Midwest Innovation: the AI Forum building a regional center of gravity

Hyde Park Angels (HPA) describes itself as “one of the most active early-stage investors in the Midwest.” So when its Managing Partner, Pete Wilkins, wants to share information about a project he believes can aid Midwest innovation by elevating AI adoption and understanding in the region, it pays to be curious.

Pete has spent years working at the intersection of entrepreneurship and capital in Chicago, as HPA backed several of the region's most successful startups, including businesses as diverse as food startups Factor and Simple Mills, ecommerce fulfillment business ShipBob, mental health startup NOCD and AI security firm Empirical. When it comes to AI, he’s also spent the last few years writing about it on the pages of Forbes, with articles spotlighting how Midwestern institutions like Morningstar and the University of Illinois are moving faster on adoption and research of the technology in the Midwest than many realize.

That may partially explain why - when we speak about the Omaxn Midwest AI Forum, of which he is Founder and Executive Director - he is as animated and enthusiastic as we imagine he may be about any of his investments.

The goal of Omaxn, he says, isn’t just convening another tech meetup. It’s to “promote AI innovation that enables the Midwest to thrive both economically and intellectually, ultimately shaping a better regional future.” In this way, he believes it can help the Midwest forge its own story in the AI era and evolve through its implementation, particularly in areas where the region is strong: financial services, healthcare, advanced manufacturing, robotics. “What we do in the Midwest is we do all of those things very well. So you can go to Chicago, you can go to Columbus, you can go to Detroit, you can go to Minneapolis…(in) each of those you have leaders in these sectors.”

What’s missing, he argues, is a place where those conversations can happen in the open and link talent, investment and operators together. That’s where Omaxn comes in and their next event on December 16th and mHUB’s Chicago HQ, is particularly pertinent, focusing specifically on manufacturing and robotics.

From Spotlight to Sectors

Omaxn began last year with events highlighting how AI was transforming large enterprises in the Midwest.

The first “Spotlight on AI” series brought companies like McDonald’s and Morningstar in front of local experts and enthusiasts to talk about how they were applying AI in their businesses. Throughout this year, “we’ve been rolling out (more) sector focused. So we’ve done healthcare. The vibe coding (event) was more like the modern AI data stack,” Wilkins explained, referencing a recent event that drew data intelligence and analytics platform Databricks to Illinois.

That Databricks connection could be taken as a signal of progress in the region. As Wilkins noted, while the company - now one of only a few private companies worldwide valued at over $100 billion - flew their ‘startup VC team’ in from San Francisco for the event, that team also took the time while in town to connect with large, local customers and institutions: “they were meeting with universities, talking about how they could support their initiatives” he explained.

The attraction, in other words, goes both ways: the Midwest’s largest corporations are anchor customers, and the region’s entrepreneurs and academics are increasingly the builders that large AI companies want to reach.

It’s also why Wilkins insists the forum must be regional, not just local. The December 16th event being locally relevant because of the way manufacturing and robotics are being transformed “from Columbus to Michigan” and from “factory floor to flight deck”, with Midwest firms like GM and Linc Code using modern AI stacks to take “huge quantum leaps.”

And Omaxn is deliberately styled as the ‘Midwest’ AI Forum, not the Chicago AI Forum, or the Illinois AI Forum for these reasons. Although for now, the in-person events are anchored in Chicago, with virtual programming extending further, Wilkins hints at future events in other cities around the region.

At the Speed of AI

An insight Wilkins shared from running the Omaxn events is that - in his view - a company’s size often dictates how quickly it can actually deploy AI. “This is the thing that you learn…where big companies are, where medium companies are, where small and startup companies are, their ability to actually effectively deploy AI is probably - the speed to do it - is by the size of the company.” It’s a logical conclusion; startups can move quickly, building stacks from scratch. Large corporations, by contrast, may struggle with data silos and change management from embedded systems and processes.

But when it works, it works. “When you get businesses like Morningstar that are already a data-driven company…they’re already deployed,” he explained.

It’s a similar tale in the region’s educational institutions he argues: “you look at some of the work out of Northwestern … nobody would know that they're a leader, they have a professor that's doing incredible research. We have the ability (through Omaxn) to take experts, connect them with other leaders to start showing connectivity. That starts to build a community and in the long run … it starts to create economic opportunities.”

Purpose, Safety, and the Next Generation of Builders

Beyond convening AI businesses and experts together, Wilkins is clear about values in the space. On the Omaxn site, it reads “we have a common goal of safely advancing AI technology.” When asked why this is explicitly identified, he explains “we should be purposeful in how we grow businesses so that there’s not unintended consequences we could prevent. There’s going to be mistakes. There’s going to be issues, but we should do it with integrity, with purpose.”

He also sees AI as a democratizing force. “It’s going to give people that are intrinsically motivated to find answers to things… it’s going to enable those people that have the motivation to do it because it is there now.”

And while AI headlines continue to flow from the coasts, the Midwest’s story is less about ‘models’ and ‘signing bonuses’, and more about deployment: in healthcare, finance, autos, and manufacturing. 

That might be the most important takeaway from what Wilkins is trying to do: AI isn’t arriving in our region - it’s already rooted and its future lies here, within crucial businesses in the heart of the nation.In order to make it work for us, communities like his, matter.  “Let’s unite and do this together” Wilkins tells us, emphasizing the regional and ‘real’ industry focus that makes the most sense here. “There's a home for you (here) if you have interest in this… wherever you are.”

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Omaxn events have limited seating but you can register for pre-approval to attend the next event here.