The relentless parade of new innovative technologies continues.

Almost every advance is billed as a breakthrough, and the the list of the “new new thing” grows longer. Not every emerging technology will alter the business or social landscape—but some truly do have the potential to disrupt the status quo, alter the way people live and work, and rearrange an industry’s value chain. We believe it’s critical that technology, business and policy leaders understand which inventions will impact society the most and prepare accordingly.

In our third annual half-day conference we’ll explore and discuss the impact of exponential technologies like: AI, the Internet of Things (IOT), Blockchain, Predictive Analytics, Sustainability and the Life Sciences.

This conference will start with registration at 12:30 PM at Harrisburg University. Our speakers will take the stage from 1:00-4:00 PM and afterwards we’ll have a Q&A session as our speakers join a panel to discuss the inevitable impact of disruption. Stay tuned for our agenda and speaker list. We hope to see you at Disruptive Tech v3.0!

The Topics

The Data Scientist

Kevin Purcell, Wild Fig

We’ll discuss why complicated algorithms and artificial intelligence are simply tools of data science and why it is the scientific perspective and the scientifically trained human mind that is the true disruptive power of data science. This is why scientists today populate the ranks of data scientists and why a more evolved understanding of data science is critical to training the much needed next generation of data scientists.

The Initial Coin Offering (ICO)

Chuck Russell, Collective Intelligence

Over the last six months two companies: Tezos and FileCoin raised approximately $500M of investment through by nontraditional means. Each issued a cybercoin or token that to be used on the future blockchain platforms each will deploy. This was done without traditional angel or venture capital investment. This presentation will contrast these two large public offerings dissecting the details, discussing the risk and asserting that this just might disrupt the venture business altogether.

IOT, Big Data and Waste

Bill Kratzer, BioHiTech America

Over four years ago, BioHiTech America set out to add transparency to the food waste problem by capturing data and analytics about food waste. Traditionally, businesses have had very little insight into how much food waste is generated by their organization. Today, BioHiTech America provides big data, analytics, and IIOT (Industrial Internet of Things) technology to re-invent the waste business, which has gone unchanged for nearly 100 years.

Breaking the Wavelength Barrier for Sub-nanometer Resolution 3D Imaging

Anis Rahman, Applied Research and Photonics

This talk will present generation and application of terahertz radiation for high sensitivity spectroscopy and sub-nanometer resolution 3D imaging with layer by layer analysis. Practical examples will be discussed of a few nanomaterials, semiconductor, and soft tissue imaging and their spectral analysis.

Demystifying Neural Networks

Nathan Susanj, Wells Fargo

Neural networks are at the heart of many of the most recent advances in artificial intelligence applications, from deep learning powered image generators to speech recognition algorithms and state-of-the-art prediction systems. Yet, fundamentally, these models can be broken down into surprisingly simple mathematical frameworks that anyone with a high school math background can intuitively understand. This talk aims to explain the nuts and bolts of how neural networks learn and make decisions for a general audience, without dumbing down the beautiful science of one of the most important machine learning algorithms today.

Human-Machine Symbiosis

Alan Todd, CorpU

In 2005, two amateur chess players, using only their personal computers, won a worldwide chess tournament against a field of supercomputers and grand masters. While seemingly at a disadvantage, the two players were experts at knowing when to leverage the technology and when to rely on their own creativity.

This concept, called “human-machine symbiosis,” has applications beyond chess. Increasingly today, savvy business leaders are relying on new approaches that blend human and digital strengths to more effectively support strategy execution.

Collaborative Crime Analytics

Mike Grucz , Crime Watch

Let’s take a dive into crime analytics, crime mapping and prediction. While far from Minority Report, CRIMEWATCH Labs facilitates collaborative crime analytics by geospatially plotting where and when crimes have occurred in the past; provides actionable insights to both local Law Enforcement and the public alike.

Citizen Development

Treff LaPlante, Citizen Developer

What if you, as a software developer, could construct a comprehensive software specification and a working prototype in a few hours? What if over the next few days you were able to release the application to your users soliciting feedback during a rapid, iterative test phase? Once refined, what if you could deploy the solution with the press of a button? Would that be disruptive? We think so.