business performance, and why making brands easier to understand has become a strategic imperative.

For decades, the golden rule of branding was simple: Win the human heart. Design brands that move people, spark emotion, drive memorability, and build lasting relationships. That is still essential today, but humans are no longer the only audience. In addition to reaching and resonating with people, brands must now also get noticed, understood, and recommended by an entirely different entity: artificial Intelligence.
In this session, Design Bridge and Partners will explore the friction and the synergy of two-brain brand building. They’ll break down the shift from search engine optimization (SEO) to generative engine optimization (GEO) and demonstrate how brands can master a delicate balancing act—maintaining the emotional storytelling that wins human memorability, while structuring the factual evidence that wins AI citations.
Attendees will walk away with a practical blueprint for building coherent, future-proof brands optimized for both human survival and algorithmic processing.

Join Evan Sweet, director of neighborhood planning, on an immersive walking tour through one of New York’s most remarkable urban transformations. Explore how the Meatpacking District’s shift from a gritty industrial hub to a thriving arts and culture destination has unlocked bold opportunities for streetscape reinvention. From cobblestone corridors to curated public spaces, discover how thoughtful placemaking continues to shape and deepen the district's unique creative identity. This is a tour not just of a neighborhood, but of a model for how culture can drive, and be sustained by, intentional streetscape transformation.

Join us for a celebration of Fast Company's annual World Changing Ideas honorees.

Located in the heart of Manhattan’s Financial District, Printemps’ first U.S. location bridges legacy Parisian retail and award-winning American hospitality. At this Fast Track, hear how Printemps New York wants to position itself as more than a department store, instead aiming for the feel of a French apartment where luxury shopping becomes experiential rather than simply transactional. 
Join the Printemps team for a private tour of the store’s design and history, with the opportunity to discover the historic landmarked Red Room, built in 1931. Following the visit, attendees will enjoy a coffee and pastry and have time to explore more than 450 brands, including exclusive French brands that can only be found at Printemps New York.

Social impact is society’s stabilization layer. The data speaks volumes—nearly 13 million jobs in the sector, $600 billion in charitable giving last year, and more than $1 trillion in annual economic contribution—a backbone of the economy. When the sector is strong, employment rises, talent thrives, and innovation accelerates. When it’s weak, workforce disruption, public health setbacks, and strained systems follow. The social impact ecosystem goes beyond charity. It helps keep society on track. This panel explores the untold economic story of the sector and how AI could strengthen—or weaken—this critical layer of society.

Everyone is talking about AI, but the organizations seeing measurable results are focused on something else: trusted data, business readiness, and the ability to adapt. As disruption reshapes supply chains, consumer expectations rise and regulatory complexity increases, the biggest barrier to transformation isn’t the technology—it’s the business itself. Join leaders across industries for a candid conversation on what separates real transformation from AI hype. Discover why standardized, high-quality data is the foundation for scalable AI, how organizations are breaking through adoption barriers, and what it takes to build trust across data, systems, and people to create lasting competitive advantage.

Go behind the scenes at Roscioli NYC for an intimate tasting and conversation exploring how one of Rome's most beloved culinary institutions successfully translated its century-old legacy to New York City. Guests will enjoy a guided tour of the restaurant and its acclaimed wine cellar while hearing firsthand from the team about preserving authenticity, adapting to a new market, and building a hospitality experience that honors tradition while embracing innovation. As attendees taste some of Roscioli NYC's most beloved wine, cheeses, and salumi, they will gain insight into the business, branding, and operational decisions behind bringing an iconic Italian institution across the Atlantic.

Workplaces are no longer simply places where people come together—they are ecosystems that shape how teams connect, collaborate, and perform at their best. As hybrid work, artificial intelligence, and evolving employee expectations reshape the workplace, organizations are exploring how intentional design can unlock human potential and business impact. Research across behavioral science, evolutionary psychology, and workplace design reveals how environments influence trust, creativity, knowledge sharing, and decision-making. This session examines how design grounded in human science can help organizations create workplaces that strengthen teams, foster innovation, and shape the future of work.

For decades, scale defined success in the food industry. Today, a new generation of challenger brands is proving that authenticity, agility, and a clear point of view can matter just as much as size. Consumers are increasingly seeking products that feel personal, transparent, and purpose-driven, creating opportunities for emerging brands to compete with established players in new ways. At the same time, advances in manufacturing, distribution, retail access, and digital marketing have lowered barriers to entry, accelerating innovation across every grocery aisle. This session explores the forces reshaping CPG innovation, why challenger brands are winning consumer loyalty, and how they are redefining the future of food.

AI adoption isn’t just a technology challenge—it’s a culture challenge. For creative, customer-focused companies, the question isn’t simply where AI can make the business faster or more efficient, but how to put it to work without flattening the judgment, taste, and human connection that make a brand matter. J.Crew Group CEO Libby Wadle and chief information officer Danielle Schmelkin are tackling that question from both sides of the C-suite, building AI fluency across the organization while helping teams identify practical, secure, and scalable ways to use the technology. In this conversation, they’ll share what it takes to move AI from scattered experimentation to meaningful adoption, how CEOs and CIOs can work together to drive change, and why the companies that get AI right may be the ones that use it to amplify—not automate away—their most human advantages.

How do you design an identity for a world that doesn’t exist yet? For global events like the FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Games, creative teams must build brands years—even a decade—before audiences ever experience them. And in a rapidly changing cultural landscape, traditional symbols and visual shorthand may not carry the meaning they once did. In this hands-on workshop, Chris Braden, cofounder of brand design studio Public Address and the designer behind the visual identities for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and LA28, will take attendees inside the frameworks he uses to balance consistency with flexibility and help stakeholders envision a future they can’t yet see. You’ll then put those principles into practice, tackling your own design challenge: creating an identity for an event a decade from now. 

AI and advanced technology are attracting unprecedented investment. But what happens to the artists, designers, filmmakers, musicians, and other creative thinkers whose ideas shape the culture around us? At a moment when traditional funding models are under pressure and creative talent is increasingly at risk of being overlooked, investing in human creativity isn’t just a cultural imperative—it’s an innovation strategy. Join this discussion to explore why creative talent remains one of our most valuable—and underinvested—assets, how institutions and businesses can create new pathways for independent creators, and what it takes to build a more sustainable ecosystem for cultural innovation.

The current rush to adopt artificial intelligence has divided workplaces into two camps: a few seeing clear returns, and a majority sitting on abandoned pilots and budget overruns. Join Faisal Masud, president and general manager of global commercial software and retail at HP, for an engaging, outcome-focused workshop that explores why most AI initiatives fail to deliver—and how to fix them. You’ll go beyond tool adoption by understanding the critical shifts required to build true organizational readiness, rewrite performance metrics, and orchestrate collaboration between human and machine teams. This workshop will help you move from solutions-first thinking to outcome-based planning and leave you with actionable frameworks to ensure AI amplifies, rather than replaces, human problem-solving.

By the time most companies spot a trend, it’s already over. The brands that are winning have learned how to turn viral moments into products—not months or years later, but while the conversation is still happening. Join Dave Ritterbush, CEO of Califia Farms, and Mark Barrocas, CEO of SharkNinja, for a conversation on building organizations that move at the speed of culture. This session will teach you how to spot cultural shifts before competitors do, redesign product development for speed without sacrificing quality, and create products that consumers don’t just buy—they can’t stop talking about them.