Atlanta's Avant South 2026 Conference Returns With OpenAI, NVIDIA Speaker
Avant South, the City of Atlanta's annual technology and innovation conference, is back for its fourth year on October 12-13, 2026, and ready to engage Atlanta's tech talent pool. This year's speaker list reads like a shortlist of the people currently deciding how AI gets built and deployed.
Confirmed speakers include Ronnie Chatterji, Chief Economist at OpenAI; Howard Wright, VP of Startup Ecosystem at NVIDIA; Pascal Belaud, EVP and Chief AI and Data Officer at Truist; and Le Song, Co-Founder and CEO at Genbio AI. They'll join a lineup of Atlanta-based leaders, including Georgia Tech Chief Commercialization Officer Raghupathy "Siva" Sivakumar, McKesson Chief Data & AI Officer Girish Modgil, and Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens.
Presented by the City of Atlanta in collaboration with local colleges and universities, Avant South has grown from roughly 100 registrations in its first year to close to a thousand attendees.
Why Atlanta Should Pay Attention
As Donnie Beamer, the City of Atlanta's Senior Technology Advisor, told Hypepotamus, the event is about highlighting how Atlanta is growing to be a top five technology and entrepreneurial hub in the country. The conference exists to connect Atlanta's workforce, especially its students, to the companies, enterprises, and startups building here.
"We serve a very unique segment: the students. The talent pool is such an important aspect of the ecosystem," said Beamer. But the conference is also built for businesses and corporations looking to grow in the city.
In previous years, students at Avant South pitched in an innovation showcase with organizations including US Soccer, Deloitte, and Cisco. Past winners have walked away with cash prizes and mentorship, and the showcase doubles as an introduction for young professionals to venture-backed startups and job opportunities they might not otherwise encounter.
What to Expect This Year
This year's theme, AI in Action, runs through five tracks over the two-day event:
- Shaping the Systems | Public Impact — smart policy, strategic investment, and public-private partnerships driven by AI
- Re-Imagining the Flow | AI & Supply Chain— automation, sustainability, and resilience in global commerce
- Driving Innovation | Digital Transformation — AI, digital trust, and agile design reshaping enterprise experience
- Building What's Next | Founders & AI Startups — the Southeast's founders, builders, and backers
- Igniting the Future | Student Visionaries — mentorship and real-world insight for the next generation of innovators
Maija Ehlinger
Beyond the sessions, organizers are running networking lounges and activation zones with Waymo ride-alongs, Rivian truck demos, and other hands-on exhibits. There will also be an invite-only Applied AI Summit for a smaller group of enterprise and technical leaders.
Registration and the full schedule are available at avantsouth.com.
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