Phil Simon – Phil Simon: The Human Side of Big Data: Big Implications for the Individual

Residents in Boston, Massachusetts are automatically reporting potholes and road hazards via their smartphones. Progressive Insurance tracks real-time customer driving patterns and uses that information to offer rates truly commensurate with individual safety. Google accurately predicts local flu outbreaks based upon thousands of user search queries. Amazon provides remarkably insightful, relevant, and timely product recommendations to its hundreds of millions of customers. Quantcast lets companies target precise audiences and key demographics throughout the Web. NASA runs contests via gamification site TopCoder, awarding prizes to those with the most innovative and cost-effective solutions to its problems. Explorys offers penetrating and previously unknown insights into healthcare behavior.

How do these organizations and municipalities do it? Technology is certainly a big part, but in each case the answer lies deeper than that. Individuals at these organizations have realized that they don’t have to be Nate Silver to reap massive benefits from today’s new and emerging types of data. And each of these organizations has embraced Big Data, allowing them to make astute and otherwise impossible observations, actions, and predictions.

We know that Big Data is a big deal, but what are the human implications of it? How will we react when Big Data proves that we don’t know nearly as much as we think we do? Big Data is changing the nature of work; no longer can executives merely rely upon standard reports and dashboards. What happens when we constantly have to adjust our models to incorporate new data–and new forms of data?

Jessie D’Amato Ford – American Competitiveness: The Future of STEM Education

The world economy is truly global. No longer will a high-school or college graduate only compete with a relatively few number of individuals as they attempt to advance their careers. So how do we ensure our graduates are best equipped to succeed in this global economy? The key is STEM Education, the driver is Crowdsourcing and Open Innovation challenges and the result is an American workforce ready for the competitive labor landscape of the future. Learn about STEM initiatives that are focused on delivering better outcomes for all Americans.

Karim Lakhani – The Crowd as an Innovation Partner: Lessons from NASA, Harvard Medical School and Beyond

Over the last decade crowd-based modes of organizing for innovation have established themselves firmly within the economy. Crowds are now an important innovation partner to organizations in a range scientific and commercial settings. In this talk I will discuss the four fundamental modes of organizing crowds and what types of problems are best suited to each mode. Using examples from NASA, the US Space Agency, and the Harvard Medical School, I will present evidence on important factors that determine success and performance when deploying crowds to solve innovation problems. I will also discuss the internal challenges of organizations using external innovation through crowds.

Doug Reeder – Architecture for Systemic Innovation

Doug will present an “Architecture for Systemic Innovation” which is a transformative framework and catalyst to bring greater levels of innovation to enterprises and their customers. Doug will also discuss a couple of key trends, including the “Hollywood Model” and its impact on the workplace and the larger economy.

Andy LaMora – Innovation in Modernization: Utilizing Communities and Competition to Accelerate Your Transformation

Modernization can be a harrowing term. It screams “big”, “bulky” and even “immovable”, but can your modernization efforts be approached from a radically different angle?  Join Andy LaMora of TopCoder as he details how Open Innovation competitions and the process of atomizing the workload can help you not just migrate systems, but successfully innovate during the process of modernization.

Jeff Davis – Collaboration and Open Innovation at NASA with Q&A

Jeffrey R. Davis, MD, MS, Director, Human Health and Performance, and Chief Medical Officer for the NASA Johnson Space Center will discuss: Collaboration and Open Innovation at NASA. New approaches to problem solving including open innovation prizes and results, virtual centers for collaboration, and building strategic partnerships.