The Michigan Office of Future Mobility and Electrification and Team Michigan are traveling to SXSW next week to connect with potential partners and highlight opportunities in Michigan’s mobility ecosystem.

On Monday, March 13 experience “Michigan Day” at Midwest House. This SXSW tradition brings together some of the world’s most innovative companies – and all things Michigan – to demonstrate why startups are choosing the Great Lakes State as the place to grow and thrive.

Leaders from Michigan’s tech and mobility community will take the stage in Austin, including:

• Greening the Midwest (Monday, March 13 at 11:30 a.m. CT): The state’s Interim Chief Mobility Officer Kathryn Snorrason will join a panel highlighting the ways the industrial Midwest has become a surprising leader in green energy, from grid upgrades allowing for more renewable energy production to billion-dollar battery plants to EV.
  
  
• Innovation thru Partnerships and Groundbreaking R&D (Monday, March 13 at 1:30 p.m. CT): Presented by Ann Arbor SPARK, learn how Ann Arbor has fostered partnerships across public, private, and academic institutions to create an environment where high-growth companies thrive.
  
  
• MI Unicorns: Life after the $1 Billion Valuation (Monday, March 13 at 2:30 p.m. CT): While it was once unheard of for a startup from Michigan (or the Midwest) to achieve a $1 billion valuation, more than half a dozen companies have reached that landmark in the last five years. This conversation presented by Michigan Founders Fund will examine what happens next; specifically what that kind of growth means to the founder, the company, and the region.
  
  
• Rediscover Michigan: Pure Opportunity (Monday, March 13 at 3:30 p.m. CT): Learn how Dug Song, Co-Founder of unicorn Duo Security, and Ollie Howie, Michigan’s first Black fund manager, have found pure opportunity in their adopted home state, and hear why private and public-sector executives, like native Midwesterners TaRita Johnson and Dana Williams, actively choose the Great Lakes State to pursue their professional goals.
  
  
• Self-Driving Cars: From Science Fiction to Scale (Tuesday, March 14 at 11:30 a.m. CT): Featuring GM CEO Mary Barra, learn how auto industry leaders are navigating the technology advancements, regulatory environment, and customer acceptance needed to make the AV and EV future real.