Opening Keynote: David Rose The New Vanguard for Business: Connectivity, Design, and the Internet of Things Sunday, 15 May 5:30-6:45 PM
The Internet of Things is the hottest topic of the moment—a shift predicted to be as momentous as the impact of the internet itself. The internet has allowed us to share ideas and data largely input by humans. What about a world where data from objects as diverse as umbrellas, fridges, and gas tanks all flows through the internet? We are truly at the frontier of a new, hyper-connected future: and MIT Media Lab’s David Rose is our guide.
Author of the first major book on the subject, Rose is bringing the inevitable takeover of the Internet of Things to the forefront of public consciousness. If you own a business, if your company makes a product, if you are involved in manufacturing, supply chain management, environmental monitoring, transport, retail, healthcare, urban planning, architecture, design—literally any industry—your sector will be affected. In this mind-opening talk, Rose explains how to get in on the ground floor of the Internet of Things or, as it’s known in the manufacturing sector, Industry 4.0 (the fourth industrial revolution). He describes how products are poised to become services, and how we will be creating new user experiences, not new technology. Instead of staring at our iPhone screens, we will be surrounded by simple and user-friendly objects that respond to our needs, come to know us, and learn to think on our behalf. How can you embed connectivity and productivity into your product? he asks. It’s time to revolutionize the way your company thinks about technology, design, and making money.
Rose is an instructor and researcher at the MIT Media Lab, and the author of the preeminent book on the Internet of Things, Enchanted Objects: Design, Human Desire, and the Internet of Things. “The history of computers has mostly been about efficiency,” Rose told The New York Times in a major three-page feature. “I think one of the things that’s changing is that enchanted objects can be about adding emotion and magic to the fabric of our everyday lives and experiences.” He continues: “Our devices can be a lot simpler, and our interactions to them can be a lot simpler….These are ordinary things that have extraordinary capabilities.”
A serial entrepreneur, Rose is the CEO at Ditto Labs, and was founder and CEO at Vitality, a company that reinvented medication packaging that is now distributed by CVS and Walgreens. He also founded Ambient Devices, which embedded internet information in objects such as lamps, mirrors, and umbrellas. He holds patents for photo sharing, interactive TV, ambient information displays, and medical devices. His work has been featured at the MoMA, and covered in Wired, The Economist, and The Colbert Report.