MIT Enterprise Forum Cambridge: Recent Episodes
Randall Cronk
Established in 1978, MIT Enterprise Forum (MITEF) is one of the oldest entrepreneurial-support organizations in the world. These podcasts are produced by the Cambridge Chapter. The podcasts compliment the programs held in Cambridge, Massachusetts. These in-person programs bring together startup founders, investors, industry leaders, service providers, and the tech-curious to inform, connect and coach the early-stage technology entrepreneur.
What does it take to bring a product, like a medical device, from prototype to production? For many companies, especially startups, figuring out manufacturing and supply chain issues is a big hurdle and there are often important considerations that are overlooked if they choose to go it alone. An Electronics Manufacturing Service (EMS) can be a helpful partner, but many companies may be reluctant to outsource manufacturing because of IP or other concerns. In this podcast, brought to us by Susan Glovsky, Principal at Hamilton Brook Smith Reynolds, we meet and chat with Matthias Brem, Senior Global Program Manager (MSGP), Marketing & Sales at Zollner Elektronik AG. As a mechatronic systems service provider, Zollner supports clients across the entire value chain: from customer-specific development and design at the beginning of the product lifecycle through the sample and serial production, including supply chain management and materials management, and all the way to after-sales service. As an experienced Program Manager, Matthias knows first hand what it takes to bring a product to market.
“Often a project fails not because of technical issues, but because of communication issues. A very high level of alignment and visibility for all people within the project is key to finishing a project and transferring over success.”
If you’re thinking about taking a medical device (or any hardware project) from prototype to production, have a listen!
Avener Halperin is a veteran high tech executive. He has served in several senior management positions including CEO of Emmunet, VP Marketing at Radcom (NASDAQ: RDCM), and VP of Business Development at Lenslet. He also led the R&D team at Eldat Communications (acquired by Pricer) and was the Department Head of an R&D Unit in the IDF Intelligence Corps where he won the Intelligence Innovation Award.
He was part of EarlySense’s founding team in 2004 and served as CEO of the company until 2019. EarlySense developed breakthrough medical sensing and AI platform, that saves tens of thousands of lives every year.
Originally intended to help overcome the Asthma of the co-founders' kids, EarlySense has already been used to improve the care of patients, including COVID-19 patients.
In this podcast, Avner shares the exciting story of inventing and continuously pivoting a digital health startup until success is found. He also shares some takeaways on diversity, sustainability, and the future of medical AI.
We were thrilled to collaborate with our friends at the MIT Enterprise Forum Israel to bring this conversation with Avner to you, moderated by Ayla Matalon. As a member of the Israeli Advisory Board of the MIT Enterprise Forum, Avner provides a fresh perspective on innovation and entrepreneurship in Israel.
The best-laid plans often go awry...as they say. Today is March 23, 2020, the day we were SUPPOSED to be at the MIT Media Lab hosting 100’s of people at our annual Connected Things 2020 Conference. But instead of having a cocktail ? at the networking reception right now, I'm drinking at my kitchen table (just kidding) writing this post about our latest podcast, a quick chat I had with Mark Thirman, chair of the Connected Things Conference committee about how we plan on using this "extra time" between the original date (today) and the new date (September 14) to expand the conversation around the conference theme of IoT, AI, and ML as it relates to our new reality in the time of COVID-19.
Mark and I are so thankful for our panelists, volunteers, keynotes Jonathan Ballon, Vice President, Internet of Things Group, Intel, Michael Ellenbogen, Founder & Head of Advanced Technology, Evolv Technology, Dr. Shane Rooney, Executive Director, IoT Networks, GSMA, and Gabi Zijderveld, Chief Marketing Officer, Affectiva our sponsors and partners, American Tower, Davis Malm, Nutter, Verizon, Very, ISM Connect, the Industrial Internet Consortium, and AWS...who are all still joining us for the rescheduled September 14 event.
We look forward to raising a glass with everyone when we can see you in person, but right now, we hope you're all staying healthy (and sane) and we look forward to continuing the Connected Things conversation with you digitally for now!
Evolv Technology adds a layer of physical security for venues using connected AI and edge processing methods. In this Connected Things 2020 preview podcast, we chat with Michael Ellenbogen, Founder & Head of Advanced Technology, Evolv Technology, about safety as a basic human right.
