The MIT Startup Exchange Lightning Talks and Startup Exhibit listed below are part of the full agenda for 2023 MIT Digital Technology and Strategy Conference.
Digital transformation is revolutionizing the way enterprises develop, produce, promote, and distribute products and services. By integrating digital technologies into their operations and processes, organizations can foster innovation, boost productivity, and unlock significant value.
AI is poised to further accelerate this transformative process by harnessing the power of large-scale data analysis. Generative AI approaches have emerged as transformative tools, unveiling novel insights that might have otherwise remained concealed in the data. This paves the way for exciting opportunities, enabling organizations to create truly distinctive products, services, and experiences.
At this conference, we will delve into the implications of Generative AI on industry, innovation, and society at large:
(*) On the first day, we will have four plenary presentations by MIT faculty, followed by lightning talks and a Startup exhibit at noon. In the afternoon, we will feature an industry panel with representatives from ILP-member companies discussing the challenges and opportunities of using generative AI and LLMs in business. (*) On the second day, we will feature a Generative AI Deep Dive in collaboration with MIT Media Lab. This will involve focused presentations, lightning talks, interactive workshops, and Media Lab demo tours.
Through stimulating discussions with esteemed academics, industry pioneers, and forward-thinking professionals, attendees will be able to explore how large language models can augment human capabilities, influence enterprise strategy, and understand the necessary controls and incentives to ensure that all sectors of society can reap the benefits of these advancements in the future.
Program Manager, MIT Startup Exchange
Ariadna Rodenstein is a Program Manager at MIT Startup Exchange. She joined MIT Corporate Relations as an Events Leader in September 2019 and is responsible for designing and executing startup events, including content development, coaching and hosting, and logistics. Ms. Rodenstein works closely with the Industrial Liaison Program (ILP) in promoting collaboration and partnerships between MIT-connected startups and industry, as well as with other areas around the MIT innovation ecosystem and beyond.
Prior to working for MIT Corporate Relations, she worked for over a decade at Credit Suisse Group in New York and London, in a few different roles in event management and as Director of Client Strategy. Ms. Rodenstein has combined her experience in the private sector with work at non-profits as a Consultant and Development Director at New York Immigration Coalition, Immigrant Defense Project, and Americas Society/Council of the Americas. She also served as an Officer on the Board of Directors of the Riverside Clay Tennis Association in New York for several years. Additionally, she earned her B.A. in Political Science and Communications from New York University, with coursework at the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey in Mexico City, and her M.A. in Sociology from the City University of New York.
Co-Founder, Wise Systems
Bio coming soon.
Founder and CEO, MontBlancAI
Markus is Founder and CEO of MontBlancAI. Their AI-powered software platform enables factories to become Smart Factories, boosting productivity and efficiency while saving costs and energy. Markus holds an PhD from MIT and has done extensive research on maturing AI from the lab to industry.
Co-Founder and CTO, Zapata AI
Yudong Cao has extensive experience in the field of quantum computing and generative AI. Serving as the co-founder and CTO of Zapata AI, he has been instrumental in developing and deploying generative AI software that offers computational advantages to enterprises globally. His educational foundation includes a PhD in Computer Science from Purdue University, equipping him with knowledge in physics, mathematical modeling, and machine learning. This background supports his work on Zapata's quantum software platform, which is designed for integration with various quantum hardware providers and cloud services. In addition to his industry contributions, Yudong has published research papers and patents on topics like quantum algorithms, error correction, and machine learning. His academic endeavors are complemented by a CTO program he recently completed at The Wharton School.
CEO, Hopara
Gant Redmon has extensive experience building and leading companies in high growth markets. Gant is CEO of Hopara.io, an data visualization and navigation company spun out of MIT. He was CEO of Cloud FastPath before its acquisition by Box, Inc. Before that was IBM through its acquisition of Resilient Systems, where he was a part of the original management team that grew the company from 6 to 165 employees. He has a deep knowledge of cloud platforms, data visualization, security, and privacy. In 1997, he was appointed membership on President Clinton’s Export Counsel Subcommittee on Encryption (PECSENC). Gant received his JD from Wake Forest University and his BA from the University of Virginia.
Founder and CEO, Covariance.AI
Dr. Michael Fleder’s MIT research forms the basis for Covariance: a machine learning startup that forecasts customers and markets with previously-impossible accuracy and depth. Michael’s work has been featured in MIT News and leading modeling conferences. Michael has extensive background in robotics (MIT, NASA/JPL), quantitative trading, and technology advising for the C-Suite at retail banks. Michael earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees from MIT.
