The Long Term Future of Boston. It’s a concept we don’t think about enough.
On a daily basis, most of us are mired in the mundane details of life, too busy to ponder the issues that will affect us more than a few months down the road. And yet, at least part of our effort should be to step back and consider that farther-out future.
On June 17th, Xconomy will kick-off Boston 2035, the second installment of an event tailored to do just that—examine Boston’s future in innovation and technology 20 years down the road and more.
Which leaders will be the key drivers of the innovation clusters in our city in 20 years? Which industries will draw distinction at a national level for our city, and, perhaps most importantly, what types of fundamental changes and improvements do we need to focus on today, so that our city can thrive and tackle long-term challenges and opportunities? We need to celebrate our strengths while also staying honest about what we need to do better.
You can find the full Boston 2035 agenda here for this great event—as well as more about registration.
This year’s 2035 speakers are true innovators with an eye to the future. Desh Deshpande is tackling the problem of how to bring innovation to people who haven’t normally been included. His initiative—Entrepreneurship for All in Merrimack Valley—is focused on fostering entrepreneurship for people in all walks of life. That type of vision truly is the key to long-term prosperity in Boston.
We’re also excited to have Techstars Co-founder and Managing Partner David Cohen this year, who has become a key influencer in developing not just Boston’s startup cluster, but clusters all over the world.
Our panel discussions are designed to be thought-provoking and disruptive. Our education and talent pool panel—which includes Ryan Mack, site lead for Facebook in Boston, and angel investor and Tamr CEO Andy Palmer—promises to be a fascinating discussion. Other sessions focusing on managing growth for startups and consumer robots and artificial intelligence should be equally illuminating—and that is just a small taste of the action that spans healthcare (Boston Children’s CEO Sandra Fenwick, among others), data and analytics (Google’s Fernanda Viegas and Martin Wattenberg), and much more.
Boston 2035 is meant to prompt the audience to press pause and look into the future—just for a day—and get excited about many of the multidisciplinary issues affecting our great city. How can we give every single person with an entrepreneurial idea the opportunity to start a company? How can we ensure a more diverse, innovative talent pool and startup community? How can we keep more of our university talent here in Boston, post-graduation? Most importantly, how do you step back and think about what’s important?
Boston 2035 is a full-day event, but if you can’t devote the entire day (although you should!), we also have Morning and Afternoon tickets available to focus on the parts you find most interesting. You can find all the ticket options and register here. I hope you can join us.
