16 Conference Report #techonomy16

Techonomy November 9 - 11, 2016

Complete Agenda as PDF

Agenda subject to change

    • 7:00 AM

      REGISTRATION OPENS

    • 7:00 - 8:00 AM

      Morning Activities

    • 7:15 - 8:15 AM

      Breakfast Roundtable

    • When Planetary Scale Computation Meets Geopolitics

      Scientist philosopher Benjamin H. Bratton on the cultural implications of computing and globalization: new forms of sovereignty are emerging as digital and urban infrastructures fuse. How can we meet the challenges these intersections pose to national borders, architectural partitions and deep cosmopolitics?

      Benjamin H. Bratton, University of California, San Diego
    • 8:30 - 8:40 AM

      Welcome to Day Two

    • 8:40 AM

      How Vast an Internet of Things?

      As the IoT connects more and more, business and industry will reshape products and services to create a more intuitive and efficient world. What products and services become possible? What are the wildest ideas that may emerge? Where will the benefits appear? Is there anywhere the IoT can’t reach?

      Tom Barton, Planet Labs
      Sara Gardner, Hitachi Insight Group
      Eric Topol, Scripps Translational Science Institute
       Interviewer: Emily Chang, Bloomberg Television
    • 9:25 AM

      The United States of Data I: The Economic Impact of Data Convergence

      Two different kinds of data are converging—increasingly comprehensive and granular data about people; and vast, data sets about how industry and the economy are functioning. How will these two kinds of knowledge come together to change companies and society?

      Marco Annunziata, GE
      Diana Farrell, JPMorgan Chase Institute
       Moderator: David Kirkpatrick, Techonomy
    • 9:50 AM

      New Rules I: Government Engagement

      With tech changing business and societal norms, where does that leave government? Will it exist as we know it in 20 years? Can governments become as agile as businesses? What should evidence-based policy and data-driven government look like?

      Victoria A. Espinel, BSA | The Software Alliance
    • 10:00 AM

      180° Shift Talks

      180 seconds to turn 180 degrees.
      Reimagine. Reconsider. Rethink.

    • The Fallacy of Exporting Tech Solutions to the Middle East

      Regional innovators are bucking the notion that Western imported tech is the solution to the Middle East’s problems. Music, creative ways to bypass censorship, and grassroots literacy are the real paths to change, and are being forged by innovators already in the region. Esra’a Al Shafei tells how you can help.

      Esra'a Al Shafei, Majal.org
    • 10:00 AM

      Emotions Are The Future of Chat Conversations

      Founders of this digital library of human expressions began by building software to help people choose better words to communicate. They ended up creating a new social network of visual content based on chat expressions.

      Stuart Gannes, Hyperkey, Inc.
    • 10:10 AM

      In conversation with...

      James Park, Fitbit
       Interviewer: David Kirkpatrick, Techonomy
    • 10:30 - 11:00 AM

      BREAK

    • 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

      TECHONOMY LABS:

    • 1. Can the Internet of Things be Secured?

      When the entire internet can grind nearly to a halt because IoT devices have been harnessed for a denial of service attack, we have a problem. As we move to secure the vast network of connected devices, what are the biggest threats? As humans increasingly work in symbiotic relationships with powerful machines, how do we define security? Should our digital identity be connected to the “things” around us?

      Mark Bartolomeo, Verizon
      Betsy Cooper, UC Berkeley Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity
      Nicole Eagan, Darktrace
      Chris Rill, Canary
       Moderator: Stacey Higginbotham, The Internet of Things Podcast

    • 2. The United States of Data II: The New Knowledge Trust

      Data is transforming not only our institutions, but our relationship to them. It’s also transforming our relationship to each other. Access to data and its interpretation will inform our notions of injustice, inequality, fear, want, need and our perceptions of our abilities to address them. How should we be approaching the issue of access, ownership and value of data? Do we have the institutions we need?

