MIT Enterprise Forum Cambridge

In this podcast, Hamilton Brook Smith Reynolds Principal Tim Meagher talks with SweatWorks  Founder and CEO, Mohammed Iqbal.  SweatWorks is a design development agency focused on delivering bespoke digital products to the fitness industry. When they first started in 2012 wearables were in their infancy (the pre-Apple Watch days), but the market for digital fitness products has exploded since.  Tim and Mohammed cover a lot of things in this podcast; from the technology drivers for his company to how the COVID19 pandemic has changed the fitness market. Mohammed also provides this sage advice for other founders: “You know what you know really well, but you really don’t know much about anything else. I learned that pretty quickly, but it took time. In fact, I think I’m still learning.” For entrepreneurs who have to wear many hats early on, knowing the value of your time and where your capability limits are, especially as you scale up your business, is really important. For more nuggets of entrepreneurial advice and to learn more about Mohammed’s startup story, have a listen below!

In this podcast, Hamilton Brook Smith Reynolds Principal Tim Meagher talks with SweatWorks  Founder and CEO, Mohammed Iqbal.  SweatWorks is a design development agency focused on delivering bespoke digital products to the fitness industry. When they first started in 2012 wearables were in their infancy (the pre-Apple Watch days), but the market for digital fitness products has exploded since.  Tim and Mohammed cover a lot of things in this podcast; from the technology drivers for his company to how the COVID19 pandemic has changed the fitness market. Mohammed also provides this sage advice for other founders: “You know what you know really well, but you really don't know much about anything else. I learned that pretty quickly, but it took time. In fact, I think I'm still learning.” For entrepreneurs who have to wear many hats early on, knowing the value of your time and where your capability limits are, especially as you scale up your business, is really important. For more nuggets of entrepreneurial advice and to learn more about Mohammed's startup story, have a listen below!

In this podcast, we chat with Kashif Hasnie, CEO of Air Traffic Awareness (ATA) along with Susan Gonzalez and Larry Hill, two of Kashif’s MIT Enterprise Forum Cambridge Mentors.

In this episode, we (once again) teamed up with our podcast partners at Failure - the Podcast to chat with Startup Spotlight 2020 Week #1 winners Cloud Agronomics. Have you ever looked out over the Midwest farmlands while taking a cross country flight?  Just another pretty view, you ask? The guests of this podcast, Mark Tracy, CEO and Alex Zhuk, Co-Founder, think not. A picture can be worth a whole lot and a cornfield from on high is the real money shot.  Imagine, if you could identify rows of maze ripening ahead of schedule or under siege by the infamous corn borer. (Yes, unlike earwigs, corn borers do really like corn).  Yields might go up and costs down.  And, while most city dwellers can size up a garden in seconds, gauging the health of a mega-acre factory farm is another matter entirely. Cloud Agronomics is a geospatial imaging and analytics company creating a living map of global agriculture. They provide next-generation analytics on crop performance that changes the way the industry looks at crop yields, pricing, and other critical decisions related to food. Cloud Agronomics wants to enable the digital revolution towards sustainable food production. Join us and the team from Failure - the Podcast in one of the few level-headed discussions they’ve had since college with the management and science gurus behind this very interesting startup.

In this episode, we (once again) teamed up with our podcast partners at Failure - the Podcast to chat with Startup Spotlight 2020 Week #1 winners Cloud Agronomics. Have you ever looked out over the Midwest farmlands while taking a cross country flight?  Just another pretty view, you ask? The guests of this podcast, Mark Tracy, CEO and Alex Zhuk, Co-Founder, think not. A picture can be worth a whole lot and a cornfield from on high is the real money shot.  Imagine, if you could identify rows of maze ripening ahead of schedule or under siege by the infamous corn borer. (Yes, unlike earwigs, corn borers do really like corn).  Yields might go up and costs down.  And, while most city dwellers can size up a garden in seconds, gauging the health of a mega-acre factory farm is another matter entirely. Cloud Agronomics is a geospatial imaging and analytics company creating a living map of global agriculture. They provide next-generation analytics on crop performance that changes the way the industry looks at crop yields, pricing, and other critical decisions related to food. Cloud Agronomics wants to enable the digital revolution towards sustainable food production. Join us and the team from Failure - the Podcast in one of the few level-headed discussions they've had since college with the management and science gurus behind this very interesting startup.

Marc Filerman Is the CEO at the German Accelerator Life Sciences in Cambridge, Massachusetts and is a health tech entrepreneur and intrapreneur. This means that he develops markets, gets involved in commercialization and accelerates innovation for technology-enabled healthcare products and services. Marc has a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he focused on product design as an undergraduate and on artificial intelligence for his graduate work. Marc also serves as a mentor here at MIT Enterprise Forum Cambridge (next cohort coming up soon, view info here). During this podcast, brought to us by Susan Glovsky, principal at Hamilton Brook Smith Reynolds, we learn a little bit more about Marc, the German Accelerator Life Sciences, important things non-US companies trying to enter the US Market should know, and much more. Have a listen!

Marc Filerman Is the CEO at the German Accelerator Life Sciences in Cambridge, Massachusetts and is a health tech entrepreneur and intrapreneur. This means that he develops markets, gets involved in commercialization and accelerates innovation for technology-enabled healthcare products and services. Marc has a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he focused on product design as an undergraduate and on artificial intelligence for his graduate work. Marc also serves as a mentor here at MIT Enterprise Forum Cambridge (next cohort coming up soon, view info here). During this podcast, brought to us by Susan Glovsky, principal at Hamilton Brook Smith Reynolds, we learn a little bit more about Marc, the German Accelerator Life Sciences, important things non-US companies trying to enter the US Market should know, and much more. Have a listen!

