CAMBRIDGE, MA--(Marketwire - September 29, 2009) - On October 14, the MIT Enterprise Forum of
Cambridge will feature a keynote presentation by prolific inventor,
entrepreneur, author and futurist Ray Kurzweil to discuss the unprecedented
acceleration in technology development and adoption, along with the rapid
decline in the cost of distributing new innovations. Kurzweil will share
his thoughts on the changing information technology business model and how
distribution methods such as open-source, software-as-a-service, cloud
computing, user-generated content and "freemium" are making it cheaper and
easier to create and implement new technology solutions.
Following the presentation, Sim Simeonov, founder and CEO of FastIgnite,
will lead an in-depth conversation with Kurzweil and Bill Warner, founder
of Avid Technology, to further explore the issues surrounding the shift in
how new innovations are affecting traditional business models. The
conversation will cover topics ranging from forecasting technology shifts
and timing markets to practical techniques for fostering market-focused
innovation.
Keynote speaker:
Ray Kurzweil is an inventor, entrepreneur, author and futurist. Called "the
restless genius" by the Wall Street Journal and "the ultimate thinking
machine" by Forbes, his ideas on the future have been praised by prominent
persons ranging from Bill Gates to Bill Clinton. His national best-selling
book, "The Age of Spiritual Machines," has received widespread acclaim. In
it he argues not only that machines will surpass human processing capacity,
and thus become the most significant intelligent force on Earth, but that
this dramatic change is imminent.
Kurzweil is widely regarded as one of the leading inventors of our time. He
was the principal developer of the first omni-font optical character
recognition (OCR), the first print-to-speech reading machine for the blind,
the first CCD flat-bed scanner, the first text-to-speech synthesizer, the
first music synthesizer capable of recreating the grand piano and other
orchestral instruments, and the first commercially marketed,
large-vocabulary speech recognition technology. These technologies continue
to lead the markets in their respective industries, industries that he
pioneered.
Kurzweil received the $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize, the nation's largest
award in invention and innovation, and was inducted in 2002 into the
National Inventor Hall of Fame. He was also awarded the 1999 National Medal
of Technology, the nation's highest honor in technology, from President
Clinton. He has received eleven honorary doctorates, seven national and
international film awards, and honors from three U.S. presidents.
Speakers:
Sim Simeonov is founder and CEO of FastIgnite where he helps entrepreneurs
shape promising ideas, raise capital, build teams and execute across all
stages of the startup lifecycle. Simeonov is also co-founder of San
Francisco-based Thing Labs (makers of Brizzly and Plinky) and
Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the MIT E-Center. Prior to starting
FastIgnite, Simeonov spent seven years as technology partner at Polaris
Venture Partners where he made investments in the online, enterprise and
mobile sectors and helped start four companies invested in by Polaris.
Earlier, Sim was a founding member and chief architect at Allaire, one of
the first large Internet platform companies.
Bill Warner is the founder of Avid Technology, Inc., a leader in video,
film and audio editing systems, as well as Wildfire Communications, Inc.,
FutureBoston, Inc., and Warner Research, LLC. For his work on the Avid
editing system, Warner won an Emmy in 1993 and in 1995 an Engineering and
Scientific award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In
1999, the Academy presented Avid with the Oscar for its success in
transforming the editing process in filmmaking. A serial investor and
entrepreneur, Warner has acted as an angel investor for eight startups and
three non-profit organizations and is a long-time trustee of the
Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council.
When: Wednesday, October 14, 2009
5:30pm: Networking mixer
6:15-8:00pm: Program
8:00-9:00pm: Networking reception
Where: MIT Stata Center (Building 32), Kirsch Auditorium, 32 Vassar St.,
Cambridge, MA
Registration and information:
http://www.mitforumcambridge.org/iseries/oct09.html
Pricing: Forum members: $25, Non-members: $40. Students from all
universities are free with college ID. Pre-registration is encouraged.
Contact Information: MIT ENTERPRISE FORUM OF CAMBRIDGE CONTACT:
Trish Fleming
MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge
617-253-8240
PRESS CONTACT :
Brad Baker (for MIT Enterprise Forum)
CHEN PR, Inc.
781-672-3118