Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please. Ahem.
[A giant “6×6” fills the screen.]
Macho narrator voice:
Star Wars had The Empire Strikes Back (Vader: “I am your father”)
The Godfather had The Godfather Part II (Pacino: “You broke my heart”)
Mad Max had The Road Warrior…well, you get the idea.
Now Xconomy presents 6×6, the long-awaited sequel to its riveting, change-the-world program from last December, 5×5. (It was “5×5” because we weren’t in New York City yet. Now we are.)
Yes, for the second straight year, Xconomy has canvassed its national network to find the most original, sensational, and transformative tech ideas out there—across software, hardware, digital media, social technologies, robotics, and more. We are inviting a select few speakers to Boston for an afternoon of mind-bending presentations and business networking.
It’s all taking place on the afternoon of Thursday, December 1, from 1:30-5:30 pm, at the Fidelity Center for Applied Technology in downtown Boston. One featured speaker will be on hand from each of our six cities: Boston, New York, Detroit, San Francisco, Seattle, and San Diego. We hope “6×6: Six Cities, Six Big Tech Ideas” will be a rallying point for the Boston tech community to get together and discuss the future of their fields with our out-of-town guests.
The concept is to highlight some of the BIGGEST tech ideas out there—as well as the nuts and bolts of how founders are building successful businesses around these ideas. This event is about truly changing the world, so we’ve asked everyone to please check their daily deals, social network plug-ins, and run-of-the-mill mobile apps at the door.
Who better to set the table than Stephen Wolfram? We’ve invited the renowned scientist, inventor, and business leader to give the opening keynote. Wolfram is the founder and CEO of Wolfram Research and the creator of Mathematica and Wolfram|Alpha. So he knows a little bit about changing the world from a software, computing, and business perspective. Oh, and he also spent 10-plus years working to reinvent the entire landscape of modern scientific thought with his book project, A New Kind of Science. I’ll stop there, but you can read an interview I did with Wolfram around the beginning of last year. (As for what he’ll talk about on Dec. 1, it’s safe to say I have no freaking idea—but I’ll keep you posted.)
Here’s a quick rundown on who’s representing our six cities at 6×6:
—From the hometown of Boston, we have Dave Icke, the CEO of Cambridge-based MC10, a pioneer in developing flexible electronics and sensors for consumer, healthcare, and energy markets.
—New York City is sending Jason Baptiste, the CEO of OnSwipe, a scrappy young startup that is trying to invent the future of media through a new tablet publishing platform.
—Representing Detroit is Nathaniel Borenstein, the Chief Scientist of Mimecast, an e-mail management company headquartered in the U.K. Borenstein, who’s based in Michigan, is one of the fathers of modern e-mail systems, and will talk about the future of communication in the cloud.
—From San Francisco comes Adam Goldstein, the CEO of Hipmunk, an online travel search company that’s been making waves with its novel visual interface for finding flights and hotels.
—Seattle will be repped by Kabir Shahani, the CEO of Appature, a fast-growing startup specializing in social and relationship marketing technologies for the healthcare industry.
—And from the sunny climes of San Diego comes Bill Walker, Chief of Global Hawk Business Development at Northrop Grumman, the aerospace and defense tech giant. Walker will talk about high-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
We also have a few intriguing “burst” bonus talks to highlight, from some of the most exciting startups around Boston. They will include Affectiva (CEO Dave Berman), an MIT Media Lab spinout that’s commercializing software to make your computer or smartphone understand your emotional state (talk about a big idea); Krush (CEO Gina Ashe), an ambitious startup focused on social commerce and marketing for apparel and lifestyle brands; and GrabCAD (CEO Hardi Meybaum), a company that’s connecting engineers with people who need stuff built, via an online community and marketplace.
We are really looking forward to 6×6, and we hope to see you there on Dec. 1. You can register at the special super saver rate here.
