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Announcing BootstrapLabs Applied AI Insiders Series: Applied AI and Intelligent Communities – Webcast

February 4, 2020/in AI, AI News, artificial intelligence, Ben Levy, Blog, Event /by BootstrapLabs

Applied AI and Intelligent Communities

Today, startups are able to use AI to more efficiently and successfully engage, manage, and empower communities to deliver next-generation services and create new business models. From virtual hospitals managing thousands of lives in real time, to community-centric networks powering the internet of things at the edge, or more sustainable energy production and smarter consumption. Intelligent communities will no doubt be at the heart of our new digital society and AI will play a major role in accelerating this transformation.

BootstrapLabs Applied AI Insiders Series are quarterly, invite-only, networking events with thought leaders from our community sharing their latest insights and real-world applications of Artificial Intelligence across industries in which we invest. The fourth Industrial Revolution is already creating billions of dollars in opportunities and will impact people, corporations, and society in profound ways; the question is, what are you doing about it today?

Come join us to learn more about how Artificial Intelligence will revolutionize the very fabric of our society, and influence economic models by establishing the digital infrastructure to intelligently create, engage, and manage communities.

EVENT LOGISTICS UPDATE

Following precautionary measures surrounding the COVID-19 (Coronavirus), BootstrapLabs, together with its event space partner, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, has decided to cancel the physical gathering of this event, and instead would like to invite everyone to join this Applied AI Insiders Series via a webcast starting at 5:00pm PDT Wednesday, March 11, 2020.

The event will start a bit earlier than initially planned so people can join at the end of their workday, and will end shortly after 6:15pm PDT.

In an effort to facilitate present and future networking opportunities for webcast attendees, BootstrapLabs will share contact list information of all attendees with fellow live attendees who have opted-in.

Register Here

Or contact: events@bootstraplabs.com.

AGENDA

  • 5:00 pm – 5:05 pm | Greetings
  • 5:05 pm – 6:05 pm | Guest Keynotes + Q&A
  • 6:05 pm – 6:15 pm | Recap and Closing

SPEAKERS

Ben Levy, Co-Founder and General Partner, BootstrapLabs

Ben has been actively investing in technology startups and supporting BootstrapLabs’ portfolio companies. Born in France and living in Silicon Valley for the past 20 years, Ben is a repeat entrepreneur who launched, built and exited two startups in the financial technology space.

Earlier in his career, Ben was an Investment Banker who advised CxOs of Fortune 500 companies and startup founders on corporate strategy, financing, and M&A. His banking experience spans across firms like Lazard, SG Cowen, Houlihan Lokey, Wedbush Securities, and QuantumWave Capital.

Ben is also a member of AAAI (Association for the Advancement of AI), and a frequent keynote speaker on innovation, technology investing, entrepreneurship, and artificial intelligence in the US, Europe, and Asia.

Natalia Olson-Urtecho, Chief Strategy,  Innovation Officer and Co-Founder, The Disruptive Factory

Natalia Olson-Urtecho is a serial entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience working with international, regional and local entities in Latin America, Central Europe, Asia and the U.S. She is an expert in smart cities, finance, government, international diplomacy, commercialization of technologies, Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, mobility, public engagement and infrastructure. She is the Co-Founder of the Disruptive Factory and the COO of the RadicalxChange Foundation. She was appointed by President Obama as the SBA Regional Administrator managing yearly 35 billion dollars in government contracts and 8 billion in loans for SMEs. She was responsible for delivery and management of small business programs, development initiatives and financial assistance, overseeing 180 SBA offices. Natalia was appointed to Philadelphia’s Planning Commission and served as the Vice Chair of the Zoning Code Commission. She was appointed to the U.S. Innovation Advisory Board to advise Congress and the White House on competitiveness and innovation. She has been honored with numerous prestigious awards such as Woman of Distinction for her work in sustainable infrastructure & the green economy.

Simon MacGibbon, CEO and Co-Founder, Myia Health

Simon MacGibbon is the CEO and co-founder of Myia Health, a predictive and personalized health monitoring platform for virtual patient care. Myia uses machine learning to transform streams of real-world health data into timely and actionable clinical insights.Simon has 25 years of experience using technology to create data driven products and transform enterprise capabilities. Prior to co-founding and leading Myia Health, Simon co-founded the Boston Consulting Group’sDigital Ventures global team. At BCGDV, Simon led teams responsible for imagining, building, and commercializing new technology platforms to help some of the world’s most influential companies innovate like startups. Simon was formerly an Associate Partner at McKinsey & Co.and led CRM and analytics implementations with IBM. Simon’s belief in the applied benefits of physiological measurement surfaced in the 1990s, while studying neuro psychology and as an exercise physiology researcher and subject at Otago University. Simon has a BSc from Otago University in New Zealand and a BA (Hons) in Applied andIndustrial Psychology from the University of Canterbury.

Micha Benoliel, CEO and Co-Founder, Nodle

Micha is a visionary and serial entrepreneur focused on building Nodle, a global and decentralized wireless network for connecting IoT devices to the internet. Prior to founding Nodle, he enabled Skype to launch Skype In and Skype Out and built several ventures and products in the space of telecommunications, networking and the Internet: Open Garden, FireChat, and PiperChain (Sold to RightMesh).


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BootstrapLabs at Davos 2020

January 15, 2020/in AI, AI News, Blog, Event, Nicolai Wadstrom /by BootstrapLabs

Nicolai Wadstrom, Founder and CEO of BootstrapLabs, will be speaking on stage at the TechPark Davos Conference 2020, Global AI Thought Leaders Stream – Hyperconnected Humanity a side event in Davos, Switzerland during the World Economic Forum. 

With the perspective as Founder and CEO of the leading Venture Capital firm in Applied Artificial Intelligence, Nicolai will talk about how our world is going from Automation to Autonomous, and how that will impact people, organizations and society.

TechPark Davos 2020 Conference, the Strategic Council for Business and Economics brings hundreds of thought leaders, think tanks, tech & industry experts, and innovators together to focus on Artificial Intelligence, EduTech, MedTech, and Fintech, and turn these to societies’ best advantage worldwide. This conference, taking place parallel to the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, offers a great opportunity to intensify the conversation around Artificial Intelligence on one of the highest global levels possible.

To sign up for our mailing list, click here.

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BootstrapLabs at World Bank – Digital Mashreq Forum

June 26, 2019/in AI, AI News, Blog, Luigi Congedo /by BootstrapLabs

Luigi Congedo, Principal, at BootstrapLabs, will be speaking during the Digital Mashreq Forum, hosted under the patronage of HRH Crown Prince Al Hussein Bin Abdullah II, the Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship in Jordan, and the World Bank Group.

Luigi will share his story and explain how BootstrapLabs has become a leading Venture Capital firm in Applied Artificial Intelligence, and how the firm helps startups to successfully scale globally from Silicon Valley.

This two-day high-level event will serve as a platform to discuss the role of digitalization in shaping the region’s future through the lens of government and business leaders.

The Digital Mashreq Forum will bring together partners from governments and private sector representatives from Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq as well as executives from international and regional businesses and investors. Many tech leaders will join Luigi on stage, including, Omar Razzaz, Prime Minister of Jordan, The World Bank Chief Economist, Rabah Arezk, Mr. Osama Al-Zoubi, Chief Technology Officer, CISCO, MEA, Mr. Diego Massidda, CEO, Partner Markets at Vodafone Group, and many others.