Hanan Lepek is the CEO of Senecio Robotics, an Israeli startup that’s using AI and robotics to help rid the world of disease-carrying mosquitos (or as our podcast partners at Failure the Podcast call them, "skeeters.") Hanan was selected to present at our Week #2 Startup Spotlight 2020 virtual showcase and won the popular vote for his pitch for this innovative startup that addresses one of the key challenges in the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) (which, according to some reading I did over on the World Health Organization (WHO) website before the Spotlight event is a form of insect birth control). The challenge with SIT is to develop the supporting technology to accelerate the sex sorting (so only non-biting males will be released) and to automate the packaging process and the large scale release capabilities. So that's where Senecio Robotics focused its efforts. They've developed a multi-platform solution, utilizing deep learning for the sex classification together with robotics and automation for the sorting and packaging, to the controlled release. In this well-timed podcast (given that Massachusetts is expecting a very high rate of mosquito-borne EEE cases), that according to our hosts, tested the limits of both Skype and Bluetooth, you'll learn more about Hanan and Senecio Robotics and the important work they're doing. Enjoy!

Hanan Lepek is the CEO of Senecio Robotics, an Israeli startup that's using AI and robotics to help rid the world of disease-carrying mosquitos (or as our podcast partners at Failure the Podcast call them, "skeeters.") Hanan was selected to present at our Week #2 Startup Spotlight 2020 virtual showcase and won the popular vote for his pitch for this innovative startup that addresses one of the key challenges in the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) (which, according to some reading I did over on the World Health Organization (WHO) website before the Spotlight event is a form of insect birth control). The challenge with SIT is to develop the supporting technology to accelerate the sex sorting (so only non-biting males will be released) and to automate the packaging process and the large scale release capabilities. So that's where Senecio Robotics focused its efforts. They've developed a multi-platform solution, utilizing deep learning for the sex classification together with robotics and automation for the sorting and packaging, to the controlled release. In this well-timed podcast (given that Massachusetts is expecting a very high rate of mosquito-borne EEE cases), that according to our hosts, tested the limits of both Skype and Bluetooth, you'll learn more about Hanan and Senecio Robotics and the important work they're doing. Enjoy!

The team from Cambridge Blockchain has been dedicated to giving control of personal data back to users while delivering the benefits of trusted, distributed identity to both consumers and organizations. They first focused their efforts on blockchain-based Enterprise Data Management software; but now they’re pivoting a bit in order to help employers get people back to work during the COVID-19 pandemic with Tracelinks Monitor, a workforce safety product that allows companies to follow reopening procedures to privately and securely track employee attendance, daily symptoms screening, and body temperature. I recently had the opportunity to talk with Alok Bhargara, CEO and Co-Founder at Cambridge Blockchain (and friend I met while working out of the CiC in Cambridge) for a podcast to discuss their latest effort with Tracelinks Monitor and how they ensure trust, one of the most critical components in the social contract between consumers and providers of digital solutions.  As we all know, data is currency to many tech companies and consumers are wary. However, in the absence of sophisticated but yet-to-mature solutions for full digital privacy, Alok believes that companies must: Be open and transparent and use layman terms to describe what they do with the consumer’s data Put easy and full control of their data in the hands of the consumer Provide trade-offs to the consumer – if the consumer doesn't want some data to be used by the provider of a digital service but they still want the service, they should offer them the ability to pay for that service Listen below to the full podcast and if you’re an employer challenged with trying to get back to business while keeping your employees safe, happy and healthy, feel free to try their new service at https://www.tracelinks.co/monitor.

The team from Cambridge Blockchain has been dedicated to giving control of personal data back to users while delivering the benefits of trusted, distributed identity to both consumers and organizations. They first focused their efforts on blockchain-based Enterprise Data Management software; but now they're pivoting a bit in order to help employers get people back to work during the COVID-19 pandemic with Tracelinks Monitor, a workforce safety product that allows companies to follow reopening procedures to privately and securely track employee attendance, daily symptoms screening, and body temperature. I recently had the opportunity to talk with Alok Bhargara, CEO and Co-Founder at Cambridge Blockchain (and friend I met while working out of the CiC in Cambridge) for a podcast to discuss their latest effort with Tracelinks Monitor and how they ensure trust, one of the most critical components in the social contract between consumers and providers of digital solutions.  As we all know, data is currency to many tech companies and consumers are wary. However, in the absence of sophisticated but yet-to-mature solutions for full digital privacy, Alok believes that companies must: Be open and transparent and use layman terms to describe what they do with the consumer's data Put easy and full control of their data in the hands of the consumer Provide trade-offs to the consumer – if the consumer doesn't want some data to be used by the provider of a digital service but they still want the service, they should offer them the ability to pay for that service Listen below to the full podcast and if you're an employer challenged with trying to get back to business while keeping your employees safe, happy and healthy, feel free to try their new service at https://www.tracelinks.co/monitor.

What does it take to bring a product, like a medical device, from prototype to production?  For many companies, especially startups, figuring out manufacturing and supply chain issues is a big hurdle and there are often important considerations that are overlooked if they choose to go it alone. An Electronics Manufacturing Service (EMS) can be a helpful partner, but many companies may be reluctant to outsource manufacturing because of IP or other concerns. In this podcast, brought to us by Susan Glovsky, Principal at Hamilton Brook Smith Reynolds, we meet and chat with Matthias Brem, Senior Global Program Manager (MSGP), Marketing & Sales at Zollner Elektronik AG. As a mechatronic systems service provider, Zollner supports clients across the entire value chain: from customer-specific development and design at the beginning of the product lifecycle through the sample and serial production, including supply chain management and materials management, and all the way to after-sales service. As an experienced Program Manager, Matthias knows first hand what it takes to bring a product to market. “Often a project fails not because of technical issues, but because of communication issues. A very high level of alignment and visibility for all people within the project is key to finishing a project and transferring over success.” If you’re thinking about taking a medical device (or any hardware project) from prototype to production, have a listen!