Evolv’s vision is to create a layer of unobtrusive physical security to keep the “bad guys” out of public places without slowing people down. As Mike put it, keeping people safe “at the pace of life.” In keeping with our "insight-driven computing" conference theme, Evolv leverages connectivity, processing at the edge, analytics and a variety of sensors to collect and immediately process tons of data. “At one level, I don’t want parents to worry about their kids when they drop them off at a concert or ballgame.” We are very excited about Mike’s Fireside Chat (and Evolv's live demo) on March 23!
Very offers end-to-end IoT development that helps Enterprise/Industrial and Consumer brands bring IoT solutions to life.
In this podcast interview, Mark Thirman, MIT Enterprise Forum Cambridge's Connected Things 2020 Conference chair chats will Bill Brock, VP of Engineering at Very about trends he's observed from use cases in real-life IoT deployments that combine three or four of their custom pillars: software, hardware, data science, and design.
Bill and his team have observed that in Industrial applications, the high impact engagements they have are where an established industry player, like a manufacturer of manufacturing equipment, wants to innovate in order to offer their customers insights into machine health, anomaly detection, preventative maintenance; essentially aggregate performance metrics for how well their machine is performing in their factory.
On the Consumer IoT side, Bill mentions that building the entire system is a big investment and it can be risky, especially for a new entrepreneur. The best engagements on that end are where they have a customer that is “rock solid” on the hardware side. “The idea of ‘isn’t there an app for that?’ gets very different when it’s ‘isn’t there an app for that?’ and there is a connected piece to it.” We are grateful for Very’s sponsorship of Connected Things 2 years running and we are excited to see them again on March 23!
Affectiva spun out of MIT Media Lab in 2009 and is on a mission to humanize technology. But what does that mean?
In this podcast interview Mark Thirman, Connected Things 2020 Conference Chair chats with Affectiva’s Chief Marketing Officer (and Connected Things 2020 keynote), Gabi Zijderveld about their pioneering work in Emotion AI and Human Perception AI.
The Boston-based company is currently focused on two industry verticals: Media and Automotive, because as Gabi, a technology veteran, points out “As a small company, you can’t go after every market – you have to be focused.”
Given that Automotive is one of the largest verticals for IoT, it’s definitely a great place to choose as a beachhead market and Affectiva is doing fascinating work leveraging in-cabin cameras as sensors to provide driver state and occupant experience monitoring.
But Automotive is likely just the tip of the iceberg - there are many other use cases such as in Healthcare and Education, and Gabi hints she'll share more about those use cases during her keynote on the 23rd...
Sam Edelstein serves as the City of Syracuse's first Chief Data Officer. During his time in the position, he has been responsible for the development and implementation of the City's first Open Data Policy, Data Privacy Policy, and Open Data Portal - DataCuse.
The City of Syracuse uses data to inform decision making and engage the community - including predicting water main break risk, likelihood illegally parked cars will block snow plows and emergency vehicles, and several hackathons that aimed to resolve real challenges the city faced.
In this Connected Things 2019 podcast, Conference Chair, Mark Thirman, and Sam discuss how cities leverage technology and data to address the needs of citizens.
Listening to this podcast will inform you on IoT technology the City of Syracuse has implemented in order to make informed decisions about city operations from collected data, including street lighting, municipal parking, traffic lights, and water levels.
This podcast was produced on March 13th, 2019 before the Connected Things 2019 conference.
Bernardo Rodriguez is the Chief Digital Officer at J.D. Power, responsible for advancing J.D. Power’s digital transformation by leading new product development, branding, marketing and mergers and acquisitions.
His focus has been connected cars, IoT, and AI in order to provide customers with real insight on the experience of autonomous cars.
In this Connected Things 2019 podcast, Conference Chair, Mark Thirman, and Bernardo discuss how cars behave and the role of J.D Power in understanding AI-driven vehicles.
Listening to this podcast will let you in on how a consumer-goods company is addressing new applications of IoT within the car industry.
This podcast was produced on March 15th, 2019 before the Connected Things 2019 conference.
As Co-Founder and VP of Solutions Architecture at Very Possible, an IoT build-shop based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Tyler Jenks works with prospective clients to take products to the next level, including your local brew.
In 2011, Tyler co-founded Very after becoming frustrated with the status quo of product development.
In this Connected Things 2019 podcast, Conference Chair, Mark Thirman, and Tyler discuss a connected bar Very designed and implemented for a former client and all the value it brought to bar-management and customer experience.