      Eli Broverman, Betterment
      Brett Hurt, data.world, a Public Benefit Corporation
      Priya Kumar, University of Maryland College of Information Studies
      Sarah Telford, United Nations
       Moderator: Katie Benner, The New York Times

    • 3. The Modernization of Currency

      Crypto currencies like Bitcoin, Litecoin, Peercoin and Ripple generate ever more enthusiasm. Blockchain is said to pose the potential of platforms for nearly all data. Will central banks be able to reassert control? Will a digital fiat currency, backed and minted by those banks, be the future of digital money?

      In association with Omidyar Network Asheesh Birla, Ripple
      Jonathan Dharmapalan, eCurrency Mint
      Lex Sokolin, Autonomous
    • 12:00 - 1:15 PM

      LUNCH

      Hosted by Verizon
    • 1:30 - 2:30 PM

      SESSIONS IN PARALLEL:

    • 1. New Rules II: Business Engagement

      How will the structure and management of businesses, industries and institutions change as technologies and the social landscape shift? No organization will exist in its current form in 20 years. How dramatically will IoT, VR and AI force a reimagining of business models? What kinds of companies, industries and organizational structures will emerge?

      Kevin Bandy, Cisco
      Lorraine Bolsinger, General Electric
      Blake Irving, GoDaddy
       Moderator: Josh Kampel, Techonomy

    • 2. Genetically Modified Everything

      Tech allows us to modify every thing: our plants, our animals, and our selves. Will hunger become a thing of the past? Will gene editing technology like CRISPR eradicate rare diseases? Will genetically modified mosquitoes wipe out Zika, Malaria and Dengue? Should they? Is GME the solution as we look to reap benefits in everything from agriculture to healthcare or will the public’s fear and confusion delay these developments?

      Patrick Boyle, Ginkgo BioWorks, Inc.
      Antony Evans, TAXA Biotechnologies
      Paul Knoepfler, UC Davis Health System
      Pete Shanks, Center for Genetics and Society
      Christina Smolke, Antheia
       Moderator: Meredith Salisbury, Bioscribe
    • 2:30 - 2:45 PM

      Switch Break

    • 2:45 PM

      Welcome Back

    • 2:50 PM

      Toward A Self Aware City

      How smart are “smart” cities really? Can they guarantee safety? Carbon neutrality? Resilience? Better services? Democracy?

      Assaf Biderman, MIT's Senseable City Lab & Superpedestrian
    • 3:00 PM

      Is Data Really the Solution to Better Urban Environments?

      The smart use of data is important to cities and the citizens that reside in them. But what are the pitfalls as we navigate the economic, social and environmental stresses that affect cities? Who decides what data to rely on? What rights will citizens get to that data? Can we arrive at collectively acceptable policies for how data should alter our lives and help run our urban environments?

      Assaf Biderman, MIT's Senseable City Lab & Superpedestrian
      Mrinalini Ingram, Verizon
      Martin Powell, Siemens Global Cities Centre of Competence
    • 3:45 PM

      180° Shift Talks

      180 seconds to turn 180 degrees.
      Reimagine. Reconsider. Rethink.

    • From Learning to Unlearning

      In marketing, the old mental model of targets, funnels, and campaigns has become outdated. In strategy, value is now created with platforms and ecosystems. In organizations, one needs to master new models of networks and communities. Leadership today requires the ability to unlearn, so we can get beyond viewing the new through the lens of the old. It’s a shift in mindset from incremental to exponential.

      Mark Bonchek, Shift Thinking

    • Emotional Contagion

      Emotions are contagious between people’s minds and bodies. With new technologies, could our sentient ecosystem quantify and monitor these shared emotional experiences, allowing us to connect and empathize with people very different from ourselves? Washington State University researcher Sara Waters imagines a world in which the most vulnerable and voiceless among us grow up safe and secure.

      Sara Waters, Washington State University Vancouver

    • The Change To EVs is Coming Faster Than You Think

      The switch from gas guzzlers to electric vehicles will be faster and easier than anyone realizes. The infrastructure is scaling, cars are getting better and more varied, and IoT connects the dots. Fast charging remains a challenge, but that’s not the main way to re-fuel. It’s not just the fuel that’s different; the way we re-fuel will completely change.

