Singularity University

This summer, 80 students from 35 nations were challenged to apply innovations in exponentially advancing technologies to solve some of the world’s “grand challenges” with a focus on food, water, energy, upcycle, and space industries. On Monday, September 13, Singularity University co-founders Dr. Ray Kurzweil, Dr. Peter H. Diamandis, and faculty head Dr. Dan Barry will unveil for the first time multiple solutions in each problem space, each aiming to impact a billion people within ten years. A Q&A session will follow the briefing.

WHEN: Monday, September 13, 2010 at 9:30am PT/12:30pm ET

WHERE: http://briefing.singularityu.org/. Briefing is open to media and the public, but space is limited.

MEDIA CONTACT: Denise Vardakas-Styrna, denise@reimaginegroup.com, 650-483-5083

ABOUT: Singularity University (SU) is an interdisciplinary university whose mission is to assemble, educate and inspire a cadre of leaders who strive to understand and facilitate the development of exponentially advancing technologies in order to address humanity’s grand challenges. With the support of a broad range of leaders in academia, business and government, SU hopes to stimulate groundbreaking, disruptive thinking and solutions aimed at solving some of the planet’s most pressing challenges. SU is based at the NASA Ames campus in Silicon Valley. For more information, go to www.singularityu.org and follow SU on www.twitter.com/singularityu and at www.facebook.com/singularityu.

Partnership to Address Global “Grand Challenges” with a Focus on New Models of Entrepreneurship, Technological Innovation

Singularity University (SU) — the academic institution with the goal of preparing the next generation of leaders to address “humanity’s grand challenges” – today announced the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation has joined as Corporate Founder. The partnership will leverage Singularity University programs and Kauffman Foundation research and initiatives to support entrepreneurship and innovation focused on the “grand challenges,” such as sustainable water, energy and poverty. The Kauffman Foundation joins Google, Autodesk and ePlanet Ventures as key supporters of Singularity University’s efforts.

The Kauffman Foundation is the world’s largest foundation promoting entrepreneurship and recently launched a new approach to starting and growing high-growth firms through its Kauffman Labs for Enterprise Creation initiative. Recent studies from Kauffman’s esteemed economists and researchers have found that start-up companies, especially those with a scientific or technological focus, will be key to spurring economic growth, job creation and recovery from the current global recession. In addition to financial sponsorship, the Kauffman Foundation will work closely with Singularity University to test new business ideas and models, initiate and leverage partnerships, and mentor students to work toward the shared goal of addressing the grand challenges through entrepreneurship and technological innovation.

“Singularity University is founded on many of the same principles that are fundamental to the vision of the Kauffman Foundation, and the partnership was a natural fit,” said Bo Fishback, Kauffman’s Vice President of Entrepreneurship. “In less than two years, Singularity University has made significant progress in disrupting the traditional ‘research-to-company’ channel that has stifled innovation for too long. Its focus on global grand challenges and smart, ambitious entrepreneurs has already hatched new business models and numerous start-ups. This is an exciting partnership with unlimited potential.”

Kauffman’s partnership supports development of Singularity University programs, led by world-renowned faculty, to help students understand and harness the impact of exponential technologies. The annual Graduate Studies Program is a 10-week graduate-level interdisciplinary curriculum, designed to facilitate understanding, collaboration and innovation across a broad range of carefully chosen scientific and technological disciplines whose developments are exponentially accelerating. The keystone of the program is the Ten To the Ninth Power (10^9+) projects that challenge students to develop an idea to positively affect at least one billion people within 10 years. Held throughout the year, the four- and nine-day Executive Programs are designed to educate, inform and prepare executives for the imminent disruption and opportunities resulting from these technologies and more effectively navigate today’s dynamic business realities. To date, at least 10 start-up companies have been born from SU programs beginning June 2009.