Listening to this podcast will let you in on a new application for IoT, within the restaurant or remote-bar industry.
This podcast was produced on March 6th, 2019 before the Connected Things 2019 conference.
Pascale Witz has been a key leader of GE Healthcare during a 17-year career with the company, where she led a variety of businesses in Medical Equipment and Diagnostics before becoming the CEO of its acquired pharmaceutical business. As the leader of several businesses in a company driven by results and efficiency, she led multiple organizational changes.
In this Connected Things 2019 keynote preview podcast, conference Chair, Mark Thirman, and Pascale discuss the applications for IoT in disease monitoring. They cover home-collection of biomarkers for people with diabetes, the potential for smart speakers (Amazon's Alexa) to act as sensors in health monitoring, and even ingestible sensors. "You can actually learn yourself where you have your ups and downs depending on what you have done... For a disease that is so linked to individual and daily fluctuations, it's important to have a lot more data points, and so the technology actually makes it possible." Listening to this podcast will help you gain an understanding of IoT's role in medical technologies, chronic disease monitoring, and the emergent use-cases in sleep apnea, diabetes, pulmonary diseases, and Parkinson's.
Joel Bagnal is the President and Chief Operating Officer of Vericlave, Inc., a cybersecurity company focused on offering customers a highly differentiated national security grade solution that conceals networks and prevents hacks against critical assets.
Joel is no stranger to difficult scenarios.
On 9/11, he was in the Pentagon just a few offices away from the airplane’s impact. Shortly thereafter, he was in the Oval Office with the President serving as a Senior Advisor where he developed the nation’s first security policy to secure government networks and commercial critical infrastructure.
In this Connected Things 2019 keynote preview podcast, conference Chair Mark Thirman, and Joel discuss the other definition of “disruption,” including the challenges of adding billions of connected things to networks and the importance of a systems approach to IoT security with a "hardware root of trust." "Here we are in January 2019 and although we've made some incremental improvement in cybersecurity, both on the government side and the commercial side, 2018 represented the most challenging year ever in terms of successful cyber hacks we've had in computing history." Listening to this podcast will help you gain an understanding of what needs to be done to secure the devices and networks for the future growth of IoT.
This week, hundreds of thousands of technology fanatics have made their annual pilgrimage to Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Upon entering the convention center, visitors were greeted by huge TVs. Little do many of these folks know, those TVs may actually be Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
In this Connected Things 2019 (happening March 25th) preview podcast, conference Chair Mark Thirman chats with conference Keynote Bill Baxter, the CTO of VIZIO. Vizio was at this year's CES after a long (in tech time) hiatus announcing "its plans to integrate Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, and the Google Assistant with its lineup of SmartCast televisions."
Bill and Mark dive into a number of topics in this podcast including:
Will your TV be watching you while you watch it? (hint: the short answer is no) How does adding IoT capabilities make customer support better? How is data privacy handled?
We're excited to have Bill join us at the MIT Media Lab on March 25th! For those interested in hearing (and meeting him) in person, registration (at early discounts) is open now.
As part of our 40th-anniversary celebration, we're catching up with successful entrepreneurs who have a #MITEFStory and asking them about the past, present, and future both for them and for the MIT Enterprise Forum.
Terry Hsiao is a serial entrepreneur, advisor, and investor. His latest startup, Hook Mobile, a mobile cloud messaging services provider that innovated in the area of virtual local numbers was acquired by Kalerya in August 2018. Al Mink, Managing Director at Systems Spirit and former Board Member at MIT Enterprise Forum Washington DC & Baltimore caught up with Terry about his involvement in the MIT Enterprise Forum, how he got his company InphoMatch-Mobile 365 (acquired by Sybase) funded, the use cases for Hook Mobile (turns out in Hollywood, some folks didn't want their real mobile numbers used by Uber) and his thoughts on the entrepreneur ecosystem today vs the early 2000s.
"The term sheet and the VC world used to be a black box. Nobody would explain to you what these terms meant. Nowadays, with everything being on the internet, everything is transparent. The investors no longer have these advantages - they lose the ability to screw the entrepreneurs. That's really progress." Many thanks to Terry for telling his #MITEFStory and giving us some food for thought on the MIT Enterprise Forum as an organization and to Al for facilitating this great interview.
Since 2009, MindSea has developed hundreds of mobile applications for startups, news media giants, and nearly everything in between. Using their strategic expertise, they guide companies in planning, launching and growing their mobile offering to a widespread audience. Recognized for their applications’ outstanding user experience, as well as their exceptional client service, this Canadian team is developing B2C mobile apps for just about every industry.
