If innovation, technology and the next big opportunity excite you, you need tickets for Thursday’s Charlotte Venture Challenge entrepreneurship conference. “Anyone who wants to see the most promising early stage companies or who wants to learn how entrepreneurs can connect with corporate partners will want to be in the PORTAL building on Thursday afternoon,” says event host Paul Wettenhall of Ventureprise.

After all, Red Hat founding CFO Manoj George and Klever co-founder Phil Vergis will talk about “Building a Billion Dollar Startup.” The conference will climax with the announcement of which promising startup wins the 2014 Charlotte Venture Challenge for great business ideas.

“The Charlotte Venture Challenge continues to be the region’s premier business competition,” Wetenhall says. The field is strong, with more than 100 applicants and 38 finalists – 10 with connections to UNC Charlotte.

“The founders of many of the companies that are finalists this year are experts in their fields,” he adds. “Many of them have left lucrative corporate jobs or are researchers from some of the Southeast’s great research universities. All of these experts are excited about bringing innovation to commercial market as rapidly as possible.”

The entire program will be in UNC Charlotte’s dramatic new PORTAL Building. Tours will be available during the reception. The program schedule is:

Noon-1 p.m.: Check-in, onsite registration, and networking

1-1:45 Keynote: Building a Billion Dollar Startup

1:45-2:30 Panel: Getting Your First Corporate Customer

2:30-3:15 Panel: Corporate Innovation, Partnering with Startups

3:15-4:30 Top 14 Finalist Pitches

4:30-5:30 38 Finalist teams exhibition and People’s Choice Award voting

5:30-8 pm Reception and awards ceremony

Want to go?

We could go on and on about the program, the eight speakers and the many opportunities to connect. But rather than do that we suggest you get all of the details at the Venture Challenge website.

TICKETS: If by chance you have not gotten your tickets yet, you can still buy advance tickets for $125 through Wednesday at http://goo.gl/sprnn3, or get them at the door on Thursday. Either way, you will get admission to the keynote presentation, two panel discussions, 14 finalist pitches, an exhibition of the 38 finalist companies, and an early evening gala reception and awards ceremony.