Seattle 2035 social recap: A day of innovation predictions

October 30, 2015

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Seattle 2035 social recap: A day of innovation predictions

Campus was abuzz with a day of conversations and predictions about what next big innovations will shape Seattle in 20 years, as Northeastern University-Seattle hosted Xconomy’s Seattle 2035 Conference on October 30.

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The conversation continued online with #2035Seattle. Check out an overview of the social timeline and stay tuned for a more in-depth recap from Dean Tayloe Washburn coming soon.

Creating a Livable Seattle for All

Glenn Kelman, CEO, Redfin started off the day with an overview look at what growth in the Seattle area looks like as the region firmly establishes itself as a tech center.

“We are going to see the tech economy change in every major city (Austin, Dallas, etc.), Seattle is just where it’s happening first,” Kelman predicted.

IT and the Future of the Northwest

Eric Horvitz, Microsoft Research’s managing director, and Ed Lazowska, University of Washington’s computer science and engineering chair, discussed regional issues, like traffic congestion, that can be addressed by solutions from the biotechnology, computer science, and artificial intelligence fields.

Lazowska said for Seattle to continue being a leader in computer science, it means higher education, including public institutions like UW and private institutions like Northeastern, will have to build up their programs.

Artificial Intelligence in 2035

Oren Etzioni, CEO, Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, acknowledged that the rate of change for AI is not happening fast enough to make dramatic predictions in 20 years stating, “Artificial Intelligence is not a simple optimization problem, it’s a lot more complex than chess.”

 

From Big Data to Machine Learning to AI

NU-Seattle’s Director of Computer Science moderated a panel with big data stakeholders from a variety of industries: Kieran Snyder, co-Founder & CEO of Textio, Dragos Margineantu, Boeing Technical Fellow at Machine Learning and Intelligent Systems, and Deep Dhillon, CTO of Socrata.

 

Augmented and Virtual Reality—Gaming, Business, and Beyond

Is it immersive technology? Mixed reality? Extended reality? Leaders in the field discuss the quickly growing arena of augmented and virtual reality: Bob Berry, co-Founder & CEO of EnvelopVR; Brian Vowinkel, Chief Revenue Officer at VRstudios; Forest Gibson, co-Founder Pluto VR; Geoff Entress, Angel Investor & co-Founder at Pioneer Square Labs.

Lunch’s Brown Bag Discussion

Lunch at Seattle 2035, was served with a dish of inspiration and students from Urban@UW presented their Next Seattle idea for JobBox, a solution for unemployed homeless youth.

Visions of the Future of Cities

Three individual presentations address specific innovations for creating sustainable living for the future: Nitin Baliga, Senior Vice President of Institute for Systems Biology, Amanda Sturgeon, CEO of International Living Future Institute, and David Kaplan, Founder and CEO of 1Energy Systems.

 

Developing All of Washington’s Talent: What’s Working

Seattle has the opportunity to be a world leader in establishing culture of diversity in the tech industry. Ruchika Tulshyan, Author of “The Diversity Advantage,” moderates panel of regional advocates to discuss how to get there with Cynthia Tee, Executive Director at Ada Developers Academy, Trish Dziko, co-Founder & Executive Director at Technology Access Foundation (TAF) and Dan Shapiro, co-Founder & CEO at Glowforge.

Seattle as the Epicenter of “Scientific Wellness”

Scientific wellness utilizes the collection of 360 degree health data to create quantitative measurement and establish new insights into wellness that could potentially predict psychological and physiological health, as discussed in this panel by Leroy Hood, President of Institute for Systems Biology, Clayton Lewis, co-Founder & CEO of Arivale and Andrew Scharenberg, Principal Investigator at Seattle Children’s Research Institute.

Entrepreneurship in a New Era of Space Exploration

It’s not just because of the Space Needle, the impact of tech industry talent and regional investors has made Seattle a leader in the space industry. Local leaders share the future of commercial space endeavors: Jason Andrews, CEO, Spaceflight; Nathan Kundtz, CEO, Kymeta; Joe Landon CFO, Planetary Resources, & Chairman, Space Angels Network; Kraig Baker, Partner, Davis Wright Tremaine (moderator)

Where We’ve Been, Where We’re Going—20 Years of Investing in Northwest Innovation

Seattle has changed a lot in the past 20 years. The final discussion of the day with Tom Alberg, co-Founder & Managing Director at Madrona Venture Group, and Susannah Malarkey, Executive Director at Technology Alliance, looks back at how far Seattle has come in order to look ahead at where it can go. Transportation and education were identified as two areas that have been and continue to be crucial areas in need of improvement.

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