An out-the-door crowd packed the Salt Palace Convention Center in 2018 for the Silicon Slopes Summit, which had nearly 14,300 attendees that year. The next event, called Summit, will be a partnership between Silicon Slopes and Visit Salt Lake. (Brice Wallace/Salt Lake Business Journal)
From its origin in 2017, Silicon Slopes Summit has evolved, and its next iteration will have an expanded focus.
Silicon Slopes and Visit Salt Lake have announced that they will partner to present an event simply called “Summit,” taking place Feb. 4-7, 2026, and featuring gatherings throughout downtown Salt Lake City focused not just on technology but also multimedia, sports, culinary, arts, culture and entertainment.
Silicon Slopes is a nonprofit organization that aims to empower entrepreneurs to build and innovate. Visit Salt Lake is a private, nonprofit corporation that promotes Salt Lake as a convention and travel destination by recruiting and retaining meetings, conventions and sporting events.
In making the Summit announcement, the organizations said that “convening culture shifters, entrepreneurs, investors, civic leaders and more, the event will unite Salt Lake’s sport legacy, multimedia advancements and next-gen storytelling to celebrate and amplify innovations driving Utah’s future.”
“Summit expands our annual events into something bolder and more sophisticated as we create a citywide festival where tech meets culture and the future isn’t just imagined; it’s built,” said Clint Betts, CEO of Silicon Slopes. “We are forming one cohesive brand unified by the celebration of Utah’s creativity, ingenuity and future-forward thinking. We will continue to focus on bringing the best and brightest talent in the industry while offering more opportunities for visionaries, businesses, change-makers and thought leaders across industries to form meaningful connections with prospects and partners than ever before.”
“Partnering with Silicon Slopes elevates our mission to drive economic impact and showcase the best of Salt Lake’s hospitality, collaborative business community and entrepreneurial drive,” said Kaitlin Eskelson, CEO of Visit Salt Lake. “Every experience, keynote, activation and performance will connect back to our core theme of innovation, driving our future and forming a shared ascent toward what’s next. We look forward to pairing Summit with next year’s Winter Roundup to enhance Salt Lake’s $5.8 billion visitor economy.”
As outlined by organizers, the event will be structured on strategic pillars that reflect Utah’s diverse strengths and ambitions across tech, multimedia, sports heritage, culinary breakthroughs and arts, culture and entertainment. Each pillar will feature its own programming tailored to the themes, talent and audience of each track while also encouraging collaboration across disciplines. Focused tracks for other industries and specialized audiences will highlight the intersections of their sectors with technology. Planned activities include keynote presentations, panel discussions, workshops, street performances and sport celebrations.
Activities will take place day and night in several Salt Lake City locations, envisioned as a festival village at venues from the Eccles Theater to the Salt Palace Convention Center and including intimate speakeasies, creative studios and rooftop bars to enhance festival offerings.
Keynotes and panels will cover technology trends, venture capital, business strategy and innovation. Workshops and curated networking sessions will serve founders, students and corporate innovators. Startup Alley and the Innovation Showcase will spotlight emerging Utah talent, while Summit Serves unites the community behind mission-driven service.
Summit tickets go on sale July 15.
“As we look ahead to 2026, I am deeply honored to elevate Silicon Slopes’ mission by curating an unforgettable Summit that empowers our entire community, accelerates bold innovation and builds lasting connections across the Utah tech ecosystem,” said Tiffany Vail, chief operating officer of Silicon Slopes. “This is where visionaries will gather, and Salt Lake will shine in a cultural convening built from the ground up to reflect the vision of Utah. We are proud to craft an event that welcomes everyone to the table and invites the cross-pollination of ideas to shape our future.”
Silicon Slopes Summit began in January 2017 as a two-day event. Despite being organized in about a month, it attracted 5,000 attendees to the Salt Palace. The next year, it drew nearly 14,300. Over the years, its keynote speakers include tech heavyweights, including Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook, Reed Hastings and Steve Ballmer, plus personalities such as Tony Robbins and Dwyane Wade.
But attendance waned in recent years. About 8,000 people attended in 2022, when the summit was held at Vivint Arena (now the Delta Center) for the first time. This year’s summit was split between two days at Utah Valley University in Orem and two days at Edison House in Salt Lake City, with some activities at the Salt Palace.
Utah’s technology sector accounts for roughly 10 percent of the state’s total GDP and more than $30 billion in economic output. More than 67,000 people are employed in tech throughout the Salt Lake metropolitan area, which is 34 percent above the national average and is growing 22.9 percent year over year. It is part of the state’s overall economy, which grew 4.6 percent in 2024 to balloon its total GDP past $300 billion.