What does it take to bring a product, like a medical device, from prototype to production?  For many companies, especially startups, figuring out manufacturing and supply chain issues is a big hurdle and there are often important considerations that are overlooked if they choose to go it alone. An Electronics Manufacturing Service (EMS) can be a helpful partner, but many companies may be reluctant to outsource manufacturing because of IP or other concerns. In this podcast, brought to us by Susan Glovsky, Principal at Hamilton Brook Smith Reynolds, we meet and chat with Matthias Brem, Senior Global Program Manager (MSGP), Marketing & Sales at Zollner Elektronik AG. As a mechatronic systems service provider, Zollner supports clients across the entire value chain: from customer-specific development and design at the beginning of the product lifecycle through the sample and serial production, including supply chain management and materials management, and all the way to after-sales service. As an experienced Program Manager, Matthias knows first hand what it takes to bring a product to market. “Often a project fails not because of technical issues, but because of communication issues. A very high level of alignment and visibility for all people within the project is key to finishing a project and transferring over success.” If you're thinking about taking a medical device (or any hardware project) from prototype to production, have a listen!

Avener Halperin is a veteran high tech executive. He has served in several senior management positions including CEO of Emmunet, VP Marketing at Radcom (NASDAQ: RDCM), and VP of Business Development at Lenslet. He also led the R&D team at Eldat Communications (acquired by Pricer) and was the Department Head of an R&D Unit in the IDF Intelligence Corps where he won the Intelligence Innovation Award. He was part of EarlySense’s founding team in 2004 and served as CEO of the company until 2019. EarlySense developed breakthrough medical sensing and AI platform, that saves tens of thousands of lives every year. Originally intended to help overcome the Asthma of the co-founders' kids, EarlySense has already been used to improve the care of patients, including COVID-19 patients. In this podcast, Avner shares the exciting story of inventing and continuously pivoting a digital health startup until success is found. He also shares some takeaways on diversity, sustainability, and the future of medical AI. We were thrilled to collaborate with our friends at the MIT Enterprise Forum Israel to bring this conversation with Avner to you, moderated by Ayla Matalon. As a member of the Israeli Advisory Board of the MIT Enterprise Forum, Avner provides a fresh perspective on innovation and entrepreneurship in Israel.

Avener Halperin is a veteran high tech executive. He has served in several senior management positions including CEO of Emmunet, VP Marketing at Radcom (NASDAQ: RDCM), and VP of Business Development at Lenslet. He also led the R&D team at Eldat Communications (acquired by Pricer) and was the Department Head of an R&D Unit in the IDF Intelligence Corps where he won the Intelligence Innovation Award. He was part of EarlySense's founding team in 2004 and served as CEO of the company until 2019. EarlySense developed breakthrough medical sensing and AI platform, that saves tens of thousands of lives every year. Originally intended to help overcome the Asthma of the co-founders' kids, EarlySense has already been used to improve the care of patients, including COVID-19 patients. In this podcast, Avner shares the exciting story of inventing and continuously pivoting a digital health startup until success is found. He also shares some takeaways on diversity, sustainability, and the future of medical AI. We were thrilled to collaborate with our friends at the MIT Enterprise Forum Israel to bring this conversation with Avner to you, moderated by Ayla Matalon. As a member of the Israeli Advisory Board of the MIT Enterprise Forum, Avner provides a fresh perspective on innovation and entrepreneurship in Israel.

The best-laid plans often go awry...as they say. Today is March 23, 2020, the day we were SUPPOSED to be at the MIT Media Lab hosting 100’s of people at our annual Connected Things 2020 Conference. But instead of having a cocktail ? at the networking reception right now, I'm drinking at my kitchen table (just kidding) writing this post about our latest podcast, a quick chat I had with Mark Thirman, chair of the Connected Things Conference committee about how we plan on using this "extra time" between the original date (today) and the new date (September 14) to expand the conversation around the conference theme of IoT, AI, and ML as it relates to our new reality in the time of COVID-19. Mark and I are so thankful for our panelists, volunteers, keynotes Jonathan Ballon, Vice President, Internet of Things Group, Intel, Michael Ellenbogen, Founder & Head of Advanced Technology, Evolv Technology, Dr. Shane Rooney, Executive Director, IoT Networks, GSMA, and Gabi Zijderveld, Chief Marketing Officer, Affectiva our sponsors and partners, American Tower, Davis Malm, Nutter, Verizon, Very, ISM Connect, the Industrial Internet Consortium, and AWS...who are all still joining us for the rescheduled September 14 event. We look forward to raising a glass with everyone when we can see you in person, but right now, we hope you're all staying healthy (and sane) and we look forward to continuing the Connected Things conversation with you digitally for now!

