The Raptor Innovation Summit is far from a typical conference experience. It’s not a sprawling expo where you spend all your time walking the floor, where you’re more likely to get a handful of business cards than have meaningful conversations. 

Now in its third year, New Eagle’s flagship customer and partner event has become a focused, two-day gathering for engineers, developers, and technology leaders working on embedded controls and the Raptor and OpenECU platforms. 

This year’s theme, Engineering for What’s Next, reflects what the event is all about: practical conversations, real-world experience, and the people building the tools and technologies that keep projects moving forward.

If you’ve never attended before, this guide will help you understand what the Summit is, what makes it worth two days on your calendar, and how you can join us in Detroit on September 30 and October 1.

What Is the Raptor Innovation Summit?

At its core, the Raptor Innovation Summit is a customer and partner conference built around a simple idea: bring together the people who use these tools with the people who build them.

Unlike a typical industry event, the Summit is intentionally focused. It’s a room full of engineers, customers, partners, researchers, and developers who share common challenges and often work with the same platforms. That creates a different kind of conversation. There’s less badge scanning and sales pitches, more technical discussions and practical problem solving.

The Summit centers on embedded controls and the Raptor and OpenECU ecosystems. Whether you’re developing electric powertrain systems, autonomous applications, connected solutions, or traditional vehicle controls, you’ll be surrounded by people working on similar problems and speaking the same language.

The group is smaller and more focused so conversations that begin during a session often continue over lunch or into the evening.

The Summit Format- and Why It Works

The two days of the Innovation Summit are designed with a clear rhythm.

Day 1: The Big Picture

Everyone comes together for a big-picture experience that’s focused not on details but creating a common understanding of where technologies, products, and customer priorities are headed. The main stage features New Eagle leadership sharing the vision and product roadmap, plus customer stories, partner perspectives, panel discussions, and fireside chats. 

For OpenECU users in particular, this is an opportunity to hear directly from the team about platform direction and roadmap priorities, as well as connect with the broader engineering organization behind the products you rely on.

Day 2: Build the Plan

The second day shifts from broad perspective to technical depth. We zoom out together on Day 1, then go deeper where it matters to you on Day 2. Attendees can choose the track that best fits their work, with sessions and workshops spanning the following applications:

  • EV/Electrified: Advance electrified platforms with the tools and expertise needed to accelerate development.
  • Autonomous: Bridge the gap between autonomous innovation and real-world implementation.
  • Connected: Develop secure, scalable solutions for an increasingly connected world.
  • Sustained: Keep legacy fleets and assets viable when full replacement isn’t on the table.

Instead of trying to attend everything, spend time digging into the topics that matter most to your projects. With both days taking place at the same venue-the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in downtown Detroit-conversations continue naturally throughout the event.

The Partner Showcase

A hallmark of the Summit is the Partner Showcase, which runs throughout the two-day event. Rather than being separated from the rest of the experience, partner exhibits are located close to the main stage and woven into the flow of the Summit. That makes it easy to stop in between sessions, reconnect with partners, and continue conversations.

The showcase is carefully curated with Raptor users in mind and features New Eagle partners whose technologies complement the broader platform ecosystem. Attendees can see solutions in context and talk directly with the people behind them, helping them discover capabilities, integrations, and approaches they might not otherwise encounter.

What Attendees Love Most

Ask previous attendees what stands out, and one answer comes up again and again: the conversations. The Summit provides the opportunity for people to ask real questions, get direct answers, and compare notes with peers facing similar technical challenges. It’s the place to engage in the kinds of informal discussions, war stories, lessons learned, and practical insights that never make it into a spec sheet.

One attendee described last year’s Summit as:

“An excellent event that brings together like-minded industry professionals that are technology focused. A focus on product improvements, actual use cases and real-world challenges drives valuable discussions.”

Those conversations matter. In the 2025 attendee survey, 45 out of 46 respondents rated networking as valuable or very valuable, and every respondent said they would recommend the Summit to a colleague or peer.

Don’t worry if this would be your first time attending. You’ll be in good company. Most attendees in 2025 were first-timers themselves.

Who’s in the Room?

The Summit brings together customers, partners, vendors, researchers, and the New Eagle engineering team from across automotive, commercial vehicle, off-highway, and adjacent industries. You’ll find tool developers alongside practitioners. Startups alongside established manufacturers. Public and private organizations sharing lessons learned and discussing what’s next.

For OpenECU users, the Summit is also an opportunity to connect with the broader community you are now part of. You’ll hear about platform roadmaps, meet the engineers behind the products, and gain visibility into the ecosystem supporting future development.

If you build on OpenECU, these are your people.

Where the Raptor Community Comes Together

From roadmap discussions to technical workshops, the Raptor Innovation Summit brings together the engineers, customers, and partners building with these platforms every day. Whether you’re part of the OpenECU or Raptor ecosystem, or you’re just beginning to explore it, join us in Detroit, September 30- October 1.

Two days. One location. A community built around solving real problems. Registration is free, and we’d love to see you there.

Register today and join us for Raptor Innovation Summit 2026: Engineering for What’s Next.