See You This Afternoon at the Xconomy Forum: The Rise of Smart Energy

We’ll be turning on the lights soon for our big afternoon event, the Xconomy Forum on smart energy. On the other hand, we might not need the lights inside Atkinson Hall, where we’re gathering at Calit2, because we’ve recruited some of the brightest minds from San Diego and beyond to discuss energy and innovation.

After months of planning, I’m especially looking forward to the late afternoon demonstration of wireless energy transmission by Eric Giler, the CEO of Watertown, MA-based WiTricity. It sounds like something Nikola Tesla might have dreamed up in 1891. But it’s technology that might be ideally suited today for safely recharging electric cars, and we’ll be seeing a lot more of those around town over the next year.

Our agenda is focused on innovations in smart energy, and I’ve asked our speakers to talk about both the innovations that are underway and the innovations that are needed to make us smarter about the ways we use energy.

Kicking off that discussion will be Internet pioneer and green energy strategist Larry Smarr, who advocates the “greening of the Internet” and who is observing his 10th anniversary this year as founding director of Calit2—one of our event co-sponsors that is more formally known as the California Institute for Information Technology and Telecommunications. Our plenary panel, which is focused on smart grid innovations in sensing, IT, and analytics, will be moderated by Roth Capital Cleantech analyst Brian Kremer and includes UCSD assistant professor Jan Kleissl, Balance Energy Solution’s Terry Mohn, and software analytics expert Alex Guazelli of Zementis. He’s subbing for Zementis CEO Michael Zeller, who expects to be a father today, if he isn’t already. Congratulations Michael!

We also have arranged for case studies by Ron Pitt of EcoDog, Jonas Olsen of On-Ramp Wireless, David Johnson of Achates Power, and Manuel Jaime of Qualcomm. And we have invited Richard Brody of PowerGenix and startup CEOs Stephanie Rosenthal of Pyron Solar and Cheryl Bostater of 5th Generation Energy to make short “burst” presentations.

After the event, Calit2 is hosting a networking reception that’s also intended to showcase several UC San Diego research projects that are focused on sustainability and smart grids, including work related to the National Science Foundation’s GreenLight project.

Thanks to the many people who have helped make this happen. The list includes the event host, Calit2; and event sponsors Roth Capital Partners, Latham & Watkins, and Calit2. Of course, we’re grateful for help from our event partner, CleanTECH San Diego. And we can’t forget the support from our underwriters: Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Latham & Watkins, and the Science & Technology Directorate of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Author: Bruce V. Bigelow

In Memoriam: Our dear friend Bruce V. Bigelow passed away on June 29, 2018. He was the editor of Xconomy San Diego from 2008 to 2018. Read more about his life and work here. Bruce Bigelow joined Xconomy from the business desk of the San Diego Union-Tribune. He was a member of the team of reporters who were awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting for uncovering bribes paid to San Diego Republican Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham in exchange for special legislation earmarks. He also shared a 2006 award for enterprise reporting from the Society of Business Editors and Writers for “In Harm’s Way,” an article about the extraordinary casualty rate among employees working in Iraq for San Diego’s Titan Corp. He has written extensively about the 2002 corporate accounting scandal at software goliath Peregrine Systems. He also was a Gerald Loeb Award finalist and National Headline Award winner for “The Toymaker,” a 14-part chronicle of a San Diego start-up company. He takes special satisfaction, though, that the series was included in the library for nonfiction narrative journalism at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. Bigelow graduated from U.C. Berkeley in 1977 with a degree in English Literature and from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1979. Before joining the Union-Tribune in 1990, he worked for the Associated Press in Los Angeles and The Kansas City Times.