You can meet the team in person at our upcoming Startup Spotlight event at District Hall on June 12. They’ll be exhibiting along with 35+ other startups.
Podcast Participants
Bill Wilson, Founder & CEO of MindSea
Greg Veinott, Marketing Advisor, Nova Scotia Business Inc.
Developed by Boondoc Technologies, The Rounds provides physicians with a free, secure, online platform to collaborate and connect in real-time with colleagues across the country. Providing members with access to thousands of journal articles, posts, as well as clinical queries from colleagues, and insights and research from subject matter experts, The Rounds is reinventing how healthcare professionals collaborate and communicate.
You can meet the team in person at our upcoming Startup Spotlight event at District Hall on June 12. They'll be exhibiting along with 35+ other startups.
Listen to the podcast and learn how the platform makes it easier than ever before for physicians to connect, no matter their location.
Podcast Participants
Blair Ryan, Founder & CEO of The Rounds Tim Rice, VP, Sales Lynn Coveyduck, VP, Operations Greg Veinott, Marketing Advisor, Nova Scotia Business Inc. Laura MacDougall, Marketing Advisor, Nova Scotia Business Inc.
4Deep In-water Imaging is making waves in the world of 3D imaging. Developing patented holographic and fluorescence technology, the company from Nova Scotia, Canada is creating powerful microscopes that are not only faster and more precise than others on the market but are also incredibly versatile.
You can meet the team in person at our upcoming Startup Spotlight event at District Hall on June 12. They'll be exhibiting along with 35+ other startups.
In the meantime, have a listen to this podcast where the team shares the exciting and innovative solutions they are discovering for a broad range of applications, from oceanography and municipal water to aquaculture and the wine industry.
Podcast Participants
Dr. Stephen Jones, Chief Executive Officer, 4Deep In-water Imaging Candace Smith, Research Scientist Greg Veinott, Marketing Advisor, Nova Scotia Business Inc. Laura MacDougall, Marketing Advisor, Nova Scotia Business Inc.
In this podcast, Connected Things Conference Chair Mark Thirman introduces the participants on our Point/Counterpoint, Blockchain & IoT panel.
This panel was partly inspired by the vintage SNL skit with Dan Aykroyd and Jane Curtin coupled with the deluge of interest in the notion of Blockchain and IoT combined in some fashion.
Frank Gillette, VP, and Principal Analyst, Forrester Research will moderate the panel with Thomas Hardjono, CTO, MIT Connection Science and Engineering and Andrew Stahl, SVP Business Innovation, LoB Digital Assets & Internet of Things (IoT), SAP.
Frank and the panelists spoke about the realities and applications of blockchain in the context of IoT; is this a case of throwing two hype-curve technologies together? Has the Future arrived by adding blockchain into the IoT mix?
Lastly, the group commented on the notion of governance and referenced some research by the Oxford Internet Institute. If the podcast is any indicator, this panel along with the tradition of robust attendee participation will be an excellent end to an interesting day on April 5th at the Media Lab.
In this podcast with Steven Martin, Chief Digital Officer of GE Power, we get a preview of a few themes that will emerge in his keynote at the event on April 5th. Connected Things Conference Chair, Mark Thirman, spoke with Steve about key GE Power initiatives including; securing the grid, as GE is an active player in this realm.
In light of the conference theme, “The Future Arrives,” they discussed GE’s use of machine learning and Digital Twin modeling to predict electric load usage. Interestingly, the adoption of solar and battery technology has propelled GE Power to look at the issue of peer-to-peer networking of solar, stored, and conventional power generation. Lastly, Mark and Steve talked about GE Power’s view of blockchain—this topic will also be the subject of a new point-counterpoint panel at Connected Things.
In this podcast we talk with Eric Wetjen, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Natick, Massachusetts-based The MathWorks, one of the world’s leading makers of mathematical computing software. The company’s long heritage in areas like embedded computing and predictive maintenance, as well as its broad focus across industries — everything from industrial automation, to smart cities, to healthcare, and even financial engineering — gives it an especially authentic voice when addressing many of the issues that have both spurred and challenged the growth and development of the Internet of Things across so many different and diverse markets.
The podcast was recorded in advance of our Connected Things 2018 conference, taking place April 5th at the MIT Media Lab.