The event will take place on June 29 and 30, 2019 at the King Hussein Business Park in Amman, Jordan.

Follow the discussions via #DigitalMashreq

To sign up for our mailing list, click here.

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AI, Geopolitics, and National Security:

April 16, 2019/in AI, AI News, artificial intelligence, Blog, Event /by BootstrapLabs

Your Information and Your Nation

Hacking is on the world stage again this week after Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, was arrested in London and accused by U.S. authorities of conspiring with former Army intelligence officer Chelsea Manning leading to what is described as “one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States.” While some see Assange’s case as one strictly about freedom of speech and others see it as a question of security, his arrest brings the reality of hacking back into the spotlight, reminds governments and citizens alike about the potential vulnerability of the information they have stored digitally.

Experts suggest that this vulnerability can be pinned on the lack of attribution models, an integrated identity, and the complexity of establishing global privacy and ethical standards within the core building blocks of the Internet. While the general public watches tensions between super-powers mount on the international stage, trade tensions escalate, and the frequency and severity of cyber attacks amplify, what most don’t know is how artificial intelligence is playing an increasing role and intensifying what is at stake. This, of course, has not been lost on those in both the private and public sector who understand that how governments and the private sector engage with AI may very well dictate their future economic strength and security posture.  And yet, while many countries are active in AI, only a few have a planned national strategy for employing the technology.

As nations continue to invest in the implementation of AI, geopolitics will change irreversibly. But how remains to be seen. Experts from the United Nations and World Economic Forum explain what plans nations are already making at this year’s annual BootstrapLabs’ Applied AI Conference.

It is a critical time for nations as AI technology is rapidly developing and has already contributed to the exacerbation of state actors, terrorist organizations, and criminals’ political and ideologically motivated use of the internet for financial gain and power grabs. And when projecting into the future, some think things will only escalate, “Eventually geopolitics will no longer be territorial…but will reside mainly in the neuro- technological complex. We need to prepare ourselves for fierce power battles… plots, power grabs, secessions, manipulations, traitors and malevolence that will make the Wannacry and Petya viruses of spring 2017 seem harmless in comparison.”

But AI can also be applied as a method to not only alleviate such threats, but also strengthen our existing digital infrastructures and create stronger platforms for the future stability, economic prosperity, and security of our society, companies, and citizens. In a fireside chat at AAI19, specialists from U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Quantum Vault Inc., Atlas Organization, and MobiledgeX join to discuss what the industry can anticipate in the next few years across the security domains that AI will impact.

To further unpack the relationship between AI and national security, panelists from the Technology for Global Security, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and Defense Innovation Unit discuss key topics covered in the annual unclassified US National Intelligence Report and what they are doing within their respective organizations to accelerate the discovery, development, vetting, adoption, and deployment of AI and other new technologies in service of protecting American lives and interests around the world.

Want to learn more about how to become engaged, what you can do, where you should look to get involved and have a broader impact, and how the Defense Innovation Unit and Department of Homeland Security are making it easier for companies to get engaged and navigate the federal marketplace? Then join us this Thursday at BootstrapLabs Applied AI Conference.

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Trains, Planes, and Automobiles:

April 14, 2019/in AI, AI News, artificial intelligence, Blog, Event /by BootstrapLabs

 

The Necessity of Real-Time Processing in Autonomous Vehicles

When thinking about autonomous vehicles, it’s easy to focus on driverless cars, how your commute to work will change, how your drives with the family will be filled with board games instead of “are we there yet?” The technology has been parodied in the HBO show Silicon Valley, is roaming the streets of San Francisco and Hamburg, and is the unforgettable protagonist in a vehicular accident that led to a man’s decapitation.

Whether you are trepidatious or excited, self-driving technology is inevitable. For the folks working to get the technology ready for wide-spread deployment, the trick is making sense of the road in real time, not if the driver’s seat can rotate to face backwards.

Ultimately, the concept of a driverless vehicle is simple, a vehicle that drives itself. But the mechanics of how that vehicle drives all by itself is where the challenge lies. In order to work without human intervention, driverless vehicles are “permanently surveying the road and sending relevant bits of information up to the cloud,” explains Christoph Grote, SVP of Electronics at BMW. But the trick is knowing and catching the “relevant” information. And this is not easy.

AEye, an artificial perception technology company, focuses their work specifically in the space of creating tech that is able to abstract and extract meaningful and necessary information from a car’s environment. Namely, they are creating AI-enabled sensors that enable vehicles to “think like a robot, perceive like a human” – seeing, classifying, and responding to an object, whether it is a parked car, or a child crossing the street, in real time and before it’s too late.

What AEye understood, is that in order to create technology that can perceive like a person and think like a robot they needed a rocket scientist (almost) literally. The Chief Scientist at AEye, Dr. Allan Steinhardt, serves this function. Dr. Steinhardt is an expert on radar and missile defense, including ground moving target indicator radars (so, a radar and missile scientist if you want to get nit-picky about the rocket analogy); space surveillance; and he is the former Chief Scientist for DARPA.

At this year’s BootstrapLabs Applied Artificial Intelligence Conference, Dr. Steinhardt delivers a keynote on how transportation AI is uniquely different from other applications of AI. In addition to exploring how AI is augmenting the collection and interpretation of environmental data the car must process, he will also address the very environments these autonomous vehicles will be driving in: the cities of the future.

It is easy to get fixated on the gadget. We are primed to want the newest artifact of technology, be it the newest phone, scooter-rideshare, or smart speaker. What is easily forgotten is the network that these technologies rely on. Up until now, the landscape of things needing internet connectivity has been able to rely on either WiFi or 4G. Autonomous vehicles, and the reams of data they are reliant on processing and distributing, require much more bandwidth. Christoph Grote explains that driverless cars are continuously gathering data from their environments, “generating a true, real-time map of a car that is pushed down to all the other cars…autonomous driving is not the capability of a car, it is really about swarm intelligence.” And in order to do this, autonomous vehicles will need to be able to connect to 5G.  

The cities of the future will be increasingly optimized to support automated functionality, including autonomous driving. But how, you ask? Join Dr. Allan Steinhardt’s keynote at AAI19 to find out.

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Banish the Darkness with Artificial Intelligence

November 26, 2018/in AI, AI News, artificial intelligence, Blog, Energy, News, Nicolai Wadstrom, Silicon Valley /by BootstrapLabs

The Need

Most everything we do in life requires electricity. Transportation, farming, homes, businesses, computing—they all necessitate the efficient movement of electrons from a power production source to an energy use site¹. Unfortunately, since Thomas Alva Edison first illuminated a Menlo Park street in 1879 – thus banishing the darkness 2 – the  demands humanity has placed upon energy utilities have skyrocketed and consequently at least parts of our energy grid have become brittle and prone to failure. Moreover, the complexity of operating local, regional and national systems that are susceptible to cyber-attacks has made electricity a critical topic for national security.

