TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2013

TechCrunch Disrupt NY took place just a few weeks ago and it was amazing.

For more information on the speakers and the winners, click the following link:

TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2013

After three days of startup demos at TechCrunch Disrupt NY, data startup Enigma won both the Startup Battlefield and the Disrupt Cup, taking home $50,000 and beating out six other finalists.

Enigma aims to make sorting through public data a breeze. It pulls info from over 100,000 data sources and finds connections between them. Think SEC filing, state and federal records, lists of frozen assets and even CrunchBase.

Sure, the data is already out there, but it's not easily accessible. The founders also maintain that it's
hard to see the connections between those sources of public data.

It will be interesting to watch their success during the following year!

Mobile Health Without Borders- And More Stanford University Classes

Stanford University has just opened two more classes: "Mobile Health Without Borders" and "Sustainable Design and Product Management" and they both look incredibly interesting.

I have always been passionate about science, discovery, medicine, technology and how all four areas intersect and overlap. And that is why I am super excited about the Mobile Health Without Borders Class and I think you will be just as excite!

A course description of the Mobile Health Without Borders class is below:
"Today, more people have access to a mobile phone than to clean drinking water. At the same time, health systems around the world struggle to deliver cost-effective care. For example, where the United States confronts unsustainably soaring costs and millions of underserved citizens, Sub-Saharan Africa endeavours to provide medical care in the context of infrastructural challenges, economic shortfalls, and the highest disease burden in the world. Throughout India and China, investments in mobile entrepreneurship are reshaping how health care is delivered to massive populations. Meanwhile South America is experiencing a surge of entrepreneurial activity that promises to reshape how its citizens interact with the health system. To expose you to the breadth of activity and opportunity, each class will consist of multiple short presentations from renowned experts. Each lecture will be streamed live and a recorded copy will remain available on the course website through the duration of the course. Class discussions about these presentations will also take place online."

The course description for the Sustainable Design and Product Management course is below:

This course focuses on strategies and techniques for development of sustainable products and manufacturing processes. Using case studies, we will examine strategic decisions and best practices in new product and process development when environmental and resource externalities are accounted for.

Environmental sustainability has emerged as the imperative management undertaking for business sustainability in the face of rising global demand for natural resources and environment services and of environmental problems such as climate change. We will examine how regulatory and voluntary requirements for sustainable development affect the ability of a firm to achieve its business and corporate objectives. We will assess how sustainable products and operational practices contribute to the firm’s competitive advantage and operational efficiency and to enabling entrepreneurial opportunities.

Students will examine the industrial ecology and life cycle assessment techniques in integrating traditional product and process development requirements with those of the environment and society. 
The emphasis in this course is on sustainability requirements in management of new product and process development from the perspective of the senior-level executive who is responsible for the firm’s business and operational strategies. Student teams will develop a new sustainable product, or undertake field study projects to gain firsthand experience with sustainability practices in a company.

If you are interested in learning more about Stanford's Venture Lab or keen to sign up for a class yourself, simply click on the link below. Enjoy!

Stanford's Venture Lab

More Interesting Free Classes Available on Coursera!

If you haven't yet signed up for any online courses from any of the reputable institutions offering them (Stanford, Harvard, MIT, just to name a few), I wholeheartedly encourage you to consider taking a course through Coursera.  Coursera recently won "Best New Startup of 2012" from the Tech 2012 Crunchies. According to a Tech Crunch article, "Coursera has opened up access to proprietary content, with over 200 courses from over 33 top international and domestic schools like Stanford and Princeton, and is one of the bright points of light pointing towards value and job creation in the creative space."

While over two million students have at some point taken a Coursera course, there are still some controversies. For example, it remains to be seen whether the universities will continue to let Coursera proliferate with their intellectual property. And its main criticism is that the company currently has no clear way to monetize.

Click here to learn more about it:

Coursera


I recently signed up for "A Beginner's Guide to Irrational Behavior." It is taught by Dan Ariely of Duke University and the subject matter is something that I'm incredibly interested in. 

