MADISON – David Krakauer, the first permanent director of the Wisconsin
Institute for Discovery, will speak at the Wisconsin Tech
Summit
, to be held April 7 at the GE Healthcare Institute in Waukesha, Wis.

The Tech Summit, produced by the
Wisconsin Technology Council, is based on the assumption that large and small
companies travel in different “orbits,” even if they’re in the same business
sectors, and rarely collide except by chance. The summit will include a series of brief meetings, similar to a “speed-dating” exercise to foster possible
partnerships.

 

Participating major companies thus far
are American Family Insurance, AT&T, Aurora Healthcare, Faith Technologies,
GE Healthcare, HP Enterprise Services, IBM, Johnson Controls Inc., Kraft Foods,
Plexus, Rockwell Automation, Runzheimer International and TASC (Total
Administrative Services Corp).

 

More information on the day-long event,
including the application process for emerging companies, can be found at www.wistechsummit.com. Attendance is limited to representatives of participating major companies,
selected emerging companies and event sponsors.  

Krakauer’s
presentation during the April 7 luncheon will focus on “The Open
Generation: Open data, open science, open universities and reflections on the
future of the open state.”

Krakauer views the Institute as an experimental
“greenhouse” that nourishes hybrid approaches to science, new disciplines and
unexpected partnerships. Also a professor of genetics at UW–Madison, he
co-directs the Center for
Complexity and Collective Computation at the Institute and serves as an
external professor at the Santa Fe Institute. A graduate of the University of
London and Oxford University, he became a Wellcome Research Fellow in
mathematical biology and lecturer at Pembroke College. Krakauer served as a
visiting professor at Princeton University and later became faculty chair at
the Santa Fe Institute in 2009.

 

Krakauer has authored and been featured in numerous
mainstream articles, podcasts and videos. His unorthodox but rigorous approach
to science and collaboration earned him a spot on Wired UK’s 2012 Smart
List as one of 50 people “who
will change the world.”

 

Emerging companies can apply to participate in the Tech Summit at www.wistechsummit.com. The deadline
is Monday, Feb. 24. A selection
process involving major companies and the Tech Council will follow. Selected
companies may meet with more than one company, depending on mutual interest.

 

There is no cost to apply. If
selected, a company registration fee will be charged. Major registration
discounts will be available at that time for all Wisconsin Innovation Network members.

 

The “speed dating” meetings on April 7
will run about 15 minutes each. Other features of the event will include:

  • “Office
    Hours” meetings and presentations, which will be available to all
    participants during those times in which they are not scheduled for
    individual meetings.
  • Addresses
    by major speakers who will bring perspectives that will be helpful for
    major companies as well as emerging firms.
  • An
    opening panel discussion that will help set the stage by affording major
    companies an opportunity to talk generally about their goals, needs and
    emerging markets.

Sponsors thus far include American Family
Insurance, Baird Capital, BloodCenter of Wisconsin, BMO Harris Bank, GE
Healthcare, HP Enterprise Services, Madison Gas & Electric, The Milwaukee
Institute, Mortenson Construction, Rockwell Automation, UW-Madison Office of
Corporate Relations, UW-Milwaukee, Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. and
Wisconsin Health and Education Facilities Authority.

Visit www.wistechsummit.com for more information on the event, the application
process and sponsorship opportunities.