With fall officially here, it’s time to ask some big questions about the coming year—and decade.
What will be the most transformative technology areas for society and business? What should students and innovators be doing to prepare for five to 10 years from now? Who are the leaders and companies that will shape this future?
If you’re considering answers along the lines of machine intelligence, quantum computing, genome editing and analysis, digital therapeutics, renewable energy, or new materials, we are planning a special event for you. If you’re thinking students should study a range of topics and approaches—from STEM subjects and coding to literature, history, and languages (Chinese, Hindi? Spanish, Arabic?)—we are building a multidisciplinary program that touches on education.
And if the question of who will shape the future raises more questions, like how business leaders can support an innovation ecosystem and develop a diverse talent pool—well, step right up.
We are finalizing the agenda for X·CON: The Xconomy Conference on Technology and Transformation, and we’d like you to get involved. This unique event is happening November 4-6 in the Boston area at three venues: Café ArtScience, the Institute of Contemporary Art, and Google’s office in Kendall Square.
The conference is invitation-only, and we are limiting attendance to 150 high-level guests. We still have some seats available, so please write us at [email protected] and include your work affiliation and brief bio if you’d like to attend. Hurry before the saver rate ends!
We can give a few updated highlights here:
—Entrepreneur and inventor David Edwards of Harvard University will welcome attendees to Café ArtScience for a special dinner and program on Sunday, Nov. 4. It will include Spyce CEO Michael Farid showing us how his company’s “robotic kitchen” works.
—On Monday, Nov. 5, we will have unique, interactive sessions on Human Augmentation, Education and Jobs 2028, Health 4D (drugs, data, devices, and delivery), and Smart Cities and Energy. Venture capitalist Carmichael Roberts of Material Impact will help lead that last session. (He’s also working with Bill Gates on Breakthrough Energy Ventures).
—That same day at the ICA, Carbonite CEO Mohamad Ali and C Space chairman Diane Hessan will chat about technology policy and society. They will touch on important issues around diversity, immigration, privacy, security, and more.
—Later that afternoon, MIT Media Lab professor and entrepreneur Sandy Pentland will talk about tech approaches to understanding human dynamics and behavior—and the (potentially) most transformative aspects of these approaches on society.
—On Tuesday, Nov. 6, at Google, we’ll have an expansive chat on the future of A.I., the Web, and society, featuring John Bruce, CEO of Inrupt (formerly an exec with Resilient Systems/IBM); Rob May, CEO of Talla; and Rudina Seseri, managing partner at Glasswing Ventures.
—We’ll also have some fun demos at Google: Sean Bielat, CEO of Endeavor Robotics, will show some of his military robots, including a throwable one that can be tossed into dangerous areas (to take a look around and report back).
We’ll have much more on the program soon. Look forward to seeing you all in November!
