Chicago Innovation
One of Chicago's most recognized innovation communities, where the entire value is the connection between its members.
Who they are
Chicago Innovation is one of the most recognized innovation communities in the city. Best known for the annual Chicago Innovation Awards, it spends the year bringing together founders, corporate leaders, investors, students, and civic figures. Its work is built on a simple idea: innovation happens when the right people meet. In its 25th anniversary year, Knod is proud to be a major contributing sponsor.
The challenge
A room full of the right people does not guarantee the right introductions. Members arrive, gravitate toward the people they already know, and leave without meeting the person who could have changed their year. Chicago Innovation wanted its gatherings to actually deliver on the promise of connection, and to see it in the numbers, not just feel it in the room.
In the room
The Innovation Forecast: The Next 25 Years brought a remarkable panel to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago Ballroom, including 2025 Nobel laureate in Economic Sciences Professor Joel Mokyr of Northwestern, P33 CEO Brad Henderson, the Aspen Institute's Janice Jackson, World Business Chicago CEO Phil Clement, and Chicago Community Trust President and CEO Andrea Saenz, moderated by Chicago Innovation President and CEO Luke Tanen. With that much talent in one room, the cost of not meeting the right person was high.
How Knod ran the room
Knod was there from the door. Attendees checked in through Knod and answered a couple of quick prompts, and Knod went up on the main screen so the whole room could see how it worked: scan, answer, and get matched with the people worth meeting. No app to download, no new profile, no feed.
Prompts attendees answered
- What are you interested in?
- What are you hoping to get from this event?
The result
"At Chicago Innovation, we are always trying to spark meaningful connections at our monthly events. Knod offers a unique, tech-forward way for our innovation-minded attendees to network that's fun, frictionless, and outcomes-focused."
"Using Knod at Chicago Innovation was phenomenal. The matching was surprisingly accurate. We were paired with attendees who aligned closely with our interests, and the conversations felt natural and high-level. It made networking intentional and genuinely valuable."
A major contributing sponsor
Knod is listed among Chicago Innovation's major contributing sponsors for its 25th anniversary year, a partnership built on a shared belief that connection is the point of every room.
Connections that would have taken hours of forced small talk, or never happened at all, happened in minutes. In a room built to imagine the next 25 years, the introductions were as memorable as the panel.
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See what Knod would do at your next event, class, or gathering.