      Tony Canova, ChargePoint, Inc.
    • 3:55 PM

      Adrift at Sea: When will Shipping Get Smart?

      In a world in which we are drowning in oceans of data, the ocean itself is a data dead zone. Ships carry 90% of global trade, but when they move out to open sea we basically lose them. Now tech and connectivity is transforming the 71% of the planet not covered by land. What does this mean for trade, defense, fishing, piracy, the environment and even human trafficking? Will tech and geospatial intelligence bring transparency to what happens at sea?

      Robert Chiswick, BAE Systems
      Anthony DiMare, Nautilus Labs
      John Kao, Thayer Mahan
      Peter Platzer, Spire Global, Inc.
       Moderator: Simone Ross, Techonomy
    • 4:35 PM

      Can These Taboo Techs Solve Climate Change?

      What raises hackles like the phrase “GMO”? Geo-engineering and nuclear of course! But what if these are the two technologies that can best solve climate change and our growing energy needs? Is it not incumbent on us to fully explore technologies that could most affect climate change mitigation, the economy and global development?

      Rachel Pritzker, Pritzker Innovation Fund
      Gernot Wagner, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
       Moderator: Stratford Sherman, Accompli
    • 5:00 PM

      Circuits of the Mind: Biology is the Model for The Ecorithm Era

      Neural interfaces between human and digital worlds will soon allow machines to learn through an evolutionary process similar to but more efficient than nature’s. Neuroscientist Dr. Justin Sanchez (head of DARPA’s Biological Technologies office) and Harvard Computer Scientist Leslie Valiant explore the complex mechanisms of how humans and machines are learning to communicate.

      Justin Sanchez, DARPA
      Leslie Valiant, Harvard University
       Moderator: Daniela Hernandez, Wall Street Journal
    • 5:30 PM

      In conversation with...

      Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook
       Interviewer: David Kirkpatrick, Techonomy
    • 6:15 PM

      RECEPTION

      Hosted by McKinsey
    • 7:00 PM

      DINNER

      Hosted by Philips

    • EVENING PERFORMANCE

      Lolo, Songwriter and Musician
       A performance and conversation with singer-songwriter Lolo Interviewer: Josh Kampel, Techonomy
    • 7:00 AM

      REGISTRATION OPENS

    • 7:45 - 8:45 AM

      The AI Breakfast Roundtable

      Our homes, industries, livelihood, toys, robots, even our wars are being shaped by rapid advances in AI. Will machine bias surface too quickly to control, further entrenching existing inequities? How do we ensure that the resulting system connects these advances equitably to the benefit not just of business, but also of society?

      Babak Hodjat, Sentient Technologies
      Mark Patel, McKinsey & Company
      Francesca Rossi, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center
      Shivon Zilis, Bloomberg Beta
       Moderator: Stratford Sherman, Accompli
    • 8:45 - 9:00 AM

      SWITCH BREAK

    • 9:00 AM

      Welcome Back

    • 9:10 AM

      In conversation with...

      Jeroen Tas, Philips
      Bernard J. Tyson, Kaiser Permanente
       Moderator: David Kirkpatrick, Techonomy
    • 9:45 AM

      New Rules III: Social Engagement

      As an increasingly interconnected sentient ecosystem evolves and grows, what new rules of social interaction may evolve with it? How will these new rules, standards, codes and manners affect life, trust, respect and societal “norms”?

    • 9:45 AM

      In Pursuit of the Ethical AI

      Given the inevitable, growing impact of AI on all aspects of society, how do we facilitate responsible AI? How do we even define it?

      Francesca Rossi, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center
       Interviewer: Jennifer Schenker, The Innovator
    • 10:00 AM

      What Hello Barbie said to Alexa and Siri

      Talk, talk, talk. Not only are our devices talking back, but using AI and cloud-based systems, they remember, record, transcribe and even email. And they are doing that as much with children as with adults. Animated and “cognitized” objects are increasingly entering our homes. When combined with personal assistants such as Echo and Siri, interactions, inquisitiveness and simple play are being transformed. What are the safety, security and privacy issues? And what will all this digital stimulation do to our brains and the development of our children?

