The Future Is Here: Find a Job, Make Connections and Learn About Local Lab-Grown Meat at The 2023 Vermont Tech Jam

Want to build electric airplanes? Design semiconductors? Develop renewable energy solutions to help fight climate change? You can find a job doing any of the above — and more — in Vermont.

Come check out the options at this year’s Vermont Tech Jam, an annual career and tech expo on Saturday, October 21, at Hula — a coworking campus on the Burlington waterfront. Organized since 2008 by the newsweekly Seven Days, with help from the Vermont Technology Alliance, the Jam showcases some of the state’s most inventive enterprises.

This year’s free event, presented by Marvell and Hula, starts with a one-of-a-kind job fair, where job seekers, college students and tech professionals mingle. Vermont colleges and technical programs will also be exhibiting, too. The Jam includes a daylong robotics demo in which student members of Vermont’s growing FIRST robotics community display their creations. Attendees can also try flying Alia, the electric aircraft made by Beta Technologies, in a mobile flight simulator and see inside one of NOMAD’s mobile energy-storage systems, provided by Waterbury-based KORE Power.

The career fair, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., is followed at 3 by a reception and a keynote presentation tackling the provocative topic of lab-grown meat. The USDA and FDA recently approved the sale of cell-cultivated chicken. Will Vermont embrace the rapidly evolving field of cellular agriculture? Dr. Rachael Floreani and New Harvest Fellow Irfan Tahir, two University of Vermont researchers, discuss how meat is cultivated in a lab and the opportunities and challenges it presents for Vermont agriculture. Dr. Floreani’s new startup, Burlington Bio, will be among the exhibitors.

The Vermont Tech Jam wouldn’t be possible without support from an array of companies and organizations committed to the local tech ecosystem: Hula; Marvell; Coldwell Banker Hickok & Boardman; KORE Power; VIP; Vermont Tech Council; University of Vermont Office of Research; Data Innovations; Norwich University; Health Plans Inc.; Gravel & Shea; National Life Group; Gallagher, Flynn and Company; GBIC; Vermont Technology Alliance; WCAX; Northfield Savings Bank; and Vermont Public.

For more information, a complete schedule and a list of exhibitors, visit techjamvt.com.