The best-laid plans often go awry...as they say. Today is March 23, 2020, the day we were SUPPOSED to be at the MIT Media Lab hosting 100's of people at our annual Connected Things 2020 Conference. But instead of having a cocktail ? at the networking reception right now, I'm drinking at my kitchen table (just kidding) writing this post about our latest podcast, a quick chat I had with Mark Thirman, chair of the Connected Things Conference committee about how we plan on using this "extra time" between the original date (today) and the new date (September 14) to expand the conversation around the conference theme of IoT, AI, and ML as it relates to our new reality in the time of COVID-19. Mark and I are so thankful for our panelists, volunteers, keynotes Jonathan Ballon, Vice President, Internet of Things Group, Intel, Michael Ellenbogen, Founder & Head of Advanced Technology, Evolv Technology, Dr. Shane Rooney, Executive Director, IoT Networks, GSMA, and Gabi Zijderveld, Chief Marketing Officer, Affectiva our sponsors and partners, American Tower, Davis Malm, Nutter, Verizon, Very, ISM Connect, the Industrial Internet Consortium, and AWS...who are all still joining us for the rescheduled September 14 event. We look forward to raising a glass with everyone when we can see you in person, but right now, we hope you're all staying healthy (and sane) and we look forward to continuing the Connected Things conversation with you digitally for now!

Evolv Technology adds a layer of physical security for venues using connected AI and edge processing methods. In this Connected Things 2020 preview podcast, we chat with Michael Ellenbogen, Founder & Head of Advanced Technology, Evolv Technology, about safety as a basic human right. Evolv’s vision is to create a layer of unobtrusive physical security to keep the “bad guys” out of public places without slowing people down. As Mike put it, keeping people safe “at the pace of life.” In keeping with our "insight-driven computing" conference theme, Evolv leverages connectivity, processing at the edge, analytics and a variety of sensors to collect and immediately process tons of data. “At one level, I don’t want parents to worry about their kids when they drop them off at a concert or ballgame.” We are very excited about Mike’s Fireside Chat (and Evolv's live demo) on March 23!

Evolv Technology adds a layer of physical security for venues using connected AI and edge processing methods. In this Connected Things 2020 preview podcast, we chat with Michael Ellenbogen, Founder & Head of Advanced Technology, Evolv Technology, about safety as a basic human right. Evolv's vision is to create a layer of unobtrusive physical security to keep the “bad guys” out of public places without slowing people down. As Mike put it, keeping people safe “at the pace of life.” In keeping with our "insight-driven computing" conference theme, Evolv leverages connectivity, processing at the edge, analytics and a variety of sensors to collect and immediately process tons of data. “At one level, I don't want parents to worry about their kids when they drop them off at a concert or ballgame.” We are very excited about Mike's Fireside Chat (and Evolv's live demo) on March 23!

Very offers end-to-end IoT development that helps Enterprise/Industrial and Consumer brands bring IoT solutions to life. In this podcast interview, Mark Thirman, MIT Enterprise Forum Cambridge's Connected Things 2020 Conference chair chats will Bill Brock, VP of Engineering at Very about trends he's observed from use cases in real-life IoT deployments that combine three or four of their custom pillars: software, hardware, data science, and design. Bill and his team have observed that in Industrial applications, the high impact engagements they have are where an established industry player, like a manufacturer of manufacturing equipment, wants to innovate in order to offer their customers insights into machine health, anomaly detection, preventative maintenance; essentially aggregate performance metrics for how well their machine is performing in their factory. On the Consumer IoT side, Bill mentions that building the entire system is a big investment and it can be risky, especially for a new entrepreneur. The best engagements on that end are where they have a customer that is “rock solid” on the hardware side. “The idea of ‘isn’t there an app for that?’ gets very different when it’s ‘isn’t there an app for that?’ and there is a connected piece to it.” We are grateful for Very’s sponsorship of Connected Things 2 years running and we are excited to see them again on March 23!

Very offers end-to-end IoT development that helps Enterprise/Industrial and Consumer brands bring IoT solutions to life. In this podcast interview, Mark Thirman, MIT Enterprise Forum Cambridge's Connected Things 2020 Conference chair chats will Bill Brock, VP of Engineering at Very about trends he's observed from use cases in real-life IoT deployments that combine three or four of their custom pillars: software, hardware, data science, and design. Bill and his team have observed that in Industrial applications, the high impact engagements they have are where an established industry player, like a manufacturer of manufacturing equipment, wants to innovate in order to offer their customers insights into machine health, anomaly detection, preventative maintenance; essentially aggregate performance metrics for how well their machine is performing in their factory. On the Consumer IoT side, Bill mentions that building the entire system is a big investment and it can be risky, especially for a new entrepreneur. The best engagements on that end are where they have a customer that is “rock solid” on the hardware side. “The idea of ‘isn't there an app for that?' gets very different when it's ‘isn't there an app for that?' and there is a connected piece to it.” We are grateful for Very's sponsorship of Connected Things 2 years running and we are excited to see them again on March 23!

Affectiva spun out of MIT Media Lab in 2009 and is on a mission to humanize technology. But what does that mean? In this podcast interview Mark Thirman, Connected Things 2020 Conference Chair chats with Affectiva’s Chief Marketing Officer (and Connected Things 2020 keynote), Gabi Zijderveld about their pioneering work in Emotion AI and Human Perception AI. The Boston-based company is currently focused on two industry verticals: Media and Automotive, because as Gabi, a technology veteran, points out “As a small company, you can’t go after every market – you have to be focused.” Given that Automotive is one of the largest verticals for IoT, it’s definitely a great place to choose as a beachhead market and Affectiva is doing fascinating work leveraging in-cabin cameras as sensors to provide driver state and occupant experience monitoring. But Automotive is likely just the tip of the iceberg - there are many other use cases such as in Healthcare and Education, and Gabi hints she'll share more about those use cases during her keynote on the 23rd...