Many would argue that the only effective way to gain value at scale from the massive amounts of data the Internet of Things generates is with cloud computing. But what cannot be argued is the position Amazon Web Services holds as a dominant player in the cloud.
So what is the AWS take on the Internet of Things?
In this podcast, Vice President of IoT at Amazon Web Services, Dirk Didascalou, discusses the company’s many and varied IoT initiatives, including Greengrass, which is software that lets customers run local compute, messaging and data caching for connected devices securely, even when not connected to the Internet.
Dirk is also one of the keynote speakers at Connected Things 2018, April 5th, at the MIT Media Lab.
As you’ll hear in this conversation with Mark Thirman, the Connected Things 2018 Conference Chair, IoT is a major focus at AWS. And it’s also clear, listening to Dirk, just how sweeping that focus is.
Woody Hartman is VP of Operations at Lyft. As the person responsible for taking Lyft’s operations from those of a startup to those of a growth company, he offers special insights into some of the challenges — and ways to overcome them — that startups face that either must grow fast or will die young. He also brings a unique perspective on such topical issues as the future of work, the gig economy, and the impact of autonomous vehicles — not to mention how to successfully position a young company against a well-established competitor with a lot more name recognition — a feat that Lyft has somehow managed to pull off in just a few short years.
So we were especially excited to chat with Woody for this, our 94th MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge podcast.
Shanel Lindsay is one of Massachusetts’ thought leaders on the medical use of cannabis and is founder and president of Ardent, a startup in the space. She is also a member of the Massachusetts Cannabis Advisory Board, where she works with Massachusetts state government to develop and implement regulations for the medical and adult use markets.
Here is her advice for anyone thinking of launching a cannabis-related startup of their own: Be prepared. Have lots of contingency plans. In cannabis, I think a lot of people feel like they need to go and become a grower or take up some expertise that they don’t already have. My suggestion for people who are looking to move into the Cannabis space is think about what you’re already good at. Chances are, businesses in the space are desperately in need of whatever skill you bring to the table. And that might be a cannabis skill and that might be a traditional business skills like accounting or marketing or any number of support rolls. And getting involved in the business that way you’ll quickly learn what you need to know about the cannabis world. Because it is always changing, you absolutely need good mentors, good investors, good colleagues. So getting out and networking is really important. And going and learning about the laws. I think that the biggest piece about becoming involved in the cannabis business is understanding that this business is one part business and one part advocacy. And if you aren’t willing to go and stand up for what’s right and also use your business to push forward against the stigma, against cannabis prohibition, against the inequity that exist because of prohibition, then you probably shouldn’t get into this business. Listen to what else she has to say, in this podcast:
In advance of our February 6th, 2018 event all about autonomous vehicles, we spoke with one of the speakers, Boston Consulting Group Principal, Augustin Wegscheider, who also manages the World Economic Forum’s Future of Urban & Autonomous Mobility project. In this podcast, he talks about a particular aspect of this trend: shared electric autonomous vehicles, or SAEVs.
Here’s what he said when asked to gauge the impact of this new mode of mobility: “We actually think that this will probably be a massive change. It’s probably only comparable to the actual introduction of the automobile itself at the turn of the century. It’s really going to change the paradigm from not having to own a vehicle to just having mobility on demand. We think it’s a really big shift. One story that I like is actually from 1894 — there was a story in the Times of London that predicted in 50 years every street in London will be buried under nine feet of manure because everything was based on horse carriages and they just couldn’t see another future. And I think we’re at another turning point, where vehicle ownership is going to go down dramatically and we’re going to see a really big change in mobility patterns.” You can listen to the complete podcast here:
Successful computer applications by definition create value -- but usually require some form of human intermediation to turn that value into actual money that the application’s developers, supporters, and even users can spend. That’s the beauty of cryptocurrency. Even if the application’s developers -- and indeed the company behind the application -- go away, the application keeps right on working, creating value (and money) for stakeholders all by itself.
That idea is being put to the test in one of the most sensitive businesses of all — where values like privacy, reliability, non-repudiation, and integrity are all of the utmost importance.
It’s called Tengu, a startup founded by serial entrepreneur Chetan Manikantan who actually spoke at one of our many recent blockchain-themed events. In this podcast, Chet talks about how Tengu will do to the finance industry what blockchain-based clouds will do to data storage, and what another cryptocurrency--based businesses will do to other industry incumbents -- massively disrupt them.