Beginner's Guide To Irrational Behavior

White House Science Fair

I am feeling very inspired as I read about the amazing and talented young group of students invited to the White House for their extraordinary science fair projects.

100 students from more than 40 state were invited to an all-day, hands-on celebration of the power and potential of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education.

As the President said in 2009, when he announced the first ever White House Science Fair: “If you win the NCAA championship, you come to the White House. Well, if you're a young person and you've produced the best experiment or design, the best hardware or software, you ought to be recognized for that achievement, too.”

That’s why young inventors of everything from portable windmills to oil-producing algae, and from underwater robots to dehydration-preventing football gear were invited to share their wares at all corners of the White House -- from the South Lawn to the State Dining Room -- for today's event. The cohort of kids included app-coders, rocket-builders, video-game designers, and city-planners—many of them, as the President pointed out, not yet old enough to drive. One team of innovators even helped the President hop onto a bike and test out their pedal-powered water filtration system.

It's amazing to read stories like these of young innovators using technology and design to create solutions to existing problems. However, whenever I learn about a student's mind blowing scientific or technological achievement, I cannot help but think of all the many other students who, because of an obstacle in financial resources/educational support/familiar support or something similar, were not able to reach their potential.

It is motivating to continue to use Studio C and all our collective resources to keep brainstorming ways to provide a strong foundation of STEM education to all students globally, regardless of economic background.

White House Science Fair

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

I know I've posted about the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation before. But I would like to dedicate this blog post to their organization. They really are a fantastic organization.

I've copied and pasted a letter that Bill and Melinda have written on their website describing their organization:

Letter from Bill and Melinda Gates

"Our friend and co-trustee Warren Buffett once gave us some great advice about philanthropy: “Don’t just go for safe projects,” he said. “Take on the really tough problems.”

We couldn’t agree more. Our foundation is teaming up with partners around the world to take on some tough challenges: extreme poverty and poor health in developing countries, and the failures of America’s education system. We focus on only a few issues because we think that’s the best way to have great impact, and we focus on these issues in particular because we think they are the biggest barriers that prevent people from making the most of their lives.

For each issue we work on, we fund innovative ideas that could help remove these barriers: new techniques to help farmers in developing countries grow more food and earn more money; new tools to prevent and treat deadly diseases; new methods to help students and teachers in the classroom. Some of the projects we fund will fail. We not only accept that, we expect it—because we think an essential role of philanthropy is to make bets on promising solutions that governments and businesses can’t afford to make. As we learn which bets pay off, we have to adjust our strategies and share the results so everyone can benefit.

We’re both optimists. We believe by doing these things—focusing on a few big goals and working with our partners on innovative solutions—we can help every person get the chance to live a healthy, productive life."

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I love the line from the letter that reads "Don't just go for safe projects. Take on the really tough problems."

Another fantastic thing about the Gates Foundation is that they try different solutions to address various global problems, learn which strategies work best and then they SHARE the results so that everyone can benefit. I believe it is critical and absolutely necessary to share results, insights, findings, etc. with everyone. Working together, and allowing everyone equal and free access to the same information is vital to moving forward and alleviating some of these global issues.

A Few Inspiring TED Talks About Schools And Education

One of my favorite things to do when I have some free time is to browse through the TED website and watch a few videos. The TED conference, which stands for Technology, Education and Design, is a global set of conferences that was created to disseminate 'ideas worth spreading."

TED's mission statement begins:

We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world. So we're building here a clearinghouse that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world's most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other.

A recent favorite TED video is a talk by Richard Turere, a 13 year old boy from Kenya, who invented "lion lights" to protect his family's cattle from lion attacks. Richard discusses how he created the solar-powered solution and his passion for this project is inspiring. Click below to watch the full video:

Richard Turere: My inventions that made peace with lions


Another recent talk I watched and recommend is by a young woman named Kakenya Ntaiya from Kenya. Kakenya made a deal with her father: She would undergo the traditional Maasai rite of passage of female circumcision if he would let her go to high school. Ntaiya tells the fearless story of continuing on to college, and of working with her village elders to build a school for girls in her community. It’s the educational journey of one that altered the destiny of 125 young women.  Click below to watch the full video.