World population has quintupled since the first sustained artificial light in the late 1800s. With more than 7.6 billion people 3 now teeming on our planet and all of us needing increasing amounts of energy 4, we cannot rely anymore on simple dynamo generators creating electricity and sending it straight to the desired location. On the contrary, our electricity grids are highly complex with numerous power sources (coal, gas, oil, nuclear, and renewables—biomass, solar, wind); switching and amplifying stations; transformers; above and below ground wiring; and storage batteries. Unsurprisingly, even considering conservative trends, our energy use is growing rapidly:

“In the New Policies Scenario, global energy needs rise more slowly than in the past but still expand by 30% between today and 2040. This is the equivalent of adding another China and India to today’s global demand.” 5

Moreover, our already highly electrified society will become even more dependent on charged electrons with new technologies. The Internet of Things (IoT), which requires cloud and edge computing at massive scale, is forecasted to exceed 75 billion devices connected to the internet by 2025 (up from 23 billion presently).6 Research into autonomous vehicles is rapidly approaching deployment stages. Testing underway in Phoenix, AZ and Pittsburgh, PA may be halted temporarily because of bad algorithms causing accidents or irregular policies, but other countries are not waiting around for the United States to perfect driverless cars. China is building cities specifically designed for autonomous vehicles.7 The Hyperloop – Elon Musk’s dream of accelerating people and cargo in a vacuum tube to near the speed of sound – is being tested in the United States and Europe.8

Population growth is also spurring construction of whole cities from scratch; examples abound in Asia. China plans on constructing a new city the size of Chicago (2.7 million people) with the latest technologies, and thus high energy demands.5 With support from Singapore, the Indian state Andhra Pradesh is building a new capital. “It will be a stupendous 7,235 square kilometres, 10 times the size of Singapore’s own 716 square kilometres.”9

The Risks

With so much riding on our need for energy, we must avoid costly failures. For example, when one author [TAC] worked in the semiconductor industry, the great Northeast Blackout of 2003 was tripped only a few miles from the production facility where he worked. The source of the power failure was overgrown tree branches that had fallen on a transformer. Normally, this would have remained a local issue, but the lead utility failed to react quickly enough to disengage the switches to other grids, thus causing a cascading, multi-grid failure for 50 million people from Ohio to New York to southeast Canada. People were trapped in subway cars and elevators for hours; cell phone service was disrupted for millions. 10 11

Perhaps even more dangerous than a lack of sensors on the grid and failed switches is the looming possibility of a cyber-attack targeting fragile points in the electrical system. Industry is spending billions in its attempts to strengthen cybersecurity of the brittle grid.12 “U.S. utilities will spend a cumulative $7.25 billion in security from now until 2020, with distribution automation assets as the core focus.”13 Grid security is a major issue within the US Government; simulations of cyber-attacks are routinely done by groups such as DOE and DHS.14 15

While a completely failure-proof grid may be impossible with the moving demand target caused by new technologies online and rapidly growing electricity demands, companies and government agencies must nevertheless do their best to anticipate and to prevent both accidental and nefarious situations before they happen. This presents a unique opportunity to engage newly accelerated capabilities of computers, especially artificial intelligence (AI).

The Opportunities

A core challenge with global electrical grids is their growing complexity. Growing exabytes of data from billions of IoT sensors, coupled with too-fast-for-humans reaction speeds required by increasing power demands, make a purely human-controlled electrical grid impossible. To sustain our growing needs, we must resort to a more digitalized approach.

There has been much talk recently about the so-called “smart grid,” defined as an electricity supply network that uses digital communications technology to detect and react to local changes in usage. 16 A smart grid has three major facets: data from sensors, computational power and optimized algorithms. Let us discuss the third point in detail.

Algorithm development has progressed in concert with Moore’s Law – the doubling of the number of transistors on a given semiconductor chip roughly every two years. In the early days of computers, there were a limited number of programming languages – Basic, Fortran, C/C++, Cobol, etc. Nowadays, companies such as Google develop their own proprietary operating systems as a routine course of smart business action. Increasingly, those algorithms are leveraging the power of AI.

While there are many definitions for AI, it can be defined simply as the ability of a machine to perform tasks commonly executed by a human. 17 AI is presently the hottest ICT 18 market sector. PwC estimates that global GDP will increase $15.7 trillion (a +14% boost compared to today) by 2030 as a result of AI. 19 20 Such a huge economic contribution cannot be understated, and organizations are investing aggressively accordingly. Venture capital funding pumped almost $5 billion into AI startups in 2017 alone. 21 AI has become a top corporate spending priority, with many hundreds of billions of dollars devoted to nabbing top talent and to securing algorithmic leadership. 22 There is a global race among governments to capture the title of AI world leader.  23

The reason for this flood of venture capital, corporate and government funding is that AI can solve problems far faster than humans, and in some cases solve problems that no human can. While we humans are smarter than any other living being on Earth, we are still rather dumb when it comes to absorbing and processing quickly vast amounts of data. The human mind is limited also to mostly working on a single task; despite some claims, we are generally horrible at multitasking. 24 Computers don’t have those limitations.

How might AI help the energy sector? We suggest there are two primary means by which advanced AI algorithms can improve efficiency, enhance safety, and improve the bottom line for energy utilities: grid optimization and cybersecurity.

Grid Optimization. To reap the benefits of the smart grid, AI will be a true necessity. “AI will be the brain of this future smart grid. The technology will continuously collect and synthesize overwhelming amounts of data from millions of smart sensors nationwide to make timely decisions on how to best allocate energy resources. Additionally, the advances made from ‘deep learning’ algorithms, a system where machines learn on their own from spotting patterns and anomalies in large data sets, will revolutionize both the demand and supply side of the energy economy.” 25

A challenge for utilities is maintaining consistent power. When there is a sudden increase in demand, the go-to reaction for utilities is to power-up ‘peaker plants’ that run on fossil fuels, generally natural gas. 26 Able to be turned-on within minutes of the detection of a demand spike – for example, due to increased air conditioning or heating requirements from a weather front moving through an area – peaker plants are unfortunately terribly inefficient and polluting. AI might assist in diminishing the use of peaker plants by leveraging advanced forecasting capabilities – for example, considering weather forecasts, regional demand cycles, and smart meter sensors in a single holistic package. The solution of such multidimensional problems is a strength of AI over humans. Such efforts could save utilities significant funds that they could funnel into further grid improvements.

One recent success story in using AI for energy optimization is that of Google’s deployment of algorithms to reduce electricity consumption in their server farms. Google has thousands of data centers worldwide to run search, store and process emails, etc. Those countless banks of GPUs 27 and memory storage systems consume tremendous amounts of electricity and tend to overheat. Because of their increasing presence and inherent inefficiencies, it is estimated that 2% of the world’s energy is consumed by data centers. 28 Both to save costs and to show-off its earlier purchase of the British AI startup DeepMind, Google decided to test AI in improving the cooling efficiency of their computer banks. “The autonomous AI control system initially led to a 12 percent improvement, which over nine months of operation increased to around a 30 percent improvement, with further improvements expected over time as its decisions are improved by having more training data. Google said in the long term that there is potential to apply the technology in other industrial settings.”29

Finally, AI can assist in converting incoming power to be acceptable to a grid. Every energy utility has a mix of power sources that it taps to provide its customer base their electricity. That mix is optimized based on price and, more recently, social perception for use of renewables. A challenge with multiple power sources – natural gas, oil, coal, nuclear, renewables – is to seamlessly integrate them all into the single grid. For example, wind and solar power sources require special converters to enable them to plug into the grid. “The high penetration of renewable energy systems is calling for new more stringent grid requirements. As a consequence, the grid converters should be able to exhibit advanced functions like dynamic control of active and reactive power, operation within a wide range of voltage and frequency, voltage ride-through capability, reactive current injection during faults, and grid services support.”30 AI could assist with energy conversion from renewables by leveraging deep learning to identify key performance optimization criteria and thus enable efficient uptake of the generated power into the smart grid.

