Great Year of Programming Culminates in Two Important Events

October 31, 2018

The Austin Forum on Technology & Society has reached new levels of attendance, influence and impact in 2018. Our monthly events now average 200 attendees, and the majority of our attendees have attended previous events. People come--and return--to continue expanding their understanding and expertise, and to forge new relationship that can lead to collaborations.
This year, the Austin Forum has covered many of the key technologies that are 

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driving innovation and transforming society, including AI, blockchain, IoT, drones, and social media. As we close the year, we are covering broader topics that use many of these technologies, starting with the excellent presentation on the power/energy from Karl Popham of Austin Energy.

We hope you will make plans to attend the final two events of the year, which bring may of these technologies together.  The November event is on technology and transportation, and we have a great panel of speakers, let by Karla Taylor of the City of Austin Transportation Department and with speakers from Ford, GM, Nvidia, and CAVita. Our speakers will cover everything from connected and autonomous vehicles to mass transit to alternative mobility services (such as those now ubiquitous, on-demand electric scooters). Transportation/mobility is one of the key issues for many Austinities as our economy booms and our city grows, and our speakers will share their expertise and opinions on how to address issues and how mobility will change in the future--and how that will change society.

The final event of the year in December is truly the capstone for everything we will have covered in 2018: smart cities. Chelsea Collier and I will how all of the technologies presented at the Forum this year can be leveraged to improve how our cities are designed, how they operate, the quality of information and services they provides, and the quality of living in them--from health and safety to mobility and power, from education and opportunity to housing and entertainment. We are at the beginning of the smart cities revolution, and we’ll share examples from around the world of how cities are transforming themselves and the lives of their residents (and visitors)... and what Austin can do to lead the way!