Exponential Impact at the Singularity University Global Summit

At Singularity University we address the world’s greatest challenges, through the application of exponential technologies, spreading knowledge through conferences, educating through our courses, and creating, accelerating and funding startups.

Accelerating technology implemented through an increasing understanding of the world is at the basis of our effort to address the greatest challenges humanity faces. In a series of events and meetings at the end of August in San Francisco, Singularity University shared its view on tools and approaches to achieve significant positive global impact.

One of the emotionally most meaningful events of the year, recurring for the past eight years, is the closing ceremony of the Global Solutions Program at Singularity University. This ten week summer course has 80 students from all over the world, learning about exponential technologies, forming teams around ideas and rapidly prototyping concrete solutions and applications. Entering the program with great expectations, their almost universal assessment is that these are exceeded by the knowledge acquired, the stimulating lectures, the environment, and most importantly the connections they make with faculty, and their fellow students.

For the first time, a select group of teams has been invited to stay on campus for an additional eight week Launchpad program, that refines their prototypes, develops an initial approach in searching for product market fit, teaches them how to formulate and analyze the components, and allows a proper startup to form, ready to seek funding at the end of the process, following mid-November.

Both Italian participants from this year’s attendees have been selected for Launchpad. Marta Ghiglioni with an application of blockchain to privacy and government services, and Francesco Spina with an innovative method of magnetic induction to use robots and 3d printing with regolith to build space habitats on the Lunar surface.

At the Community Leadership day we discussed the details of SingularityU Global, the expansion program that saw the birth in a year of almost fifty chapters around the world, and the first physical location outside of the Silicon Valley headquarters in the Netherlands through the Exponential Regional Partnership program. The goal is to double the number of chapters in the next 12 months and to open other ERPs around the world.

For the first time in the US, the Singularity University Global Summit was packed for three days of presentations, panels, workshops and discussions around exponential technologies. The next SingularityU Summit events are in New Zealand in November, and in Germany in May 2017.

Both as an investor in the SU Labs Accelerator Seed Fund with Network Society Ventures and as an SU Company with Network Society Research, I also participated in the founding meeting of the SU Innovator Network, where startups meet enterprises to share challenges and solutions.