Cybersecurity. Ironically, the very action of creating a smart grid makes it more vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Standardizing hardware and software, as well as creating a high degree of connectivity, enables hackers easier access to the grid through a greater variety of means. Programmed backdoors, firmware chip hacks, and even fake chips on motherboards 31 can all compromise the security of a given system.

Humans are inherently limited in what we can accomplish in cybersecurity. Our minds require rest, eating, drinking, etc.; cyber-attack bots require none of that. Thus, even though we might have the best intentions to be ever-diligent in the face of malware or phishing attacks, eventually we will slip up and allow nefarious actors access to sensitive computer systems.

Four years ago, seeing the rapid advances occurring in AI and knowing the challenges of human-centered cybersecurity, one author [TAC] forecasted that soon cybersecurity would enter the realm of “AI vs. AI,” i.e., AI algorithms would be both sources of attacks and defense. We are close to that time now. In the last few years, there has been a surge of interest in coupling the powers of AI, especially deep learning, to cybersecurity. 32 Thousands of companies globally now claim some form of AI in their cybersecurity offerings. Although it is debatable whether all these startups and corporate entities are truly using AI (some startups treat “AI” as a form of pixie dust—sprinkle it in a pitch in attempts to get funding), it makes sense to leverage the powers of learning algorithms to monitor and to react to cyber-attacks.

Ultimately, using AI for cybersecurity may not be just a choice but an imperative in the energy industry. In the United States, the complexity of the grid—with more than 8,000 power plants, 200,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines, and 5.5 million miles of local distribution lines 33 34—necessitates that even local utilities must think hard about how they monitor their systems for intrusive cyber-attacks.

The Means

So how do utilities leverage the power (no pun intended) of AI? One challenge for cash-strapped utilities is that AI experts are in such demand that a starting salary for a star AI programmer can exceed seven dollar figures35. Thus, a more cost-effective approach may be partnerships among established startups and corporate entities that already have in-house expertise in AI. One such partnership was announced recently between BootstrapLabs (a leading venture capital firm focused on Applied AI in San Francisco) and innogy SE (a leading Germany energy company):

“BootstrapLabs and the innogy Innovation Hub will coordinate globally to build the largest artificial intelligence community for energy ecosystems, and provide a combination of capital and support to Applied AI startups that reimagine the future of energy production, distribution and management across decentralized and interconnected energy services for consumers, machines, enterprises, and public sector agencies.” 36

Sebastian Niestrath, SVP Infrastructure Platform Ventures at innogy New Ventures LLC, further clarified: “The need to interpret massive amounts of data and use AI-supported algorithms for grid operations is becoming increasingly important, especially in Germany – where electricity from renewable sources has pretty much quadrupled during the last 15 years and where millions of solar panels are now installed on residential buildings.” Moreover, with the California Energy Commission unanimously voting 5-0 in favor of mandating that all single-family homes, apartments and condominium complexes of three stories or less require solar panels as of January 2020, California will quickly follow suit in the need for AI-supported algorithms for grid operations.

Further such engagements among all major energy players – including utilities, AI experts, and local/regional/national governments – will be imperative as grid demands and threats increase.

The Future

As our population continues to grow and more technology gets plugged into existing grids, it will be incumbent upon utilities to increase efficiencies to remain cost-effective and to avoid grid failures. Moreover, the growing threat from cyber-attacks will demand that power companies better protect their grids from nefarious actors. AI is one approach that can significantly help utilities move into this challenging world. Opportunities will be strong and risks could be minimized for those leaders who embrace the capabilities of advanced computation.


Authors

Thomas A. Campbell, Special Advisor, BootstrapLabs and Founder of FutureGrasp, LLC

Thomas A. Campbell, Ph.D., is Founder and President of FutureGrasp, LLC (https://www.futuregrasp.com/), which advises organizations worldwide on trends and implications of emerging technologies.

Thomas is also serving as Special Advisor of BootstrapLabs, for Applied AI intellectual propriety development as well as assisting BootstrapLabs to expand its network reach and meet new opportunities into government sectors.

From February 2015 to August 2017, he was the first National Intelligence Officer for Technology (NIO-TECH) with the National Intelligence Council (NIC) in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). Tom’s insights have informed senior policymakers, enabled millions of dollars in industry and academic funding, broken ground in multiple new research areas, and kept diverse groups abreast of the rapid pace and implications of technology change.

Dr. Campbell is focused on emerging & disruptive science and technologies, especially identifying, tracking, forecasting and implications. He has extensive experience in government, academia, and industry – nationally and internationally. More about Tom at this link here.

Nicolai Wadstrom, Founder & CEO, BootstrapLabs

Nicolai is the Founder, CEO and Managing Partner of BootstrapLabs, a leading venture capital firm, based in Silicon Valley and focused on Applied Artificial Intelligence.

Nicolai has spent all of his professional life building technology companies. He started his first business at the age of 15 in the late 1980s and in 2008 he founded BootstrapLabs to build a scalable investment platform focused on being the most valuable partner for entrepreneurs to build successful companies.

With decades of operational and entrepreneurial experience, and having invested in, advised, and mentored over 30 companies, Nicolai works with investment decisions, and post investment mentorship to support scaling for BootstrapLabs’ portfolio companies.

BootstrapLabs is a Venture Capital company focused on Applied Artificial Intelligence that combines Venture Capital and Human Capital to build companies that define our future.

BootstrapLabs unique Venture Builder platform provides all the resources top-tier entrepreneurs need to take their companies from innovation to a Scalable Product Market Fit and from there to growth.

Prior to BootstrapLabs, Nicolai among other things founded a cutting edge Enterprise Software company (in the ECM and EAI space), he also co-founded and IPO’d the first CFD/FSB trading platform in the Nordics, and pioneered Virtual Reality in 1996. More about Nicolai at this link.


