The Collision Conference brings together leading technology companies and top media including 35,562 attendees, 1557 startups and 793 investors. It is a place we want our technology represented. This year our COO Ian Gauger and Senior Optical Engineer John Bowron attended. Here are some highlights.
What was the best thing about attending Collision?
Getting a sneak peak into the future is always exciting. I got access to companies developing the products and technology we will use tomorrow. The range of speakers was inspiring ranging from food production ( Irving Fain, Founder Bowery Farming) to climate issues ( Peter Koerte, Chief Strategy Officer Siemens) to your own personal narrative (Ann Curry). Innovation can be lonely, it was great to connect with so many other people making their dent in ways that have not yet be done before.
Who were the three most interesting people you met and why?
Amazing that out of 35,562 attendees I organically ran into our fellow Genius NY cohort Car Scanner Chief of Staff Izabela Strata. Car Scanner’s technology and use of artificial intelligence is so cool and really revolutionizing both the used car and car rental markets.
Lydia Sayeau, CEO of 360Lab Inc., sought me out the last day of the conference. I look forward to collaborating or partnering with 360 Labs in the near future as what they are doing with 180° & 360° fields-of-view content in immersive storytelling is remarkable.
Walter Harrison, CEO of Tapestri, had the booth across from ours. We all know that when we use our phones data is being collected and sold to companies. Tapestri is an app that lets you get paid for that data. In this era of the #ownershipeconomy it makes sense that people should be able to own their data and it is exciting to see progress in this space.
What technology inspired / impressed you the most? why?
Many may not realize this but before becoming the COO of Circle Optics I received a Masters in Architecture from Rochester Institute of Technology. The technology that impressed me the most was Ratio.City. Ratio.City makes it easy to derive insights from complex geospatial data. They have software that aggregates data about all of the buildings in Toronto and feeds it into a 3D model. You can click on any building in this model and see when the building was built in addition to other relevant data. I can see this technology revolutionizing city planning as you can also get data on undeveloped sites and get immediate access on all the applicable codes and zoning protocols.
Why is it important for Circle Optics to participate?
This conference is where innovators come together to learn about what is going on and find inspiration. As much as it is about seeing all of these amazing things, it is also about being seen. We were able to demo Hydra – the world’s first truly parallax-free 360° camera. We got some incredible feedback on how our seamless 360° field-of-view capability furthers imaging technology and increases situational awareness.
