MIT’s Enterprise Forum Welcomes Ray Kurzweil

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Cambridge and innovation go hand in hand.  Next week on Wednesday evening, MIT is hosting a discussion about innovation at it’s well-known Enterprise Forum.  The presentation is called The Democratization of Innovation A Conversation with Ray Kurzweil.  Also participating will be Bill Warner and Simeon Simeonov.

Understanding the evolution of technology and how it impacts business today and in the future are fundamental to staying ahead not just in business but as a country.  The internet for example is famous for creating but is almost as famous for destroying industries.  Understanding the process of how the unprecedented adoption of new technologies affects existing businesses and creates new ones would help alleviate bumps in the road brought about by the disruption that new technologies can bring.

An industry that comes to mind is publishing which even now is dealing with movement from print to ebooks and wide book availability via companies like Google.  What new models can be worked out so that everyone wins or that at least the transition isn’t unbearable?  These are the types of questions that can be asked and discussed at the MIT Enterprise Forum.

Ray Kurzweil , a graduate of MIT, is a well known inventor and “futurist”.  He is known for developments in text to speech, OCR and speech recognition.  I am sure I have missed some of his other contributions.  He is also an author who has written fiction and non-fiction books on futuristic topics.

Following Ray’s keynote presentation, we will go deep with Ray on topics ranging from forecasting technology shifts and timing markets to practical techniques for fostering market-focused innovation to understanding the different roles of the individual entrepreneur vs. the team in venture creation. Iconic entrepreneur and angel investor Bill Warner, founder of Avid Technology, Wildfire Communications, and Warner Research will join the conversation.

Th MIT forum presents these types of series regularly.  The entrepreneurial focused forum is open to non-members for slightly higher rates per presentation but is open to students of all universities for free with ID.  If you are an aspiring entrepreneur or business in Massachusetts, that likes to keep ahead of the curve in technology membership is pretty reasonable.

The MIT Enterprise Media Forum‘s mission is:

The MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge is a volunteer, non-profit organization based at MIT whose mission is to promote and strengthen the process of starting and growing innovative and technology-oriented companies by providing services and programs that educate, inform, and support the entrepreneurial community.

With special interest groups (SIG) in areas like Energy, Games, Software, RFID and Digital Media you are sure to find inspiration and help for your start up or for your companies next big innovation.