A two-month lineup of free workshops, career fairs, and industry talks kicks off Wednesday at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, part of a coordinated push to funnel students into the state's technology, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity job pipeline. The Hawaiʻi Tech Days of Fall 2026 series launches September 2 at the Walter Dods, Jr. RISE Center with a joint kickoff shared with Hawaii Tech Week, running from noon to 1:45 pm, and continues through November 2.
According to the University of Hawaii System, the series is designed to offer students a pathway to what organizers call high-quality, high-paying jobs in Hawaiʻi. Brad Christ, the university's vice president for information technology and chief information officer, said modern digital skills are critical prerequisites to success in virtually all career paths, and added that UH represents both the supply and demand elements in Hawaiʻi's local tech workforce, per the university's announcement. The kickoff event features tech evangelist Guy Kawasaki speaking on building the bridge, alongside Ōlelo Intelligence CEO and co-founder Miki Hardisty, who will speak on steering a path in an AI world, plus speakers BJ Ramel and Rina Ogino.
A Startup Founder Takes the Stage
Hardisty's appearance carries some real momentum behind it. Her Honolulu-based startup, Ōlelo Intelligence, builds real-time AI sales coaching software for high-volume automotive repair shops and raised $1 million in angel funding led by Hawaiʻi Angels in January, according to a release distributed via PR Newswire. The company also won first place at the Startup World Cup Hawaiʻi Regional during the East Meets West 2026 conference, a qualifier hosted on Oahu by startup accelerator Blue Startups, earning Hardisty a spot representing Hawaiʻi at the global pitch competition in San Francisco this November.
The RISE Center hosting the kickoff opened in 2023 backed by a $5 million donation from alumnus Walter Dods Jr., providing 374 student residential beds alongside prototyping labs and workspace operated by the Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship, according to the University of Hawaiʻi Foundation. The building sits at the corner of University Avenue and Metcalf Street and anchors much of the series' Mānoa programming.
Career Fairs and Workshops Stretch Across Campuses
The calendar spans nearly every UH campus and beyond. A career fair hits Windward Community College's Hale ʻĀkoakoa on September 3, followed by a talk story session with tech professionals at Kapiʻolani Community College's Kōpiko Learning Community on September 21, and a three-part Introduction to UX workshop series at UH Mānoa's ITS Building from September 29 through October 1, led by the volunteer-run design community UXHI and focused on human-centered design.
October brings a dense stretch of programming: a resume review day and a session titled Leveling Up on the changing tech landscape, a talk story with tech pros back at the RISE Center on October 8, a Kapiʻolani Community College career fair on October 6, and a Hawaiian Electric information session on October 13. That same week, UH Mānoa's Campus Center Ballroom hosts the Careers in Tech and Intelligence Fair on October 14 alongside a Gateway to Federal Jobs event, while UH West Oʻahu runs its own Career and Internship X Careers in IT and Cyber Fair on October 15.
Civic Hackathon Rebrands Around AI
The series also folds in the Hawaii Annual Innovation Challenge, which holds a virtual kickoff via Zoom on October 24 and focuses on leveraging AI to solve state government problems. The challenge began in 2016 as the Hawaiʻi Annual Code Challenge before it was officially rebranded in May to emphasize AI, automation, and state agency problem-solving, according to the State of Hawaii Office of Enterprise Technology Services. The series closes November 2 with the Tech Career Pathways Summit back at the Campus Center Ballroom.
Backing the series is a mix of public agencies, defense-linked initiatives, and nonprofits. Event partners include the Hawaiʻi Department of Education, the CIO Council of Hawaii, Builders VC, and ThriveHI, while the University of Hawaiʻi and the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii serve as co-sponsors. Another partner, the Pacific Intelligence and Innovation Initiative, is a public-private effort funded by the U.S. Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and managed by the Hawaii Defense Alliance to build local cybersecurity, IT, and data science career pipelines, according to Pacific Intelligence and Innovation Initiative materials, which note the program focuses on retaining Hawaiʻi talent within the state's defense industrial base. ThriveHI itself operates as a statewide tech ecosystem initiative fiscally sponsored by the Pacific American Foundation and backed by a federal Economic Development Administration Build to Scale grant, per the Hawaiʻi Technology Development Corporation.
Why the State Is Betting Big on Tech Careers
The push comes as Hawaiʻi's technology sector is drawing fresh attention: Pacific Business News estimated the state's tech ecosystem at roughly $3.9 billion in 2026, fueled by remote work opportunities and returning kamaʻāina founders, though the outlet noted late-stage funding gaps remain a persistent challenge, as Hoodline previously reported. Wage data help explain the appeal: Urban Honolulu's mean hourly wage across all occupations was $34.59 as of May 2025, while management occupations averaged $63.26 an hour, or about $131,580 annually, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Separately, UnitedForALICE found that Hawaiʻi's Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services sector had the state's lowest rate of household financial hardship at 11%, compared with 42% in service and maintenance industries, even as more than 57% of full-time Hawaiʻi workers struggled to meet basic survival budgets in 2024.
Student demand at UH already appears to be responding to that math. Undergraduate enrollment in UH Mānoa's Department of Mechanical Engineering hit a record 525 students this fall, a 25.3% single-year jump that pushed the program past its five-year growth target early, up from 419 undergraduates in fall 2025, Hoodline reported in coverage of the university's engineering surge. Organizers describe Hawaiʻi Tech Days as aimed at increasing awareness of the state's skilled-tech workforce and enhancing it directly, though whether entry-level hiring at local tech and defense firms can keep pace with the growing wave of newly trained graduates remains an open question for the months ahead.
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