References:

  1. “Power is the capacity to use Energy…Power is like the strength of a weightlifter and Energy is the measure of how long he can sustain the output of power…Power is ‘watt’ and Energy is ‘watt-hour’.” http://www.differencebetween.net/science/difference-between-energy-and-power/#ixzz5Sze5vPtN 
  2. C. Klein, (December 17, 2014), “When Edison Turned Night into Day,” History, https://www.history.com/news/when-edison-turned-night-into-day
  3. “World Population by Year,” http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/world-population-by-year/
  4. The population considered in the middle class, and thus more prominent consumers of energy, is exploding globally. H. Kharas, February 17, 2017, “The unprecedented expansion of the global middle class,” Brookings, https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-unprecedented-expansion-of-the-global-middle-class-2/  
  5. “World Energy Outlook 2017,” https://www.iea.org/weo2017/
  6. “Internet of Things (IoT) connected devices installed base worldwide from 2015 to 2025 (in billions),” https://www.statista.com/statistics/471264/iot-number-of-connected-devices-worldwide/
  7. Kai-Fu Lee, “AI Super-Powers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order,” 2018, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston.
  8. Hawkins, April 15, 2018, “World’s third hyperloop test track is now under construction,” The Verge, https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/15/17235262/hyperloop-transportation-technologies-test-track-france
  9. C. Cram, January 7, 2015, “Why Singapore is building a new Indian city 10 times its own size,” The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/public-leaders-network/2015/jan/07/singapore-building-india-city-andhra-pradesh
  10. History Editors, August 21, 2018, “2003 Blackout hits Northeast United States,” This Day in History, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/blackout-hits-northeast-united-states
  11. The plant where [TAC] worked had diesel generators that kicked-in immediately upon the power loss to avoid thousands of dollars per hour of manufacturing losses. The plant manager nevertheless called FirstEnergy Corporation quickly to find out what happened and when power would be restored. Their unbelievable initial response was, “Don’t worry, we’re on it. We’re watching CNN right now to figure out what happened.”
  12. C. Douris, September 21, 2017, “Utilities Will Spend Billions On Cybersecurity As Threat Grows,” Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/sites/constancedouris/2017/09/21/utilities-will-spend-billions-on-cybersecurity-as-threat-grows/#2dbe47b26cfe
  13. J. St. John, April 17, 2013, “Report: US Smart Grid Cybersecurity Spending to Reach $7.25B by 2020,” GTM, https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/report-u-s-smart-grid-cybersecurity-spending-to-reach-7-25b-by-2020#gs.ZB7iBm8
  14. Department of Energy, Department of Homeland Security
  15. G. Bade, August 7, 2018, “Report: DOE, DHS planning new grid cybersecurity exercise this fall,” Utility Dive, https://www.utilitydive.com/news/report-doe-dhs-planning-new-grid-cybersecurity-exercise-this-fall/529518/
  16. https://www.google.com/ 
  17. Marr, February 14, 2018, “The Key Definitions Of Artificial Intelligence (AI) That Explain Its Importance,” Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2018/02/14/the-key-definitions-of-artificial-intelligence-ai-that-explain-its-importance/#15b1f7be4f5d
  18. Information and Communication Technologies
  19. “Sizing the prize – PwC’s Global Artificial Intelligence Study: Exploiting the AI Revolution,” 2017, https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/issues/data-and-analytics/publications/artificial-intelligence-study.html
  20. PwC, Jue 27, 2017, “AI to drive GDP gains of $15.7 trillion with productivity, personalisation improvements,”  https://press.pwc.com/News-releases/ai-to-drive-gdp-gains-of–15.7-trillion-with-productivity–personalisation-improvements/s/3cc702e4-9cac-4a17-85b9-71769fba82a6
  21. J.D. Rowley, March 2, 2018, “Venture Funding Into AI And Machine Learning Levels Off As Tech Matures,” CrunchBase, https://news.crunchbase.com/news/venture-funding-ai-machine-learning-levels-off-tech-matures/
  22. Seitz, April 6, 2018, “Artificial Intelligence Becoming Top Corporate Spending Priority,” Investors Business Daily, https://www.investors.com/news/technology/artificial-intelligence-ai-spending/
  23. Minevich, December 5, 2017, “These Seven Countries Are In A Race To Rule The World With AI,” Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2017/12/05/these-seven-countries-are-in-a-race-to-rule-the-world-with-ai/#69c6478b4c24
  24. N.K. Napier, May 12, 2014, “The Myth of Multitasking,” Psychology Today, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/creativity-without-borders/201405/the-myth-multitasking
  25. Wolfe, August 28, 2017, “How Artificial Intelligence Will Revolutionize the Energy Industry,” Harvard University, http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2017/artificial-intelligence-will-revolutionize-energy-industry/
  26. “Peaking Power Plant,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peaking_power_plant
  27. Graphics Processing Units, the current workhorse for deep learning AI.
  28. Pearce, April 3, 2018, “Energy Hogs: Can World’s Huge Data Centers Be Made More Efficient?,” Yale Environment 360, https://e360.yale.edu/features/energy-hogs-can-huge-data-centers-be-made-more-efficient
  29. Ranger, August 20, 2018, “ Google just put an AI in charge of keeping its data centers cool,” ZDNet, https://www.zdnet.com/article/google-just-put-an-ai-in-charge-of-keeping-its-data-centers-cool/
  30. Teodorescu, 2011, “Grid Converters for Photovoltaic and Wind Power Systems 1st Edition,” John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., https://www.amazon.com/Grid-Converters-Photovoltaic-Power-Systems/dp/0470057513
  31. Robertson, M. Riley, October 4, 2018, “The Big Hack: How China Used a Tiny Chip to Infiltrate U.S. Companies,” Bloomberg Businessweek, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-10-04/the-big-hack-how-china-used-a-tiny-chip-to-infiltrate-america-s-top-companies?srnd=premium&mod=djemceocouncil
  32. “Applied AI Conference 2018 – Panel – Applied AI and Cybersecurity – Making the Enterprise More Secure,” BootstrapLabs, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ckuyHpyA00
  33. December 8, 2017, “How many power plants are there in the United States?,” https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=65&t=2
  34. J. Weeks, April 28, 2010, “U.S. Electrical Grid Undergoes Massive Transition to Connect to Renewables,” Scientific American, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-the-smart-grid/
  35. C. Metz, April 19, 2018, “A.I. Researchers Are Making More Than $1 Million, Even at a Nonprofit,” New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/19/technology/artificial-intelligence-salaries-openai.html
  36. Press Release, October 3, 2018, “innogy Innovation Hub and BootstrapLabs to Form a Partnership for Investments in AI and Energy,” San Francisco Business Times, https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/prnewswire/press_releases/California/2018/10/03/NY26733
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applied ai conference

The Best AI Conferences in 2019

November 26, 2018/in AI, AI News, artificial intelligence, Blog, Event, News, Silicon Valley /by Luigi Congedo

BootstrapLabs is pleased to announce that our annual Applied AI Conference has been selected by Hewlett Packard Enterprise, in the article “The 16 AI and ML conferences you should attend in 2019” as one of the top AI events to attend next year.

This recognition is the latest in a series of recommendations we have received from many AI experts, companies, and journalists, including Business Insider last year.

VC investment in artificial intelligence and machine learning doubled from $6 billion in 2016 to $12 billion in 2017 (Source. KPMG), and investments are at an all time high in the space.

With the AI market projected to grow over 20 fold in the next 10 years to $3 trillion annually, we believe Applied Artificial Intelligence represents one of the major wealth creation opportunities of this century.

If you want to increase your knowledge and connections in the industry, become an AI champion inside your organization, or find new career opportunities, the Applied AI Conference 2019 would definitely be a great event to attend. Discount tickets and more information are available on our conference web page – link here.

BootstrapLabs also has a limited number of sponsorship opportunities available for select partners; you can learn more about these opportunities and request more information at this link.

Below you can find the article from Hewlett Packard Enterprise:

The 16 AI and ML conferences you should attend in 2019

If you want to grow your career, consider attending one of these great artificial intelligence and machine learning conferences for IT pros. Whether you’re a manager, developer, or researcher, doing so will help you meet expert colleagues and improve your skills.

