The Official #CLETechWeek26 Buildathon: Preparing Cleveland's Talent Pipeline for an AI-Powered Economy

The Official #CLETechWeek26 Buildathon, in partnership with Cleveland State University and the CSU Talent Hub, brings students, emerging talent, and industry leaders together for a one-day experiment in what the future of education, workforce development, and industry collaboration can look like. Instead of talking about the future of work, we're going to build it. Participants will work in interdisciplinary teams of six: 🎓 4 Students Emerging Talent (18+)🛠️ 1 Engineering Product Industry Leader📣 1 Marketing Industry Leader Teams will use emerging AI and vibe-coding tools to identify a real friction point between education and employment and go from problem → idea → prototype in a single day. The challenge: Build something that better prepares people for an AI-powered economy. Projects might explore career readiness, experiential learning, AI fluency, talent discovery, career navigation, or new ways to connect Cleveland's talent with Cleveland's opportunities. You don't need to be an expert coder. That's part of the experiment. AI is expanding who gets to build. We're bringing together people with different skills, disciplines, and experiences to discover what becomes possible when those barriers get lower. Who Should Participate? 🎓 Students & Emerging Talent Open to adults 18+ who are currently learning, training, or early in their careers—including students at colleges, universities, community colleges, trade and technical schools, certificate programs, bootcamps, and other education or workforce-development programs. 🛠️ Industry Leaders We're looking for experienced professionals across engineering, product development, product management, marketing, communications, branding, growth, and go-to-market who want to build alongside—not just talk to—Cleveland's emerging talent. From Buildathon → Cleveland Tech Week At 4 PM, the doors open for the Official #CLETechWeek26 Welcome Ceremony. Teams will transform their workspaces into demo zones and showcase what they built to attendees and judges from across Cleveland's innovation ecosystem. Approximately 3–5 teams will then be selected to present their projects on stage during the Welcome Ceremony. 📅 Agenda 10:00 AM → Welcome, challenge reveal & team kickoff10:30 AM–4:00 PM → Buildathon4:00–5:00 PM → Project showcase + Welcome Ceremony5:00–6:00 PM → Selected project presentations + Building Cleveland's Innovation Ecosystem panel6:00–7:00 PM → Optional networking 💻 What to Bring Bring your laptop + charger, notebook, reusable water bottle, and anything else you need for a day of building. Dress: Business casualEligibility: All Buildathon participants must be 18+. Come meet people you wouldn't normally work with, learn emerging tools, build something you couldn't build alone, and help us explore a bigger question: How do we prepare—and keep—Cleveland's talent for the economy we're building next? A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats#ClevelandOnTheRise#CLETechWeek26#BuildTheTide This event is part of Cleveland Tech Week 2026, a community-driven celebration of innovation across Greater Cleveland. Learn more and explore the full calendar at cletechweek.com. By registering, you consent to share your registration information with the event host and Cleveland Tech Week organizers. You may also receive occasional emails about Cleveland Tech Week related events and announcements. You can unsubscribe at any time. Photography and videography may occur during the event and may be used for promotional purposes.