Monday, September 14, 2026 - to - Friday, September 18, 2026

Long Beach, California

SoCal Deep Tech Week 2026: Scaling American Manufacturing

Where breakthrough meets build-out. One week in Southern California for the founders, funders, and operators moving hard-tech from lab to factory floor to national priority.

• 001 · Cohort: 450 Curated, invite-only cohort across the week · ~150 per summit, single-track

• 002 · Capital: 2B+ In venture funding flowing into Southern California deep-tech

• 003 · Summits: 3 Flagship single-track summits across the Pacific Mandate week

• 004 · Pillars: 4 Sea to Space · Build It in Time · Capital Stack · Allied Base

Cohort figures reflect curated, invite-only summit attendance, capped by design. They are separate from the week's open district forums, receptions, and satellite events, which draw broader public foot traffic.

Registrations Open August 1.

The third edition runs September 14–18 under the Pacific Mandate: a Monday waterfront reception, then three single-track summits. Registration for each opens August 1. New this year: a Long Beach home, three named summits, and the inaugural Maritime Industrial Workshop.

Community Events: Satellite forums, lab tours, hangar receptions, and partner-hosted side events running alongside the summits, open by application across the district all week.

The Maritime Industrial Workshop.

An operational sprint inside SDTW Summit Week. Builders, engineers, and student teams ship working prototypes against one or two real maritime-industrial operational problems, scoped with industry subject-matter experts, mentored and judged by the operators who live them.

Not a weekend coding contest. Five days inside the Week with industry SMEs in the room, follow-on routing through Q4, and award by advancement: priority pilot consideration, not a cash purse.

1–2 Scoped challenges

10–20 Matched teams

80–150 Builders & engineers

5 Days on-site

What You’ll Find on the Ground.

Each summit day runs a single 12–6 PM track anchored to the Pacific Mandate: a keynote fireside, two cohort-wide discussions, and parallel breakout rooms, then closes with a reception and two VIP dinners. Demos, corridor tours, and the OTA clinic run alongside. Every session is conducted under Chatham House Rule.

• Keynote Firesides: A 30-minute keynote fireside frames each summit day, with founders, primes, program leads, and allied partners. Chatham House, no recording.

• Summit Discussions: Two cohort-wide discussions per summit day in circular format, with initial speakers, respondents, and a facilitator, then 3–4 parallel breakout rooms.

• Founder Dinners: Small-table, off-the-record dinners pairing critical-tech founders with government customers, primes, and capital. No press, no phones. Invite-only - 40 seats

• OTA & Contracting Clinic: Closed-door working session with program leads on Other Transaction Authority, SBIR phase III, and the contracting vehicles moving fastest into 2026. Invite-only - founders + GCs

• Corridor Showcase: Long Beach corridor showcase: floor walks, demos, and hangar tours across the aerospace, maritime, and advanced-manufacturing belt.

Four days. One coast. The cohort scaling the US industrial base.

SDTW is not a conference. It is a working convening under the Pacific Mandate: a curated week where the founders, investors, primes, program offices, and allied partners scaling deep-tech sit in the same rooms, under Chatham House Rule, and leave with commitments.

Thanks to SoCal Deep Tech for sharing the graphics and details with our LA Startup Events members and friends across Southern California.

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