Tough Tech Summit 2026

Tuesday October 27, Boston

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For the builders turning bold science and engineering into enduring companies, and the funders helping bring them to scale.

  • About the Summit

    Join Tough Tech founders, funders, and ecosystem leaders for a day of founder pitches, timely conversations, and high-value connection. Discover the companies and technologies shaping what’s next, and meet the people helping move breakthrough science and engineering from lab to lasting impact.

    A cornerstone of Tough Tech Week (October 26–30, 2026), the Summit brings together the builders and backers advancing Tough Tech across climate, health, advanced systems, and beyond.

  • The Details

    Tuesday, October 27, 2026
    8:00 AM - 6:00 PM
    Hotel Commonwealth
    500 Commonwealth Ave

Boston, MA 02215

    The Tough Tech Summit is by-invitation only.


Co-hosted by The Engine and the Tough Tech Summit Host Committee: Breakthrough Energy, DCVC, Engine Ventures, RA Capital, and SOSV, whose insight and leadership helped shape this year’s agenda, nominate the companies pitching, and strengthen the Tough Tech investor community.

Tough tech summit 2026 at a glance

VC and Investors
245
Startups
148
Startup Pitches
40
Investor-Hosted Roundtables
23
Read: Seven Trends That Defined the 2025 Tough Tech Summit

2026 Pitch Tracks

40 fundraising-ready companies will take the stage across four pitch tracks this year, 12 more than in 2025. Twelve more first looks at the science and engineering moving from the lab toward market, and a wider view of where Tough Tech is heading.

Featured Speakers

Agenda

9:00 AM | Opening Remarks

9:15 AM | Opening Fireside Chat: The Physical AI Frontier: Where Digital Intelligence Meets Hardware

AI is moving off the screen and into the robots, warehouses, factories, and physical systems that run the economy. This opening conversation examines what it takes to put intelligence into hardware at scale, where the real bottlenecks are, and how founders and investors should approach building in this space.

  • Tye Brady, Chief Technologist, Amazon Robotics
  • Austin Badger, Global Head of Climate and Deep Tech, HSBC Innovation Banking

9:45 AM | Panel: IPOs in Tough Tech: Paths to Public

For capital-intensive companies, the path to public markets looks different than it does for software. Bankers, operators, and investors discuss what makes a Tough Tech company IPO-ready, how the market is treating energy and other Tough Tech issuers today, and what founders should be doing years before a listing.

  • Lucy Brash, Managing Director & Head of Natural Resources ECM, J.P. Morgan
  • David Ulrey, CFO, Fervo Energy
  • John Rudy, Member / Co-chair, Securities & Capital Markets Practice, Mintz (Moderator)

10:40 AM | Founder Pitches

  • Track 1A: AI Infrastructure & Next-Gen Computing
  • Track 1B: Climate Tech, Decarbonization & Clean Energy

12:10 PM | Investor-Hosted Networking

1:00 PM | Lunch

2:05 PM | Founder Pitch Tracks

  • Track 2A: Future of Health & Biotech
  • Track 2B: Sustainable Manufacturing & Frontier Infrastructure

3:40 PM | Dual Use Panel: Building for Civilian and Military Purposes

More Tough Tech companies are selling to both commercial and defense customers. A founder and investors discuss how to build for both markets, how defense procurement and funding work in practice, and the trade-offs of taking government and defense capital.

4:20 PM | Fireside Chat: Engineering Our Brains: Neurotechnology & Neuro-inspired AI

Brain-computer interfaces and neuro-inspired AI are drawing growing attention and capital. This closing panel brings together a neuroscientist and serial entrepreneur, an investor, and an AI researcher to separate progress from hype: where the science stands today, what is commercially real, and what comes next.

5:00 PM | Closing Remarks & Reception

tough tech summit 2026

thank you to our sponsors

    Join More: Tough Tech Week 2026

    Tough Tech Summit is the flagship event of Tough Tech Week, a week-long convening of the investors, founders, and leaders advancing breakthrough science and engineering. Hosted by The Engine and more than 50 partners across Greater Boston and beyond, the week creates opportunities to meet emerging companies, explore technologies across critical sectors, and engage with the networks helping move Tough Tech from lab to market.

    Explore the Calendar

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    Submission of a Tough Tech Summit registration request does not guarantee attendance. All requests are subject to review and approval by The Engine.