Thursday, October 29 through Saturday October 31, the SIU Innovative Systems Conference will afford a world view in an intimate venue.
If you are a coolhunter, this little event will, I am confident, amaze you.
Innovation isn't a new-fangled thing here. We had R. Buckminster Fuller and Anne Fuller right here, and there's even one of his surviving domes in town just a short hop from the conference. (The local non-profit taking care of restoring the dome could use some bucks so cough some, please at http://www.buckysdome.org/)
Go To The Conference
If the conference were in New York, Mumbai, Melbourne, Santa Cruz, Seattle, Toronto, Beijing, Moscow, etc., you would want to go. Don't assume because it's here that it will not be amazing.
It's in Carbondale, Illinois and I am glad that I will not have to fly to it.
Innovation isn't a new-fangled thing here. We had R. Buckminster Fuller and Anne Fuller right here, and there's even one of his surviving domes in town just a short hop from the conference. (The local non-profit taking care of restoring the dome could use some bucks so cough some, please at http://www.buckysdome.org/)Thought Leadership from Leading and Emergent Technology Companies
Speakers represent, generally, technology leaders from senior positions in companies with a heavier emphasis upon network systems and electronics. Topics include exploration of new algorithms for network design in wireless communications, panel sessions on the economy, dynamics of networked information, a MATLAB tutorial, and topics which I would characterize as growing Social Entrepreneurship.
Companies: Cisco, LSI, Mathworks, Motorola, The Danda Group, Teradata, Calit2, Colorado Timberline, Avaya Labs, New Blankets Inc., Cadence Design Systems, Synopsis, Columbia University, Joule Labs, Equitech International LLC, The Element, Medergy, Bell Laboratories, Z.S. Associates and others.
This small conference has assembled truly impressive slate of presenters from the thought leadership of global technology:
Amar Nath Ray
Amit Sethi
Bonnie Horner
Brian Savin
Dewayne Hendricks
Dinesh Hiripityage
Flavio Bonomi
George Vanecek
Giampiero Campa
James Debelina
John Waclawsky
Joseph Deken
Nathan Nobbe
P. Krishnan
Paul Fleming
Qi Wang
Rich Goldman
Terry Galloway
Vijay Gurbani
Viswanath Annampedu
Amit Sethi
Bonnie Horner
Brian Savin
Dewayne Hendricks
Dinesh Hiripityage
Flavio Bonomi
George Vanecek
Giampiero Campa
James Debelina
John Waclawsky
Joseph Deken
Nathan Nobbe
P. Krishnan
Paul Fleming
Qi Wang
Rich Goldman
Terry Galloway
Vijay Gurbani
Viswanath Annampedu
Das Blinkenlights! This kit rocks.
Based upon what I saw at the recent SIU Technology and Innovation Expo (TIE 2009), the serendipitous, intelligent, and enthusiastic demonstrations of student project demos will be the hidden gem of the conference.
Wind and water power, new interactive and immersive display technology, prototypes and "almost ready for prime time exhibits" are well worth the time. Many of these innovations need comparatively little funding (say, from a few thousand up to $500,000 to get product out the door, if even that much.) I've been calling it the milli-loan emergent market to contrast with the wee and wonderful micro-loans.
Rapt Musing: Human Beings At Conference! Hooray!
This is real. This is not synthesized by a soulless corporate puke (and I have been a corporate puke, albeit soulful). Yes! The guys with the pocket protectors who if I did not see during a due diligence meeting or a "strategic partnership discussion" with a somethingdotcom I'd move along fast to the next conversation. At the TIE 2009 last month, someone was having a problem with a demo (it was only batteries) but that is a wonderful experience. Real stuff. Maybe some blue sparks and flames. Something that does not represent distillation into a mega media sound byte.
Friends. 
Some of the SIU student work evokes the efforts of organizations like Stanford University's Social Innovation Entrepreneurial Design for Extreme Affordability and very much reflects a growing maker culture (DIY, but I extend maker philosophy to manufacture of artifacts of all sorts, including code, hence techne in the name of this blog.)
In short: local (to me), smart, inspiring, and making me get "all hope up" which my great grandma Keneipp always warned against over in Saline County here.
The conference, now in its fourth year, owes its beginnings to the efforts of Anil Mehta, here also pictured in an article on the First SIU Intelligent Systems Exposition in 2007.
The conference, now in its fourth year, owes its beginnings to the efforts of Anil Mehta, here also pictured in an article on the First SIU Intelligent Systems Exposition in 2007.conference schedule is provided here at the main website.
PS: Fall Colors all over the place down here.
More Information Below
Website: http://innovativesystems.siu.edu/
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A pdf of the conference schedule is at http://innovativesystems.siu.edu/img/siuis-4-schedule.pdf
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