Co-founder and CEO, CoCoPIE
Jay Liu is the Co-Founder and CEO of CoCoPIE.ai, a venture backed startup that enables real time AI on mobile and edge devices based on its breakthrough full stack optimization technology. Jay has more than two decades of cross-functional leadership experience creating and bringing disruptive technologies to the market spanning AI/ML, Cloud, SaaS, and mobile wireless, across an impressive pedigree of high-growth startups and enterprises including one IPO and five successful acquisitions.
Previously, Jay held positions as VP of Product at Zapata Computing, a Quantum AI software company and Harvard spinoff; Head of Edge AI at NanoSemi, an MIT spinoff acquired by MaxLinear; VP of Product Strategy at NS1, a provider of network automation SaaS solutions acquired by IBM; and Senior Director of Marketing Strategy at Turbonomic, an application resource management software company acquired by IBM. Earlier, as the Director of CTO and Product Management at VCE and Dell EMC, Jay led the development and execution of the company’s product and go-to-market strategy for its category-defining product portfolio, and helped the company grow its revenue six times to $3.6B. Prior to VCE, Jay led the creation of an award-winning mobile SaaS product and its GTM execution as the GM at Brightcove through its IPO, and led M&A and venture investment at Cisco’s Corporate Development Group.
Jay started his career as an engineer and has conducted research in computer vision at the National AI Lab in Tsinghua University. Jay holds an MBA from MIT, an MS in Computer Science from Harvard University, and a patent in cloud computing.
Co-founder and CTO, TechNext
Anuraag is a Co-founder and the Chief Technology Officer of TechNext, which helps organizations manage R&D and technology investment using AI. TechNext is executing contracts worth more than $2.5 million with the United States Air Force, VCs, Think-tanks and MNCs such as Mitsubishi, Konica Minolta, Valqua, to help identify promising technologies, talent and startups, anticipate disruptions and improve R&D efficiency. TechNext is the universal technology operating system for an organization, shaping how it comprehends, manages, creates and uses technology.
Anuraag Singh, was recently one of the Global Call winners for the Falling Walls Prize in Science and Innovation Management. TechNext research has been covered in WSJ, Financial Times, Fast Company among others.
During his graduate studies at MIT, Anuraag was a Fellow, at the MIT System Design and Management program. He also held concurrent research assistantships with the MIT Work of the Future Task Force and the MIT International Design Center. He designed and developed a first of its kind technology search portal used by thousands of researchers (6000+) all over the world. He has researched the impact of new technologies on jobs and employment at MIT Work of the Future Task Force and helped inform Government of India science funding policy through innovation systems research. Prior to joining MIT, he worked for Honda R&D Japan in Tokyo at Think Lab where his team reported directly to the Honda R&D top management and was responsible for creating long-term innovation strategy for the Honda R&D organization.
Founder and CEO, serviceMob
Anuj Bhalla is an entrepreneur, data scientist, MIT Sloan Fellow, and blue-chip consultant with more than 15 years of experience consulting the customer service industry. Anuj led the Service Analytics practice at Accenture where he worked with some of the largest companies in the world. Being a graduate of UC Berkeley with a Bachelor's in Applied Mathematics, Anuj is a data scientist and mathematician at heart. Before founding serviceMob, Anuj graduated from MIT Sloan with an MBA as a Sloan Fellow, with an emphasis on Innovation & Entrepreneurship and Data Analytics. Anuj was featured in Entrepreneur magazine, Forbes, and was recognized by top-tier programs and accelerators such as MIT STEX25, Stanford StartX, and Mucker Lab. Anuj brings his decades of industry and technology experience to serviceMob where he is redefining the world of customer service and is making all of our service experiences better as a result.
Machine Learning Engineer, Cleanlab
Chen Lu is an engineer and mathematician. He is a machine learning engineer at Cleanlab, which provides SaaS and open-source technologies to 100+ of the top Fortune-500 companies that automatically increase the dollar value of every datapoint in most datasets by adding intelligent meta-data to boost revenue/performance of analytics/AI solutions. He holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics from MIT, where he worked on the theoretical foundations of generative AI.
Data Scientist, Einblick
Paul Yang is part of the Einblick team, developing a visual & collaborative platform for data science. In current and prior roles, he also partnered directly with organizations to understand how best to make data science faster and more accessible. Ask him about building product analytics from scratch or how machine learning models should be as easy to make as bar charts.
Startup at Lunch Exhibit Only
Disclaimer: MIT Startup Exchange can make introductions that ideally provide open ended discussions in order to share mutual interests and potentially create common ground that incite the parties to collaborate. MIT Startup Exchange introductions may eventually lead to mutual partnerships, but that is not in any way guaranteed by MIT, MIT Corporate Relations, MIT Industrial Liaison Program (ILP) or MIT Startup Exchange, which takes no responsibility for these outcomes and no formal part in such discussions following our introduction. MIT Startup Exchange and its activities and events are not for purposes of soliciting investment or offering securities.