AI is as hot as a laptop with a broken fan—so scorching that some conferences promise to exclude recruiters. As such, there are plenty of organizations motivated to share AI and machine learning information. This overview aims to help you identify the conferences that are worth your time and meet your needs.

At first glance, you could use a background in data mining just to sort through all the events that have “artificial Intelligence” in their titles or include AI conference tracks. I winnowed down the offerings based on the quality of speakers, attendees, and networking opportunities. However, your own needs are the ultimate filter: Are you a programmer looking to increase your skills? An executive looking for competitive insights? A researcher looking to share ideas? A tech recruiter looking for prospects? A prospect looking to dodge recruiters? Some conferences are large and multifaceted enough that nearly anyone can get something out of them. Others appeal only to researchers in subspecialties.

The list below aims to give you enough details to make an informed decision. It is ordered by date, with gold stars for the conferences I think merit close attention. The conference list starts in late 2018, in part because few organizations have published details about fall 2019 events; the coming-soon events provide enough information for you to decide whether they should be on your schedule for next year.

Full article available at – https://www.hpe.com/us/en/insights/articles/the-16-ai-and-ml-conferences-you-should-attend-in-2019-1811.html

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BootstrapLabs is pleased to announce our next Applied AI Insiders Series event: Artificial Intelligence & Energy

October 30, 2018/in AI, AI News, Blog, Event /by Luigi Congedo

Artificial Intelligence & Energy, in partnership with the innogy Innovation Hub.

Date and Time: Wednesday, December 12, 2018 | 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm

Location: Galvanize, 44 Tehama Street, San Francisco, California 94105

Registration: This event is INVITE ONLY. If you did not receive an invitation you can request one below.

REQUEST AN INVITE

We stand in front of the 4th and largest wave of the industrial revolution, powered by AI and data. This is the biggest opportunity, so far, for innovation and entrepreneurship, and every single industry will be disrupted and redefined by companies that are not yet even born.

With the AI market projected to grow over 20 fold in the next 10 years to $3 Trillion annually, we believe Applied Artificial Intelligence represents one of the major wealth creation opportunities of this century.

Our energy system is changing rapidly – becoming more digital, decentralized and more democratic. For example, we are witnessing the rise of “prosumers” who are taking energy generation and management into their own hands. So what does the future energy systems look like?

We believe this future cannot be built by iterating on the status quo, but by carrying out radical innovation – including harnessing the ever-increasing amount of data and applying new technologies like AI. Artificial Intelligence will transform the way we produce, distribute, and consume energy – continuously collecting and analyzing data from millions of smart sensors, and making smart decisions on how, where, and when to allocate energy more efficiently.

Come join us to learn more about how Artificial Intelligence will revolutionize the energy industry.

BootstrapLabs and the innogy Innovation Hub are working globally to build the largest artificial intelligence community for energy ecosystems, and provide a combination of capital and support to Applied AI startups.

This is an INVITATION ONLY event with very limited capacity. BootstrapLabs reserves the right to cancel any tickets.

Contact events@bootstraplabs.com to request additional invitations.

AGENDA:

5:30 pm – 5:50 pm | Registration & Networking

5:50 pm – 6:10 pm | Welcome Message and Introduction by BootstrapLabs

6:10 pm – 7:40 pm | AI and Energy Keynotes

7:40 pm – 8:30 pm | Networking and drinks

SPEAKERS:

Ben Levy, Co-Founder, BootstrapLabs

Ben has been actively investing in technology startups and supporting BootstrapLabs’ portfolio companies. Born in France and living in Silicon Valley for the past 20 years, Ben is a repeat entrepreneur who launched, built and exited two startups in the financial technology space.

Earlier in his career, Ben was an Investment Banker who advised CxOs of Fortune 500 companies and startup founders on corporate strategy, financing, and M&A. His banking experience spans across firms like Lazard, SG Cowen, Houlihan Lokey, Wedbush Securities, and QuantumWave Capital.

Ben is also a member of AAAI (Association for the Advancement of AI), and a frequent keynote speaker on innovation, technology investing, entrepreneurship, and artificial intelligence in the US, Europe, and Asia.

 

Thomas Birr, SVP Innovation & Business Transformation, innogy SE and CEO, innogy Innovation Hub

Thomas is SVP Innovation & Business Transformation at innogy SE and CEO of the innogy Innovation Hub. Innogy is a leading European utility which mission is to create a future beyond the traditional energy business. The innogy Innovation Hub is building and co-creating new digital and platform-powered business models in partnership with the world’s most promising start-ups. Thomas is a strong believer that AI will change every industry – including Energy.

Sebastian Niestrath, SVP Infrastructure Platform Ventures at innogy New Ventures LLC

Sebastian Niestrath is a venture capitalist with innogy New Ventures in Palo Alto, California – part of innogy, one of Europe’s leading electric utilities. During his 12 years in the energy industry, Sebastian has gained extensive experience across the entire energy value chain, his area of expertise is energy markets and energy trading. Sebastian is passionate about working closely with startups that build the digital and decarbonized energy system of the future.

Michael Wara, Director, Climate and Energy Policy Program, Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University

Michael Wara is Director of the Climate and Energy Policy Program at the Woods Institute for the Environment and research fellow at the Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance at Stanford.

Wara’s legal and policy scholarship focuses on carbon pricing, energy innovation, and regulated industries. He collaborates with economists, engineers, and scientists in research on the design and evaluation of technical and regulatory solutions to climate and energy challenges. He is also an expert on international environmental law with a particular focus on the ozone and climate treaty regimes.
Wara received his J.D. from Stanford Law School and his Ph.D. in Ocean Sciences from the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Prateek Chakravarty, Head of Worldwide Sales, Bidgely

Prateek leads worldwide sales efforts at Bidgely, a software company bringing AI solutions to the modern utility and energy retailer.
Before Bidgely, Prateek worked in leadership roles at Pacific Gas & Electric Company and Schlumberger. He holds a Bachelor of Technology degree from the Indian Institute of Technology and an MBA from Harvard Business School.


The innogy Innovation Hub is the Accelerator and Venture Capital arm of innogy SE, Germany’s leading energy company.

innogy SE is Germany’s leading energy company, with revenue of around €44 billion (2016), more than 40,000 employees and activities in 16 countries across Europe. With its three business segments Grid & Infrastructure, Retail and Renewables, innogy addresses the requirements of a modern, decarbonized, decentralized and digital energy world.

Founded in 2008, BootstrapLabs is a leading Venture Capital firm based in Silicon Valley and focused on Applied Artificial Intelligence. We invest in founders that dream big and are solving today’s hardest problem by applying artificial intelligence to shape a better future.

We are pleased to announce that the annual BootstrapLabs Applied Artificial Intelligence Conference will return for the fourth year on April 18, 2019 in downtown San Francisco.

The BootstrapLabs Applied AI Conference 2019 is a must-attend event for those involved or interested in the most current AI technologies and products.

The one day conference brings together the brightest and most experienced professionals in the field of AI for an immersive day of learning, discussion, and connection. This year’s agenda will focus on the latest trends and the future impact of AI applications and commercialization across a breadth of sectors, including Transportation, Logistics, Health, Energy, FinTech, the Future of Work (FoW), Internet of Things (IoT), and Cybersecurity.

