Great Lakes AI Week 2026 comes to Northwest Ohio on Nov. 10-12, with programming split between Bowling Green State University and The University of Toledo, UToledo News reported. The three-day event focuses on practical, real-world applications of artificial intelligence and will bring together business, technology and community leaders from across the region, according to the university.
The week is billed as the Midwest’s largest AI leadership summit and is produced by the Enterprise Technology Association, UToledo News reported. For Northwest Ohio, it puts two of the region’s universities at the center of a conversation employers are having in every industry, from manufacturing and logistics to health care and banking.
Students are a particular focus. Students will hear from executives, founders and hiring managers from across the Midwest, take part in hands-on workshops and make connections that can shape their careers, UToledo News reported. “Every employer our students will interview with is working out what AI means for their business right now. Great Lakes AI Week puts them in the room while they grapple with those questions,” Grace Bochenek, UToledo’s vice president of research and innovation and one of the event’s speakers, told UToledo News.
Bochenek told UToledo News that employers are looking for graduates who can think critically about AI and use it well, and that the week is a chance for students to walk away with the connections and skills employers are asking for right now. That framing — AI as a workplace skill for every graduate, not a specialty for computer science majors — runs through the whole program, according to the university.
The conference also offers a credential with no tuition attached. Attendees can earn professional AI credentials at no cost through the AI Ready Ohio certification initiative, powered by JobsOhio and the Enterprise Technology Association, UToledo News reported. Attendees earn credit hours toward AI Ready Ohio certificates for attending qualifying sessions, and they can also learn online with approved training partners, with hours earned stacking together, according to the university.
The Toledo week lands in a run of technology gatherings in Northwest Ohio. Related coverage: Toledo hosts the EVIS America mobility summit’s North American debut Nov. 3-5, and regional employers continue to expand, including a new Toledo location for Home Genius Exteriors in Sylvania. Together the events sketch a region pitching itself as a place where new technology is applied, not just discussed.
For Bowling Green State University and UToledo, splitting the program between two campuses is part of the point: the summit treats Northwest Ohio as one labor market, with students and workers moving between Bowling Green and Toledo employers. Sessions are built around real-world applications — what businesses are actually doing with AI tools now — rather than speculation about the technology’s future, according to the university.
The credential mechanics matter for working adults, not just students. Because hours earned at qualifying in-person sessions stack with hours earned online through approved training partners, a worker who can only attend one day in Toledo or Bowling Green can still finish a certificate afterward, according to the university. That design turns a three-day summit into the front end of a longer, no-cost training path, powered by JobsOhio and the Enterprise Technology Association, UToledo News reported.
Northwest Ohio’s employers give the week its local stakes. The region’s manufacturers, hospitals, logistics firms and universities all hire from the same pool of graduates, and the summit’s premise — that AI skill is now a general workforce skill — is aimed at that whole pool at once. Sessions are organized around practical applications businesses are already using, with executives, founders and hiring managers describing what they need, according to the university.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on
Confirmed, per UToledo News: the dates are Nov. 10-12; programming is split between Bowling Green State University and The University of Toledo; the producer is the Enterprise Technology Association; and the AI Ready Ohio certification, powered by JobsOhio and the association, is available at no cost with stackable credit hours from qualifying sessions and approved online partners. Still to come are the session-by-session schedules for each campus and the full speaker list beyond the announced participants.
What happens next is the summit itself, Nov. 10-12. Tickets and program details are available through the Great Lakes AI Week 2026 site, UToledo News reported — and Northwest Ohio students and workers who want the free credential should plan which qualifying sessions to attend before they arrive.
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