Affectiva spun out of MIT Media Lab in 2009 and is on a mission to humanize technology. But what does that mean? In this podcast interview Mark Thirman, Connected Things 2020 Conference Chair chats with Affectiva's Chief Marketing Officer (and Connected Things 2020 keynote), Gabi Zijderveld about their pioneering work in Emotion AI and Human Perception AI. The Boston-based company is currently focused on two industry verticals: Media and Automotive, because as Gabi, a technology veteran, points out “As a small company, you can't go after every market – you have to be focused.” Given that Automotive is one of the largest verticals for IoT, it's definitely a great place to choose as a beachhead market and Affectiva is doing fascinating work leveraging in-cabin cameras as sensors to provide driver state and occupant experience monitoring. But Automotive is likely just the tip of the iceberg - there are many other use cases such as in Healthcare and Education, and Gabi hints she'll share more about those use cases during her keynote on the 23rd...

Sam Edelstein serves as the City of Syracuse's first Chief Data Officer. During his time in the position, he has been responsible for the development and implementation of the City's first Open Data Policy, Data Privacy Policy, and Open Data Portal - DataCuse. The City of Syracuse uses data to inform decision making and engage the community - including predicting water main break risk, likelihood illegally parked cars will block snow plows and emergency vehicles, and several hackathons that aimed to resolve real challenges the city faced. In this Connected Things 2019 podcast, Conference Chair, Mark Thirman, and Sam discuss how cities leverage technology and data to address the needs of citizens. Listening to this podcast will inform you on IoT technology the City of Syracuse has implemented in order to make informed decisions about city operations from collected data, including street lighting, municipal parking, traffic lights, and water levels. This podcast was produced on March 13th, 2019 before the Connected Things 2019 conference.

Sam Edelstein serves as the City of Syracuse's first Chief Data Officer. During his time in the position, he has been responsible for the development and implementation of the City's first Open Data Policy, Data Privacy Policy, and Open Data Portal - DataCuse. The City of Syracuse uses data to inform decision making and engage the community - including predicting water main break risk, likelihood illegally parked cars will block snow plows and emergency vehicles, and several hackathons that aimed to resolve real challenges the city faced. In this Connected Things 2019 podcast, Conference Chair, Mark Thirman, and Sam discuss how cities leverage technology and data to address the needs of citizens. Listening to this podcast will inform you on IoT technology the City of Syracuse has implemented in order to make informed decisions about city operations from collected data, including street lighting, municipal parking, traffic lights, and water levels. This podcast was produced on March 13th, 2019 before the Connected Things 2019 conference.

Bernardo Rodriguez is the Chief Digital Officer at J.D. Power, responsible for advancing J.D. Power’s digital transformation by leading new product development, branding, marketing and mergers and acquisitions. His focus has been connected cars, IoT, and AI in order to provide customers with real insight on the experience of autonomous cars. In this Connected Things 2019 podcast, Conference Chair, Mark Thirman, and Bernardo discuss how cars behave and the role of J.D Power in understanding AI-driven vehicles. Listening to this podcast will let you in on how a consumer-goods company is addressing new applications of IoT within the car industry. This podcast was produced on March 15th, 2019 before the Connected Things 2019 conference.

Bernardo Rodriguez is the Chief Digital Officer at J.D. Power, responsible for advancing J.D. Power's digital transformation by leading new product development, branding, marketing and mergers and acquisitions. His focus has been connected cars, IoT, and AI in order to provide customers with real insight on the experience of autonomous cars. In this Connected Things 2019 podcast, Conference Chair, Mark Thirman, and Bernardo discuss how cars behave and the role of J.D Power in understanding AI-driven vehicles. Listening to this podcast will let you in on how a consumer-goods company is addressing new applications of IoT within the car industry. This podcast was produced on March 15th, 2019 before the Connected Things 2019 conference.

As Co-Founder and VP of Solutions Architecture at Very Possible, an IoT build-shop based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Tyler Jenks works with prospective clients to take products to the next level, including your local brew. In 2011, Tyler co-founded Very after becoming frustrated with the status quo of product development. In this Connected Things 2019 podcast, Conference Chair, Mark Thirman, and Tyler discuss a connected bar Very designed and implemented for a former client and all the value it brought to bar-management and customer experience. Listening to this podcast will let you in on a new application for IoT, within the restaurant or remote-bar industry. This podcast was produced on March 6th, 2019 before the Connected Things 2019 conference.

As Co-Founder and VP of Solutions Architecture at Very Possible, an IoT build-shop based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Tyler Jenks works with prospective clients to take products to the next level, including your local brew. In 2011, Tyler co-founded Very after becoming frustrated with the status quo of product development. In this Connected Things 2019 podcast, Conference Chair, Mark Thirman, and Tyler discuss a connected bar Very designed and implemented for a former client and all the value it brought to bar-management and customer experience. Listening to this podcast will let you in on a new application for IoT, within the restaurant or remote-bar industry. This podcast was produced on March 6th, 2019 before the Connected Things 2019 conference.

Pascale Witz has been a key leader of GE Healthcare during a 17-year career with the company, where she led a variety of businesses in Medical Equipment and Diagnostics before becoming the CEO of its acquired pharmaceutical business. As the leader of several businesses in a company driven by results and efficiency, she led multiple organizational changes. In this Connected Things 2019 keynote preview podcast, conference Chair, Mark Thirman, and Pascale discuss the applications for IoT in disease monitoring. They cover home-collection of biomarkers for people with diabetes, the potential for smart speakers (Amazon's Alexa) to act as sensors in health monitoring, and even ingestible sensors. "You can actually learn yourself where you have your ups and downs depending on what you have done... For a disease that is so linked to individual and daily fluctuations, it's important to have a lot more data points, and so the technology actually makes it possible." Listening to this podcast will help you gain an understanding of IoT's role in medical technologies, chronic disease monitoring, and the emergent use-cases in sleep apnea, diabetes, pulmonary diseases, and Parkinson's.