One thing was obvious from our recent Innovation Series event on initial coin offerings (ICOs): People have a lot of questions about this new form of investing — like what are ICOs, how do they work, and how can startups and investors participate?
It’s pretty clear, for example, that when you buy shares in an IPO why the value of your shares of the company increase as the value of the company increases. But why, or how, does the value of your investment increase if what you are buying are some of the startup’s cryptocurrency?
These are some of the questions we put to Lex Sokolin in this podcast. Lex is the founder of the London-based Fintech practice, Autonomous NEXT, and is a frequently quoted thought leader on Bitcoin, ICOs, and cryptocurrency in general. So if you missed our event, and would like to get a great overview of what ICOs are all about — all in the space of about 30 minutes — then you should listen to this:
Starting a successful new company is impressive enough. But opening a new market is even more so, especially when the founder happens to be a college student. That’s what Emily Levy accomplished as the CEO and co-founder of Mighty Well — a company at the intersection of fashion, lifestyle, and disease management.
But that’s just part of her story. While a student at Babson College Emily won our 2015 Beantown Throwdown and this year she returned as one of the judges of the 2017 Beantown Throwdown. Her selection as a judge made a lot of sense given that she has won 15 pitch-offs altogether — in addition to the $200,000 Mighty Well has received so far in venture capital.
But Emily is not only the CEO and co-founder of her new company. She is also a customer. It turns out that Mighty Well wasn’t just a solution to a problem identified through a market study — although her team has certainly conducted a number of those. It is also a solution to a problem she had to face personally.
Suppose you are a graduate student from Syria living in the United States and you want to help refugees of the Syrian civil war as well as other displaced people around the world. You want to find a solution that is sustainable — in a way that charitable donations can never be — to give these people a path forward in their lives so they’re less likely to turn to conflict or terrorism. And, yes, you also need to make money.
What would you do?
Wafaa Arbash, who is from Syria and who just graduated from Brandeis University with a master’s degree in conflict resolution, found an answer to that question when she founded WorkAround. That is a company that helps U.S. companies engage refugee talent worldwide via the Internet. She is also the winner of several student pitchoff competitions, including our own 2017 Beantown Throwdown.
You can listen to her story here:
And if you’re looking for some great refugee talent, look here.
Following up on our sold-out “Emerging Applications of Blockchain for Supply Chains” event held earlier this fall, we invited one of the speakers, Brigid McDermott, back to do a deeper dive into some of the content presented at this very important session. Brigid is Vice President, Blockchain Business Development & Ecosystem at IBM — and some of the early IBM initiatives around blockchain, which she is leading, are focused specifically on the supply chain as it relates to food, and especially food safety. It is an initiative she talks a lot about in this podcast.
Here’s what she said when we asked about IBM’s commitment to blockchain in general: ‘Our CEO has said that blockchain will transform transactions the way the Internet has transformed communication. This is a fundamental shift in what is possible as we think about interacting with other parties. For IBM, as we started looking at blockchain as a new technology, this ability that it has to really fundamentally shift not just technology but business processes was the driver for our really aggressive investment in it.”
