Interesting:
One of the "sponsored sessions" you can sign up for this years "Embedded Systems Conference" (San Jose, CA, May 2-5) is by Microchip: "Introducing chipKIT for the Arduino Community (No Charge)"
(You can register for assorted classes and the exhibit hall for free (over 18 only, though.) I find it generally worthwhile. http://esc.embedded.com/ (The FULL conference is big bucks and comes with some major swag. I've never done it; it seems like the paid sessions would have to match your needs pretty exactly for it to be worthwhile. YMMV, etc.))