Pascale Witz has been a key leader of GE Healthcare during a 17-year career with the company, where she led a variety of businesses in Medical Equipment and Diagnostics before becoming the CEO of its acquired pharmaceutical business. As the leader of several businesses in a company driven by results and efficiency, she led multiple organizational changes. In this Connected Things 2019 keynote preview podcast, conference Chair, Mark Thirman, and Pascale discuss the applications for IoT in disease monitoring. They cover home-collection of biomarkers for people with diabetes, the potential for smart speakers (Amazon's Alexa) to act as sensors in health monitoring, and even ingestible sensors. "You can actually learn yourself where you have your ups and downs depending on what you have done... For a disease that is so linked to individual and daily fluctuations, it's important to have a lot more data points, and so the technology actually makes it possible." Listening to this podcast will help you gain an understanding of IoT's role in medical technologies, chronic disease monitoring, and the emergent use-cases in sleep apnea, diabetes, pulmonary diseases, and Parkinson's.

Joel Bagnal is the President and Chief Operating Officer of Vericlave, Inc., a cybersecurity company focused on offering customers a highly differentiated national security grade solution that conceals networks and prevents hacks against critical assets. Joel is no stranger to difficult scenarios. On 9/11, he was in the Pentagon just a few offices away from the airplane’s impact. Shortly thereafter, he was in the Oval Office with the President serving as a Senior Advisor where he developed the nation’s first security policy to secure government networks and commercial critical infrastructure. In this Connected Things 2019 keynote preview podcast, conference Chair Mark Thirman, and Joel discuss the other definition of “disruption,” including the challenges of adding billions of connected things to networks and the importance of a systems approach to IoT security with a "hardware root of trust." "Here we are in January 2019 and although we've made some incremental improvement in cybersecurity, both on the government side and the commercial side, 2018 represented the most challenging year ever in terms of successful cyber hacks we've had in computing history." Listening to this podcast will help you gain an understanding of what needs to be done to secure the devices and networks for the future growth of IoT.

Joel Bagnal is the President and Chief Operating Officer of Vericlave, Inc., a cybersecurity company focused on offering customers a highly differentiated national security grade solution that conceals networks and prevents hacks against critical assets. Joel is no stranger to difficult scenarios. On 9/11, he was in the Pentagon just a few offices away from the airplane's impact. Shortly thereafter, he was in the Oval Office with the President serving as a Senior Advisor where he developed the nation's first security policy to secure government networks and commercial critical infrastructure. In this Connected Things 2019 keynote preview podcast, conference Chair Mark Thirman, and Joel discuss the other definition of “disruption,” including the challenges of adding billions of connected things to networks and the importance of a systems approach to IoT security with a "hardware root of trust." "Here we are in January 2019 and although we've made some incremental improvement in cybersecurity, both on the government side and the commercial side, 2018 represented the most challenging year ever in terms of successful cyber hacks we've had in computing history." Listening to this podcast will help you gain an understanding of what needs to be done to secure the devices and networks for the future growth of IoT.

This week, hundreds of thousands of technology fanatics have made their annual pilgrimage to Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Upon entering the convention center, visitors were greeted by huge TVs. Little do many of these folks know, those TVs may actually be Internet of Things (IoT) devices. In this Connected Things 2019 (happening March 25th) preview podcast, conference Chair Mark Thirman chats with conference Keynote Bill Baxter, the CTO of VIZIO. Vizio was at this year's CES after a long (in tech time) hiatus announcing "its plans to integrate Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, and the Google Assistant with its lineup of SmartCast televisions." Bill and Mark dive into a number of topics in this podcast including: Will your TV be watching you while you watch it? (hint: the short answer is no) How does adding IoT capabilities make customer support better? How is data privacy handled? We're excited to have Bill join us at the MIT Media Lab on March 25th! For those interested in hearing (and meeting him) in person, registration (at early discounts) is open now.

This week, hundreds of thousands of technology fanatics have made their annual pilgrimage to Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Upon entering the convention center, visitors were greeted by huge TVs. Little do many of these folks know, those TVs may actually be Internet of Things (IoT) devices. In this Connected Things 2019 (happening March 25th) preview podcast, conference Chair Mark Thirman chats with conference Keynote Bill Baxter, the CTO of VIZIO. Vizio was at this year's CES after a long (in tech time) hiatus announcing "its plans to integrate Apple's Siri, Amazon's Alexa, and the Google Assistant with its lineup of SmartCast televisions." Bill and Mark dive into a number of topics in this podcast including: Will your TV be watching you while you watch it? (hint: the short answer is no) How does adding IoT capabilities make customer support better? How is data privacy handled? We're excited to have Bill join us at the MIT Media Lab on March 25th! For those interested in hearing (and meeting him) in person, registration (at early discounts) is open now.

As part of our 40th-anniversary celebration, we're catching up with successful entrepreneurs who have a #MITEFStory and asking them about the past, present, and future both for them and for the MIT Enterprise Forum. Terry Hsiao is a serial entrepreneur, advisor, and investor.  His latest startup, Hook Mobile, a mobile cloud messaging services provider that innovated in the area of virtual local numbers was acquired by Kalerya in August 2018. Al Mink, Managing Director at Systems Spirit and former Board Member at MIT Enterprise Forum Washington DC & Baltimore caught up with Terry about his involvement in the MIT Enterprise Forum, how he got his company InphoMatch-Mobile 365 (acquired by Sybase) funded, the use cases for Hook Mobile (turns out in Hollywood, some folks didn't want their real mobile numbers used by Uber) and his thoughts on the entrepreneur ecosystem today vs the early 2000s. "The term sheet and the VC world used to be a black box. Nobody would explain to you what these terms meant. Nowadays, with everything being on the internet, everything is transparent. The investors no longer have these advantages - they lose the ability to screw the entrepreneurs. That's really progress." Many thanks to Terry for telling his #MITEFStory and giving us some food for thought on the MIT Enterprise Forum as an organization and to Al for facilitating this great interview.