Dr. Joseph C. Kvedar, VP of Connected Health at Partners Healthcare in Boston -- and a prominent thought leader in the space -- discusses the state of connected health today. (Originally released 5/3/17)
Dr. Michael Dahlweid head of GE Healthcare IT, and Timothy "Dutch" Dwight, VP Business Development at Medullan, a digital healthcare innovation firm based in Cambridge, MA, discuss how the Internet of Things will change how healthcare is delivered by forging new digital relationships between patient, payer, and provider. (Originally released 4/8/16)
Sanjay Sarma Co-Founder of the MIT Auto-ID Center and currently Dean of Digital Learning at MIT shares his thoughts on where the Internet of Things is headed (and where it is taking us) in advance of this year's Connected Things Conference at MIT April 5th where he will be a keynote. (Originally released 3/5/16)
The gene editing technology, CRISPR, has been called the biggest biotech breakthrough of the century. It's also the topic of an MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge February 2016 event. Here one of the panelists talks about how genetic research saved his son's life -- and how CRISPR could have saved it sooner. (Originally released 1/29/16)
The Chief Scientist for Telecommunications at one of the world's most significant providers of advanced cyber security technology discusses what's got his attention lately. (Originally released 5/19/15)
Pixability CEO and Founder Bettina Hein discusses the many business model iterations she went through to create the world's leading software company for helping big brands make smarter YouTube ad buying and video marketing decisions. (Originally released 4/13/15)
Aubrey de Grey shares his perspective as chief science officer of the SENS Research Foundation where he directs research on regenerative therapies to thwart the aging process. (Originally released 4/3/15)
David Rose may have done more than any other single individual to bring the Internet of Things home to the consumer. Prolific inventor, MIT Media Lab lecturer, and the founder of multiple successful startups, he is the author of Enchanted Objects: Design, Human Desire, and the Internet of Things. (Originally released 2/13/15)
The former chief evangelist for Apple, Guy is one of tech’s most outspoken and widely followed visionaries. He just published a new book, co-authored with social media guru Peg Fitzpatrick, titled: The Art of Social Media: Power Tips for Power Users. So how do their ideas apply to B2B tech marketing and to startups? (Originally released 2/6/15)
One of innovation's most widely followed futurists talks about why even the smallest startups now have the resources to create world-changing innovation -- and that is what they should do. Venture capitalists and big companies are dinosaurs who should either help or get out of the way. (Originally published 1/23/15)
The cofounder of travel site Kayak.com and the Boston-based consumer tech foundry Blade discusses how design and other factors play key roles in determining the success of a tech startup. Paul is joined by Brian Kalma, Blades's Design Chief and former Director of User Experience for Zappos.com. (Originally published 1/6/15)
Nestled next door to Boston and Cambridge, Somerville, Massachusetts offers a unique vibe that many in the local startup scene find attractive as a place to work and spend time after work. Lifestyle is key to building a strong local innovation economy says Mayor Joe Curtatone in this interview. (Originally released 11/23/14)
Bernd Schoner is the author of "The Tech Entrepreneur's Survival Guide (McGraw-Hill, May 2014), a comprehensive look at the challenges and rewards of starting a tech company. In this interview he discusses his book and specifically the challenge of how startups can partner with larger companies first through strategic alliances and ultimately through acquisition -- without smothering the innovative fire that makes tech startups potentially so valuable to the acquiring company.
The interview was conducted in advance of a June 11, 2014 MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge event titled, "Acquisition or Alliance -- Which Is Better?" (Originally released 5/24/14)
One reason Dropbox is so successful is that the company attracts and holds great people. While no company ever “wins” the war for talent — the war never actually ends — successful young companies do in fact know how to win the key battles. Learn how Dropbox does it — in this interview with Dropbox Founder and CEO Drew Houston, conducted by Jason Pontin, Editor-in-Chief, MIT Technology Review and Chairman of the MIT Enterprise Forum. (Originally released 2/13/14)
Michael Murray, General Manager of Analog Device's Industrial Sensing Group discusses the division of labor between device-based and cloud-based intelligence in the factory's Internet of Things. (Originally released 2/20/16)
An Institute Professor at MIT, Dr. Mildred Dresselhaus received the Presidential Medal of Freedom Award in November 2014 for her outstanding scientific research, principally in carbon science and carbon nanostructures. But she is also widely known for promoting the advancement of women in science and engineering -- the subject of this interview. (Originally released 12/13/14)
Jason Pontin, preambles the March 13, 2013 Innovation Series event with a discussion about what it will take to solve the big problems of our time like climate change, cancer and the growing plague of dementia. Jason is the Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of MIT Technology Review and Chairman of the MIT Enterprise Forum. The March 13th program was itself prompted by MIT Technology Review’s “Big Problems, Big Solutions” issue.
There is a new word (or actually two words) for the kind of tech that’s getting today’s generation of entrepreneurs, industry visionaries, and venture capitalists excited — frontier tech. And the poster child of frontier tech is virtual and augmented reality. It’s cool, it’s on the cusp of creating major disruptive impacts, and it’s generating significant returns for those with the insight to see how the disparate pieces of the VR/AR ecosystem will come together. So . . .
What makes VR and AR cool?
What will be the disruptive impacts?
And what are the key constituent components of the VR/AR ecosystem?