Kakenya Ntaiya: A girl who demanded a school


Watching these videos are so inspiring. Particularly inspiring is that these are young students, with extremely limited resources. These particular kids, Richard and Kakenya, come from impoverished backgrounds and were still able to make a substantial, innovative, meaningful change to their communities. I am so impressed with them, and so grateful that they were able to share their story through TED talks.

More about TED:

The TED organization addresses a wide range of topics within the research and practice of science and culture, often through storytelling. The speakers spend about 20 minutes presenting their ideas in the most innovative and engaging ways they can. Past presenters include Bill Clinton, Jane Goodall, Malcolm Gladwell, Al Gore, Gordon Brown, Bill Gates,Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and many Nobel Prize winners. 

Since June 2006, the talks have been offered for free viewing online. As of November 2011, over 1,050 talks are available free online.By January 2009 they had been viewed 50 million times. In June 2011, the viewing figure stood at more than 500 million, and on Tuesday November 13, 2012, TED Talks had been watched one billion times worldwide, reflecting a still growing global audience.

X PRIZE Foundation

The X PRIZE Foundation is a non-profit organization that designs and manages public competitions intended to encourage technological development that could benefit mankind.

From Wikipedia: "It's mission is to bring about “radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity” through incentivized competition. It fosters high-profile competitions that motivate individuals, companies and organizations across all disciplines to develop innovative ideas and technologies that help solve the grand challenges that restrict humanity’s progress."

I first heard of the X PRIZE several years ago and was completely fascinated with their competitions. They have four main categories for competition:

1. Energy and Environment Prize Group
The goal of the Energy & Environment Prize Group is to generate breakthroughs in clean energy, climate change, energy distribution/storage, energy efficiency/use, and water resource management. Advances in these fields will lead to greater sustainability and efficiency, while reducing our dependence on fossil fuels.

2. Exploration Prize Grou
The goal of the Exploration Prize Group is to expand the use of space, the ocean and other unexplored frontiers in order to improve life on Earth and extend life beyond the confines of land. We believe we can achieve these objectives by researching space and Earth's oceans, accessing and conserving their resources, catalyzing private, non-governmental activity, and tapping into our innate wonder about the Earth, the Universe and our place within each.

3. Education and Global Development Prize Group (my favorite!)
The goal of the Education and Global Development Prize Group is to develop new and innovative ways to address major challenges in agriculture, capital, education, health and water. The competitions seek to highlight the most scalable enterprises that create wealth and uplift entire populations from poverty.

4. Life Science Prize Group 
The goal of the Life Sciences Prize Group is to stimulate innovative breakthroughs in molecular biology, stem cell research, bionics, organogenesis, synthetic biology, and artificial intelligence in order to improve health care and extend healthy living. The X PRIZE Foundation looks to accelerate the real-world impact of science, technology, and information related to the worldwide optimization of health and the elimination of illness and disease.

You can read about what projects are in development and what projects are currently under consideration. My favorites include a global literacy project, a girls education project, a clean water initiative, and the organogenesis and rare disease projects. 

For more information, or to read more about these projects, check out their website: 
X PRIZE FOUNDATION 

Clearly, the X PRIZE Foundation is an amazing organization and they've had much success over the years. I love that they are trying to tackle the world's greatest problems by creating and managing large-scale, high-profile, incentivized prize competitions that stimulate investment in research and development.  They really are motivating and inspiring brilliant innovators from all disciplines to leverage their intellectual and financial capital.

However, I think we can do more. How come the X PRIZE isn't a household name? Why don't high school students know about it? I feel that right now, only a small percentage of the population knows about the X PRIZE and that is a weakness. Why isn't X PRIZE marketed the way APPLE or NIKE is advertised? Think of the potential talent they could attract if more people were aware of the projects and competitions and the prize money! I just believe that if we are truly trying to solve the world's problems with innovative thinking and breakthrough technology, we need everyone who might be interested in pursuing that goal on board. At the very least, we need them to be aware of organizations like this, so that they can make contact, get inspired, start their projects and contribute. At the very least, they would be working towards a noble goal and that is a beautiful thing.