As part of our 40th-anniversary celebration, we're catching up with successful entrepreneurs who have a #MITEFStory and asking them about the past, present, and future both for them and for the MIT Enterprise Forum. Terry Hsiao is a serial entrepreneur, advisor, and investor.  His latest startup, Hook Mobile, a mobile cloud messaging services provider that innovated in the area of virtual local numbers was acquired by Kalerya in August 2018. Al Mink, Managing Director at Systems Spirit and former Board Member at MIT Enterprise Forum Washington DC & Baltimore caught up with Terry about his involvement in the MIT Enterprise Forum, how he got his company InphoMatch-Mobile 365 (acquired by Sybase) funded, the use cases for Hook Mobile (turns out in Hollywood, some folks didn't want their real mobile numbers used by Uber) and his thoughts on the entrepreneur ecosystem today vs the early 2000s. "The term sheet and the VC world used to be a black box. Nobody would explain to you what these terms meant. Nowadays, with everything being on the internet, everything is transparent. The investors no longer have these advantages - they lose the ability to screw the entrepreneurs. That's really progress." Many thanks to Terry for telling his #MITEFStory and giving us some food for thought on the MIT Enterprise Forum as an organization and to Al for facilitating this great interview.

Since 2009, MindSea has developed hundreds of mobile applications for startups, news media giants, and nearly everything in between. Using their strategic expertise, they guide companies in planning, launching and growing their mobile offering to a widespread audience. Recognized for their applications’ outstanding user experience, as well as their exceptional client service, this Canadian team is developing B2C mobile apps for just about every industry. You can meet the team in person at our upcoming Startup Spotlight event at District Hall on June 12. They’ll be exhibiting along with 35+ other startups. Podcast Participants Bill Wilson, Founder & CEO of MindSea Greg Veinott, Marketing Advisor, Nova Scotia Business Inc.

Since 2009, MindSea has developed hundreds of mobile applications for startups, news media giants, and nearly everything in between. Using their strategic expertise, they guide companies in planning, launching and growing their mobile offering to a widespread audience. Recognized for their applications' outstanding user experience, as well as their exceptional client service, this Canadian team is developing B2C mobile apps for just about every industry. You can meet the team in person at our upcoming Startup Spotlight event at District Hall on June 12. They'll be exhibiting along with 35+ other startups. Podcast Participants Bill Wilson, Founder & CEO of MindSea Greg Veinott, Marketing Advisor, Nova Scotia Business Inc.

Developed by Boondoc Technologies, The Rounds provides physicians with a free, secure, online platform to collaborate and connect in real-time with colleagues across the country. Providing members with access to thousands of journal articles, posts, as well as clinical queries from colleagues, and insights and research from subject matter experts, The Rounds is reinventing how healthcare professionals collaborate and communicate. You can meet the team in person at our upcoming Startup Spotlight event at District Hall on June 12. They'll be exhibiting along with 35+ other startups. Listen to the podcast and learn how the platform makes it easier than ever before for physicians to connect, no matter their location. Podcast Participants Blair Ryan, Founder & CEO of The Rounds Tim Rice, VP, Sales Lynn Coveyduck, VP, Operations Greg Veinott, Marketing Advisor, Nova Scotia Business Inc. Laura MacDougall, Marketing Advisor, Nova Scotia Business Inc.

Developed by Boondoc Technologies, The Rounds provides physicians with a free, secure, online platform to collaborate and connect in real-time with colleagues across the country. Providing members with access to thousands of journal articles, posts, as well as clinical queries from colleagues, and insights and research from subject matter experts, The Rounds is reinventing how healthcare professionals collaborate and communicate. You can meet the team in person at our upcoming Startup Spotlight event at District Hall on June 12. They'll be exhibiting along with 35+ other startups. Listen to the podcast and learn how the platform makes it easier than ever before for physicians to connect, no matter their location. Podcast Participants Blair Ryan, Founder & CEO of The Rounds Tim Rice, VP, Sales Lynn Coveyduck, VP, Operations Greg Veinott, Marketing Advisor, Nova Scotia Business Inc. Laura MacDougall, Marketing Advisor, Nova Scotia Business Inc.

4Deep In-water Imaging is making waves in the world of 3D imaging. Developing patented holographic and fluorescence technology, the company from Nova Scotia, Canada is creating powerful microscopes that are not only faster and more precise than others on the market but are also incredibly versatile. You can meet the team in person at our upcoming Startup Spotlight event at District Hall on June 12. They'll be exhibiting along with 35+ other startups. In the meantime, have a listen to this podcast where the team shares the exciting and innovative solutions they are discovering for a broad range of applications, from oceanography and municipal water to aquaculture and the wine industry. Podcast Participants Dr. Stephen Jones, Chief Executive Officer, 4Deep In-water Imaging Candace Smith, Research Scientist Greg Veinott, Marketing Advisor, Nova Scotia Business Inc. Laura MacDougall, Marketing Advisor, Nova Scotia Business Inc.