These are some of the questions we asked one of the speakers at our VR/AR event on May 3rd, Sarah Downey, a principal with the Cambridge VC firm Accomplice. Here is what she said when we asked her, in a Forum podcast, why aren’t we already seeing more of VR and AR in our everyday lives: "It’s so early that the hardware required to do things, AR especially, is super demanding. Like, in AR, in order to have a system work really well you have to have extremely precise geolocation, extremely precise head and movement tracking, and also eye tracking. Because in cases where images are being projected onto your eye to make it appear that they are stable and right there … you really have to align that perfectly to the person’s eye. So, there’s a ton of processing power that’s going on, a ton of bandwidth usage. And you don’t want to release something where you’ve got a huge cord coming off of the glasses, the glasses are giant and clunky and uncomfortable to wear. You have to carry a battery pack around. If you are okay with all that stuff then there are headsets that work today. But we kind of need like the Apple version of AR to make this thing really take off. You know, Apple’s never the first to come out with a product but they’re the ones that really nail it. So we need the iPhone of this stuff." And here is the podcast:
What is SAP doing with the Internet of Things? To find out, we invited Alan Southall, VP Engineering, Head of IoT Predictive Maintenance, SAP, to present a keynote at the Connected Things 2017 conference. And just before he spoke to a standing-room-only audience, he spoke one-on-one with one of the conference organizers, Mark Thirman, for a preview podcast. Here is what Alan said when Mark asked him what advice he would share with an enterprise just starting its IoT journey: “So I would say, focus in on a very specific business case that’s going to provide value. Because if you’re just creating something that’s a nice to have or could have been done in a different way, it’s not going to convince your CTO or CEO. And then focus in on that and start simple and then build it out from there. That’s the advice that I would give. Don’t try and do, you know, kind of a Big Bang scenario where you do everything in one go, but really focus in on where the value is, start small and then build it out.” And here is the podcast . . .
This month the Forum’s Innovation Series will present a program titled, “Connected Health: Emerging Technologies Poised to Make our Lives Better.” It includes a panel of thought leaders including executives from companies like Boston-based Orbita, a startup that works with technology partners to enhance the efficacy of their solutions through improved patient engagement. In fact, the Orbita story is a lesson in how connected health is a complex puzzle best solved by companies coming together in synergistic relationships.
Here’s how Orbita’s president, Nathan Treloar, describes how Orbita, and ultimately patient engagement, fits into connected health: “In the healthcare space our customers range from providers, people who are providing care for patients outside clinical settings as well as in clinical settings, to device manufacturers who are trying to create experiences around medical devices that engage patients, to pharmaceuticals who are trying to figure out how to drive better adherence to medications, etc. In the end, patient engagement is a means to an end for those organizations. An engaged patient is more likely to adhere to their treatments, more likely to recover from an acute event, more likely to have a properly managed chronic care issue. So patient engagement for our customers is really about [achieving] the triple aim of healthcare: improving the quality of care, improving patient satisfaction, and ultimately driving costs down.” Nate joins Orbita CEO, Bill Rogers, in this Forum podcast:
Lisa Jerram will be moderating our upcoming Forum event titled, “Warning: The Future of Transportation Is Closer than it Appears.” A principal research analyst at Navigant Research, Lisa has been studying the market impact of advanced transportation technologies for more than 20 years. In this podcast, we asked her what that transportation future will look like when it does appear. We also asked her about the impact autonomous vehicles are likely to have on our environment and on our infrastructures -- and which industries are most likely to be disrupted.
Here’s one takeaway: even if the future of transportation is close, it is certainly far from clear.
Following his remarks at a recent MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge Innovation Series panel on climate change, Professor John Sterman, a leading expert on the subject who teaches system dynamics and engineering systems at MIT, sat down for an interview to take a deeper dive into his views.
Here is part of what he said when asked if he was an optimist about climate change. It is perhaps not what you might expect from an MIT professor: And this is extremely important. This is why climate change is no longer about the science. It’s a political issue. It’s a social issue. It’s a personal moral issue. And on that score I look at what’s been happening in the world. And there are many situations in which terrible conditions — things that no one thought would ever change — actually changed. So, for example, in my lifetime when I was young and for many years after nobody thought that they would live to see the fall of the Berlin Wall or the end of the Soviet Union. And yet we did. No one believed we would see peace in Northern Ireland and yet we have peace in Northern Ireland . . . No one believed there would an end to apartheid in South Africa or if it did end it would only be as the result of a long and bloody civil war. And yet it ended peacefully. There are many many other examples. This is another example of complex systems. Institutions that have been in place for decades, centuries, or even longer can suddenly change as a result of people becoming active, people becoming aware and shifting from “It’s just the way it is and it may be regrettable but it’s always been that way and it always will” to “This is morally wrong and we need to do something about it.”