By: Srishti Sawant

Innovation Academy recently held its first annual Innovate IT Conference on October 3, 2025. The event brought together students, educators, and over 70 industry professionals for a day of discovery and collaboration. The goal of the event was to immerse IT pathway students in cutting-edge topics like web applications, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity — giving them the chance to see classroom concepts come to life.

This year’s conference featured professionals from multiple organizations, with Microsoft playing a major role in both planning and implementing the event. Students were presented the opportunity to connect with several of IA’s business partners in diverse branches of IT (such as medical technology and AI workshops), while teachers participated in professional development sessions to better integrate these concepts into their classrooms.

Students also had the opportunity to connect with peers from other schools, expanding the community of young innovators.

As student Dylan Kong [12] expressed his thankfulness for the IT panelists,

“Dear IT panelists, I had a really enjoyable time listening to your insightful wealth of knowledge regarding careers in IT. It introduced many new perspectives, and I am very grateful.”

Students were also able to engage directly in hands-on workshops, such as Microsoft’s AI Literacy: Foundations and Prompting Essentials session.

Reflecting on her experience, Sadhika Kosaraju [12] shared,

“I think that taking the AI Literacy: Foundations and Prompting Essentials helped me understand how to create a copilot agent and how useful creating an agent can be. I’m glad I learned this information that I can pass on to others.”

Events like Innovate IT highlight how collaboration between industry and education can empower students to think beyond the classroom — and maybe even inspire the next big breakthrough in tech.