Austin is known for innovative startups.

And the Austin Chamber of Commerce shines a spotlight on the best and brightest every year at its annual A-List Of Hottest Startups Awards.

The event, which takes place next Thursday from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at ACL Live at the Moody Theater, is one of the city’s biggest events to showcase the startup talent locally.

“The program is different this year,” said Jonathan Packer, who currently leads tech and innovation initiatives at the Austin Chamber.

The program features seven Austin technology and business leaders who will each give lightning talks, lasting about five minutes, on the future of business innovation in Austin.

“Austin could be a platform for multiple versions of innovation in software, consumer products groups and healthcare,” Packer said. The Austin Chamber chose the speakers to represent a diverse mix of what it means to do innovation in Austin, he said.

The speakers include Ingrid Vandervelt, Founder, Chairman & CEO at Vanderveldt Global Investments & EBW2020, Burnie Burns, Co-Founder of Rooster Teeth, Mike Smerklo, Co-founder and Managing Director of Next Coast Ventures, Doreen Lorenzo, Director for the Center of Integrated Design at UT Austin and former president of Frog Design and Quirky, Roy Spence, Co-Founder and Chairman at GSD&M, Ruben Rathnasingham, Assistant Dean for Health Product Innovation at Dell Medical School and Akshay Sabhikhi, CEO CognitiveScale.

This year, the Austin Chamber received 176 nominations for its A-List awards and a final selection committee chose the 17 winners in the following categories: emerging, growth and scale.

“It’s a really good set of companies representing a diversity of industries,” Packer said.

Also new this year, Southwest Airlines is giving 10,000 bonus reward points to the first 800 people to register for the event. As of Friday afternoon, there were only a few spaces left, Packer said. Tickets are $25 in advance or $35 at the door.