      Stephen Balkam, Family Online Safety Institute
      Genevieve Bell, Intel Labs & Intel Corporation
      Oren Jacob, PullString, Inc.
       Moderator: Jennifer Schenker, The Innovator
    • 10:35 AM

      Why the U.S. Government needs an IoT Strategy

      The economic potential of IoT is unquestionable. But what priorities, policies, and implementation structures are required? Why does the U.S. only have “recommendations” while the UK has a national IoT strategy, and other countries are making it a priority? What are the implications for national competitiveness and business?

      Murthy Renduchintala, Intel Corporation
       Interviewer: David Kirkpatrick, Techonomy
    • 10:45 AM

      Why Starting Companies Is Great Foreign Policy

      A growing job crisis in oil-producing lands rocked by lower prices risks creating more disenfranchised young men. A group of institutions has come together with a plan to create 10 millions jobs in those countries by fostering entrepreneurship and a tech-centric mindset. It could play a big role in reducing terrorism. Meanwhile, many countries in the Middle East and Africa are already welcoming to startups.

      Kamran Elahian, Global Innovation Catalyst, LLC
       Moderator: David Kirkpatrick, Techonomy
    • 11:05 AM

      Is Combating Climate Change IoT’s Killer App?

      Monitoring, metering, measuring, and controlling the world with the Internet of Things may mark a tipping point in combating climate change. Sensors monitor fugitive emissions of methane and other pollutants, smart grids help manage energy demand, and connected electric vehicles not only mean less-polluting transportation, but can double as energy storage on demand – facilitating a faster switch to variable renewable energy sources like wind and solar.

      Robert Gaudette, NRG Energy
      Diane Regas, Environmental Defense Fund
       Moderator: David Kirkpatrick, Techonomy
    • 11:30 AM

      In conversation with...

      Padmasree Warrior, NextEV U.S.A
       Interviewer: David Kirkpatrick, Techonomy
    • 11:50 AM

      Internet Giants and The World

      An unprecedented new kind of company is gaining a new breadth of influence. Facebook has data on about two billion and its algorithms guide everything what those people see. Google’s impact is similarly vast. And companies in all sorts of industries entrust their most precious systems and data to Amazon’s AWS. Commerce, communication, and to a good extent our economy now depends on these companies. We trust them, more or less, but as they command so much data, many wonder about oversight. The EU is already seeking restrictions on how a person’s data can be used. How should society best balance this great power against the public welfare?

      Bill Gurley, Benchmark Capital
      Marc Rotenberg, Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)
      Hemant Taneja, General Catalyst
       Moderator: David Kirkpatrick, Techonomy
    • 12:30 PM

      CONFERENCE CONCLUDES

    • Coastal Bike Tour

      Enjoy a scenic ride along Half Moon Bay’s coastal trail, led by Pro Cyclist who will provide insightful information about the area and the history of Half Moon Bay.

    • Golf Clinic

      Home of the men’s U.S. Open Qualifier, the Old Course at Half Moon Bay features 36 holes of championship golf designed by legendary golf course architects Arnold Palmer and Francis Duane. The clinic will take place on the Ocean View Practice Green – covering the basic fundamentals and working into skilled techniques. Club rentals will be provided at no charge.

    • Purisma Creek Redwood Preserve Hike

      Hike Purisima Creek Trail and experience the natural beauty of this preserve. Located on the western slopes of the Santa Cruz Mountains overlooking Half Moon Bay, Purisima Creek Preserve includes developed trails and is home to many towering redwoods.

    • Techonomic Tasting

      California winery Hahn Family Wines is testing an Internet of Things solution provided by Verizon to measure environmental conditions at its vineyard and create analytics to manage water and occasional chemical use for optimal grape harvests. By using wireless sensors and a cellular-connected gateway, the winery can collect data regarding the soil and air that could enable the winery to prevent vine disease, recognize when there is too much or too little water, and ultimately not only improve the health of plants, but also lower operating costs. oin us for wine tasting hosted by Hahn Family Wines in partnership with Verizon.

    • MORE INFO