A limited number of tickets are currently on sale at the Super Early Bird price ($1200 off)! Join thought leaders leveraging AI applications to build the future of enterprise, corporations, governments, and society as we know it. Register and learn more at this link.

https://bootstraplabs.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2018/10/AAISS_Q4_Partnership_Yellow_SQ.jpg 1000 1000 Luigi Congedo https://bootstraplabs.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2018/08/Bootstrap-website_white_logo.png Luigi Congedo2018-10-30 15:00:512019-09-29 16:03:56BootstrapLabs is pleased to announce our next Applied AI Insiders Series event: Artificial Intelligence & Energy
AI Policy, artificial intelligence

BootstrapLabs AAI18 – Panel Discussion – AI Policymakers: The Need for Public/Private Partnership

October 16, 2018/in AI, AI News, Blog /by

The topic of this panel focuses on the challenges of AI deployments and their inherent limitations. Panelists also highlight how to help policymakers learn about the complex ecosystem of technology so that they are able to make informed decisions for the public good.

Moderator:

Jane Macfarlane, CEO, Seurat Labs / Director – Smart Cities, UC Berkeley

Speakers:

Kay Firth-Butterfield, Head  of AI and Machine Learning, World Economic Forum

Norma Krayem, Sr. Policy Advisor and Co-Chair – Cybersecurity and Privacy, Holland & Knight

Raj Minhas, VP – Interaction and Analytics Lab, PARC

During this session, the panelists discussed AI in the context of regulation, the role of government in fostering and leveraging emerging technologies and the reasons why we need better public/private collaboration.

Some of the key takeaways from the session are:

  • Fostering and creating explainable models is going to be crucial in for receiving government support and for fostering collaboration in the AI space.
  • Standards, certification, protocols, partnerships and process or outcome based scalable laws are some of the avenues we need to explore to “regulate” AI.
  • Open, honest conversations are necessary between technology companies and regulators, it’s important to educate them on how the technology works and the real risks of integrating to different systems.

About BootstrapLabs Applied Artificial Intelligence Conference: 

The BootstrapLabs Applied Artificial Intelligence Conference is a yearly conference organized by BootstrapLabs, a leading Venture Capital firm focused on Applied AI. The annual event brings together over 800 members of the Artificial Intelligence community for a day of incredible speakers and exciting conversations. The community is comprised of founders and executives who are experts in the field of Applied Artificial Intelligence, veteran technologists leading the world’s most innovative organizations, and key partners in the AI ecosystem sharing deep-domain knowledge within specific verticals.

If you would like to attend the BootstrapLabs Applied Artificial Intelligence Conference 2019, get your tickets now!

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Luigi Congedo, Speaking Events, Italian Trade, Innovation

BootstrapLabs Joins Panel At Italian Innovation Day

October 15, 2018/in AI News, Blog, Luigi Congedo /by

San Francisco, October 12, 2018 –  Luigi Congedo, Principal at BootstrapLabs, was invited to join the Italian Innovation Day panel to discuss the realities of the startup ecosystem in Silicon Valley for young, Italian tech entrepreneurs.

Luigi Congedo, Speaking Events, Italian Trade, Innovation

 

The Italian Innovation Day Panel, part of the Launch Scale 2018 event, was presented by the Italian Trade Agency as a way to highlight the importance of supporting Italian Founders and leaders in the US. As an Italian living and working in San Francisco, Luigi shared his thoughts on the technological landscape from the perspective of a Venture Capitalist.

“Talent is equally distributed, opportunity is not” @bootstraplabs @LuigiCongedo

— Startup Basecamp (@StartupBasecamp) October 13, 2018

Moderated by Jason Calacanis, Angel Investor and Host at “This Week In Startups”, and joined by three tech executives – Mauro Aprile Zanetti – Chief Evangelist at Cloud4Wi, Simone Brunozzi – Founder/CEO of Fabrica, and Fabrizio Capobianco – CEO of TOK.tv, the panel offered a priceless opportunity for emerging startups and founders to get first-hand advice about the realities of becoming an established leader in the technology sector.

Innovation Day

Launch Scale is an initiative that teaches young entrepreneurs how to grow and scale a startup. The Italian Trade Agency is a governmental agency that supports the business development of Italian companies abroad and promotes the attraction of foreign investments in Italy.

Innovation Day

Italian American Entrepreneurs @fabricapo @aprilezanetti @simon @LuigiCongedo @Jason, discuss their experiences leading the successful dual company model.

Hosted by @ExtraITATech, moderated by @Jason 🔥 #launchscale #innovation #tech

— LAUNCH (@LAUNCH) October 13, 2018

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Nicolai Wadstrom, UnConference, Berlin

BootstrapLabs Joins innogy Innovation Hub at UnConference

October 10, 2018/in AI, AI News, Blog, BootstrapLabs, Event, Nicolai Wadstrom /by

Berlin, Germany – October 4, 2018 – Nicolai Wadstrom, BootstrapLabs Founder, CEO and Managing Partner, was recently invited by innogy Innovation Hub to participate in the fourth annual “UnConference” as a panelist to discuss digital disruption, Applied Artificial Intelligence, and the impact of technology on the Energy space.

Nicolai Wadstrom, UnConference, Berlin

During the Disruption Platform session moderated by Thomas Birr, SVP of Innovation & Business Transformation at innogy and CEO of innogy Innovation Hub, Nicolai and Tim Kock, Co-Founder at Jungle AI, weighed in on the challenges and opportunities presented by emerging technologies and their potential impact on the decentralized energy system of the future.

“Algorithms are only 10-15% of the AI challenge. The big issue is data collection and processing.” #AI panel at @innogy_innohub #unconference pic.twitter.com/UpaqwIaSHc

— OWN.space (@ownHQ) October 4, 2018

As leaders in the AI space, both Nicolai and Tim were asked to speak about why the unique combination of AI + Energy is so interesting, as well as subtechnologies that have the most potential to disrupt the traditional energy industry.

“Utilities that don’t figure out #AI simply won’t survive and they won’t be allowed to operate by governments” says @bootstraplabs @nicolaiwadstrom on digital #disruption at #UnConference pic.twitter.com/HIREozu01a

— Innovation Hub (@innogy_innohub) October 4, 2018

UnConference by innogy Innovation Hub provides a platform for innovators, startups, VCs, thought leaders, and experts to come together and jointly create the future of energy.

 

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Sign up for our newsletter to receive updates – subscribe here.

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innogy, Thomas Birr, Nicolai Wadstrom, BootdtrapLabs

innogy Innovation Hub and BootstrapLabs to form a Partnership for Investments in AI and Energy

October 3, 2018/in AI, AI News, artificial intelligence, Ben Levy, Blog, Energy, News, Venture Capital /by Benjamin Levy

innogy, Thomas Birr, Nicolai Wadstrom, BootdtrapLabs

We are proud to announce our partnership with innogy New Ventures LLC, part of the innogy Innovation Hub and an affiliate of innogy SE, a leading German energy company and the third largest utility in Europe with annual revenues of €43 billion (2017).