4Deep In-water Imaging is making waves in the world of 3D imaging. Developing patented holographic and fluorescence technology, the company from Nova Scotia, Canada is creating powerful microscopes that are not only faster and more precise than others on the market but are also incredibly versatile. You can meet the team in person at our upcoming Startup Spotlight event at District Hall on June 12. They'll be exhibiting along with 35+ other startups. In the meantime, have a listen to this podcast where the team shares the exciting and innovative solutions they are discovering for a broad range of applications, from oceanography and municipal water to aquaculture and the wine industry. Podcast Participants Dr. Stephen Jones, Chief Executive Officer, 4Deep In-water Imaging Candace Smith, Research Scientist Greg Veinott, Marketing Advisor, Nova Scotia Business Inc. Laura MacDougall, Marketing Advisor, Nova Scotia Business Inc.

In this podcast, Connected Things Conference Chair Mark Thirman introduces the participants on our Point/Counterpoint, Blockchain & IoT panel. This panel was partly inspired by the vintage SNL skit with Dan Aykroyd and Jane Curtin coupled with the deluge of interest in the notion of Blockchain and IoT combined in some fashion. Frank Gillette, VP, and Principal Analyst, Forrester Research will moderate the panel with Thomas Hardjono, CTO, MIT Connection Science and Engineering and Andrew Stahl, SVP Business Innovation, LoB Digital Assets & Internet of Things (IoT), SAP. Frank and the panelists spoke about the realities and applications of blockchain in the context of IoT; is this a case of throwing two hype-curve technologies together? Has the Future arrived by adding blockchain into the IoT mix? Lastly, the group commented on the notion of governance and referenced some research by the Oxford Internet Institute.  If the podcast is any indicator, this panel along with the tradition of robust attendee participation will be an excellent end to an interesting day on April 5th at the Media Lab.  

In this podcast with Steven Martin, Chief Digital Officer of GE Power, we get a preview of a few themes that will emerge in his keynote at the event on April 5th. Connected Things Conference Chair, Mark Thirman, spoke with Steve about key GE Power initiatives including; securing the grid, as GE is an active player in this realm. In light of the conference theme, “The Future Arrives,” they discussed GE’s use of machine learning and Digital Twin modeling to predict electric load usage.  Interestingly, the adoption of solar and battery technology has propelled GE Power to look at the issue of peer-to-peer networking of solar, stored,  and conventional power generation. Lastly, Mark and Steve talked about GE Power’s view of blockchain—this topic will also be the subject of a new point-counterpoint panel at Connected Things.  

In this podcast we talk with Eric Wetjen, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Natick, Massachusetts-based The MathWorks, one of the world’s leading makers of mathematical computing software. The company’s long heritage in areas like embedded computing and predictive maintenance, as well as its broad focus across industries — everything from industrial automation, to smart cities, to healthcare, and even financial engineering — gives it an especially authentic voice when addressing many of the issues that have both spurred and challenged the growth and development of the Internet of Things across so many different and diverse markets. The podcast was recorded in advance of our Connected Things 2018 conference, taking place April 5th at the MIT Media Lab.

In this podcast we talk with Eric Wetjen, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Natick, Massachusetts-based The MathWorks, one of the world's leading makers of mathematical computing software. The company's long heritage in areas like embedded computing and predictive maintenance, as well as its broad focus across industries — everything from industrial automation, to smart cities, to healthcare, and even financial engineering — gives it an especially authentic voice when addressing many of the issues that have both spurred and challenged the growth and development of the Internet of Things across so many different and diverse markets. The podcast was recorded in advance of our Connected Things 2018 conference, taking place April 5th at the MIT Media Lab.

Many would argue that the only effective way to gain value at scale from the massive amounts of data the Internet of Things generates is with cloud computing. But what cannot be argued is the position Amazon Web Services holds as a dominant player in the cloud. So what is the AWS take on the Internet of Things? In this podcast, Vice President of IoT at Amazon Web Services, Dirk Didascalou, discusses the company’s many and varied IoT initiatives, including Greengrass, which is software that lets customers run local compute, messaging and data caching for connected devices securely, even when not connected to the Internet. Dirk is also one of the keynote speakers at Connected Things 2018, April 5th, at the MIT Media Lab. As you’ll hear in this conversation with Mark Thirman, the Connected Things 2018 Conference Chair, IoT is a major focus at AWS. And it’s also clear, listening to Dirk, just how sweeping that focus is.

Many would argue that the only effective way to gain value at scale from the massive amounts of data the Internet of Things generates is with cloud computing. But what cannot be argued is the position Amazon Web Services holds as a dominant player in the cloud. So what is the AWS take on the Internet of Things? In this podcast, Vice President of IoT at Amazon Web Services, Dirk Didascalou, discusses the company's many and varied IoT initiatives, including Greengrass, which is software that lets customers run local compute, messaging and data caching for connected devices securely, even when not connected to the Internet. Dirk is also one of the keynote speakers at Connected Things 2018, April 5th, at the MIT Media Lab. As you'll hear in this conversation with Mark Thirman, the Connected Things 2018 Conference Chair, IoT is a major focus at AWS. And it's also clear, listening to Dirk, just how sweeping that focus is.

Woody Hartman is VP of Operations at Lyft. As the person responsible for taking Lyft’s operations from those of a startup to those of a growth company, he offers special insights into some of the challenges — and ways to overcome them — that startups face that either must grow fast or will die young. He also brings a unique perspective on such topical issues as the future of work, the gig economy, and the impact of autonomous vehicles — not to mention how to successfully position a young company against a well-established competitor with a lot more name recognition — a feat that Lyft has somehow managed to pull off in just a few short years. So we were especially excited to chat with Woody for this, our 94th MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge podcast.