The Energy sector is often overlooked by technology-focused investors that deem it too complex, slow, and concentrated. At BootstrapLabs, we understand that Energy, and its supply-chain infrastructure, is powering our modern way of life, including all the technology that we have come to love and rely upon each and every day. Not having a safe, secure and always available source of electricity is not an option and we need to put our best minds on the problems facing utilities, if we are to solve some of their major challenges in time.

innogy Innovation Hub and BootstrapLabs share a common vision that AI will be a key pillar to ensure that utilities successfully transition into the future. As part of our long-term strategic relationship, innogy New Ventures will invest an initial sum of $5 million in BootstrapLabs’ Applied AI Funds, and together we will coordinate globally to build the largest artificial intelligence community for energy ecosystems, and provide a combination of capital and support to Applied AI startups that reimagine the future of energy production, distribution and management across decentralized and interconnected energy services for consumers, machines, enterprises, and public sector agencies.

“As a venture capital firm focused on Applied AI, we believe that the advances made from deep learning and machine learning algorithms will revolutionize both the demand and supply side of the energy economy. With about 22 million customers and activities in 15 countries, innogy is the perfect partner to help us validate use cases quickly and scale our venture investments globally,” said Nicolai Wadstrom, Founder and Managing Partner of BootstrapLabs.

To read the full press release visit the full press release.

https://bootstraplabs.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2018/10/Header_AI_Conference.jpg 1367 2048 Benjamin Levy https://bootstraplabs.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2018/08/Bootstrap-website_white_logo.png Benjamin Levy2018-10-03 07:01:362018-10-03 09:11:37innogy Innovation Hub and BootstrapLabs to form a Partnership for Investments in AI and Energy

BootstrapLabs Presents at US Navy’s HACKtheMACHINE

September 29, 2018/in AI, AI News, artificial intelligence, Blog, Event, Silicon Valley /by

Seattle, Washington – September 22, 2018 – Ben Levy, Co-Founder of BootstrapLabs was recently invited to present on the state of Applied Artificial Intelligence at HACKtheMACHINE, which was hosted by the Naval Sea Systems Command.

During his keynote, Ben spoke about the State of AI Technology and Tools, where he highlighted why advances in Applied AI are happening now and the impending impacts, opportunities, and challenges that lie ahead for businesses and technologists.

 

Interesting discussion around international relations, technology and AI ethics with #google #HACktheMACHINE pic.twitter.com/wvi8636dUq

— ArcBlock (@ArcBlock_io) September 22, 2018

 

Ben also shared insights about current investment trends, data projections, and industry milestones that will help carve a path for those hoping to leverage AI’s transformative power.

Ben Levy, Co-Founder, BootstrapLabs, Artificial Intelligence, U.S Navy, HACKtheMACHINE

The discussion on Applied AI, which was part of the Designers Executive schedule, also included presentations by Mr. Kumar Venkateswar, Product Team Lead at Amazon SageMaker and Mr. Andrew Kim, Public Policy and Government Affairs at Google AI.

HACKtheMACHINE is the US Navy’s premiere digital experience for building a community of practice in maritime security.

WANT TO JOIN US AT THE NEXT BOOTSTRAPLABS APPLIED AI EVENT?

Sign up for our newsletter list to receive updates, subscribe here.

 

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Luigi Congedo, Applied AI, Venture Capital, Italy, San Francisco, Silicon Valley

Forbes 30 Under 30: Luigi Congedo

September 10, 2018/in AI, AI News, artificial intelligence, Blog, News /by

Luigi Congedo, BootstrapLabs, Venture Capital, Forbes, 30 under 30We are pleased to announce that Luigi Congedo, Principal at BootstrapLabs, has been included in Forbes 2018 list of 30 Under 30 for his contributions to Technology & Venture Capital. In the past four years at BootstrapLabs, Luigi has connected with thousands of start ups in both Silicon Valley, Italy and the world and has focused his work primarily on investments within the Applied Artificial Intelligence space.

At 29, Luigi has proven to be passionate and driven in a space lead by innovators who are changing the world. Luigi shares, “The last few years have been a wonderful experience for me. I have learned so much in Silicon Valley and hope that my work continues to reflect my commitment to excel here.”

 

 

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Applied AI Digest 119

June 26, 2018/in AI, AI News, Applied AI Digest /by

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AAI18 Keynote and Fireside Chat – Applied AI in Healthcare: Deep Impact

Over the next several weeks we’ll be releasing the videos from the sessions from the BootstrapLabs Applied AI Conference 2018. During this session, the panelists discussed AI in healthcare, the complexity of all stakeholders in the industry, the ROI impact of AI, and the differences between AI in healthcare startups and Big Pharma.

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Industrial AI Applications – How Time Series and Sensor Data Improve Processes

Over the past decade, the industrial sector has seen major advancements in automation and robotics applications. Automation in both continuous process and discrete manufacturing, as well as the use of robots for repetitive tasks are both relatively standard in most large manufacturing operations (this is especially true in industries like automotive and electronics). Read more.

Wimbledon 2018: AI uses player emotions to edit highlights

Wimbledon and its digital partner IBM have fine-tuned their artificial intelligence (AI) systems this year to help automatically edit the top action. With an average of three matches per court, per day, video from matches can add up to hundreds of hours of footage. AI-analysis uses crowd noise, player actions and match data to edit video. Read more.

A machine has figured out Rubik’s Cube all by itself

Yet another bastion of human skill and intelligence has fallen to the onslaught of the machines. A new kind of deep-learning machine has taught itself to solve a Rubik’s Cube without any human assistance. The milestone is significant because the new approach tackles an important problem in computer science—how to solve complex problems when help is minimal. Read more.

Insurers turn to artificial intelligence in war on fraud

From bogus claims to shady brokers, insurance fraud costs companies and their customers more than $40 billion a year, the FBI estimates. And that’s excluding medical insurance fraud, which is estimated by industry groups to cost tens of billions more. Read more.

Artificial Intelligence May Make Traffic Congestion a Thing of the Past

If you drive a car, you’ve probably found yourself waiting at a red light while the intersection sits empty. Artificial intelligence could make that—and other frustrating inefficiencies of city traffic—a thing of the past. For a sense of what the technology is capable of, consider that some research suggests artificial intelligence could allow networked autonomous vehicles… Read more.


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2017 AI Digest Review

Every week the BootstrapLab’s team curates the most interesting and current articles on Artificial Intelligence. To inspire you in 2018, we wanted to share our 2nd Annual Applied AI Digest Review – a recap of all the major AI news and trends of 2017.

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https://bootstraplabs.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2018/06/fintech_video_slide.001.jpeg 1080 1920 https://bootstraplabs.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2018/08/Bootstrap-website_white_logo.png 2018-06-26 21:17:472019-09-29 16:03:59Applied AI Digest 119
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Recent Posts

  • Congratulations to Sabrina Atienza and George Ramonov – Qurious.io acquired by Pegasystems, Inc
  • Announcing BootstrapLabs’ investment in Hayden AI Technologies, Inc.
  • Join the BootstrapLabs Applied AI community online
  • Post COVID-19 World: The Bullish Case for (early stage) VCs & Founders [Part 3]
  • Post COVID-19 World: The Bullish Case for (early stage) VCs & Founders [Part 2]
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