“The Kauffman Foundation deeply understands how the convergence of entrepreneurship and exponential technologies will drive growth in the global economy,” said Salim Ismail, Executive Director and CEO at Singularity University. “The opportunities are seemingly endless for keen entrepreneurs to disrupt entrenched industries and cause positive change to the world’s grand challenges. With Kauffman’s support and its unique programs and research, students of Singularity University will have access to resources to support long-term business success. We look forward to working with the Foundation to develop entrepreneurs and create positive global change.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Salim Ismail, Executive Director of Singularity University, is introduced by Dr. Raj Shah (USAID Administrator) and gives some impromptu remarks about SU’s approach to addressing Grand Challenges at a State Dinner hosted by Secretary Hilary Clinton and attended by officials from a variety of agencies and NGOs.

A big congratulations goes to GSP-10 student Miguel Luengo-Oroz (and his team) for having their research paper, “Cell Lineage Reconstruction of Early Zebrafish Embryos Using Label-Free Nonlinear Microscopy,” published online and in the prestigious journal Science.

The paper details how the team caught the first few minutes of a zebrafish’s life on film using non-linear optical properties of a cell’s membrane and microtubules. Their innovative technique captured the cell division images quickly to allow the team to stitch them together to form a movie.

Nature’s “The Great Beyond” blog also mentioned the Science article and included the video.

It’s been a busy month at Singularity University in terms of our interactions with Washington.  Yesterday, Dr. Dr. Bobby Braun, NASA’s Chief Technologist, spoke at a joint NASA Ames/Singularity University event which is introducing SU’s approach to exponential technologies to the local community.  Dr. Braun referenced an open letter he wrote to college students country-wide and spoke eloquently about this Administration’s commitment to leveraging technology to address Grand Challenges.  (His letter is a must-read.)

Three weeks ago, I was invited to Washington DC to participate in a 1.5 day conference put on by USAID, the $20bn development arm of the State Department.  Dr. Rajiv Shah, who heads up USAID, declared their commitment to using Science Technology & Innovation (STI) to address Grand Challenges in Development and demonstrated it by gathering 60 thought leaders from government, philanthropy, technology and development to discuss it.  The event was co-sponsored by Dr. John P. Holdren, Science Advisor to the President, and ended with a State Dinner with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who reiterated their commitment in her address to the conference attendees.

Dr. Rajiv Shah - Credit: USAID/Bethany Egan

Since leveraging technology to address global issues is our constant focus at Singularity University, we’re thrilled with these outcomes.  When we compared USAID’s draft list of Grand Challenges to what our students have studied and produced in their Team Projects, there was a 90%+ overlap.

One of the central structural questions about government that keeps us up at night is the following: “how do regulatory frameworks keep pace when technology is accelerating away from us?”  An approach to Grand Challenges which acknowledges and accounts for technology and innovation is necessary, but not easy.  Many organizations have been trying this for decades with little success.

Along with our Graduate Studies Program, we also run 9-day Executive Programs for government leaders and business executives (our next program is Oct 13-22nd) where we explore how disruptive technologies will create billion dollar opportunities (and threats).  Our last program was considered a resounding success.

We’ve had the luxury of a greenfield approach in thinking about how to address Grand Challenges with technology and have evolved this model with the top thinkers in the world along with the visionary ideas of our co-founders Peter Diamandis and Ray Kurzweil.  What’s exciting is that our government, which is traditionally slow to adopt new models, is fully engaged and implementing this approach.

It makes all of us at Singularity University highly optimistic about our future.

Salim Ismail
CEO & Executive Director
Singularity University

Join Singularity University as it presents “Women @ the Frontier,” a very special evening to showcase the voice of women leaders on Tuesday, July 13th at NASA Ames Research Park. Meet and hear from women leaders at the frontier of business, technology, science, and humanitarianism as they address Singularity University’s “10^9+ challenge” and address the question: “How would you positively impact one billion people, in 10 years, leveraging exponential trends and innovative entrepreneurship?”

Women @ the Frontier will feature a powerhouse panel, including:

• Susan Fonseca-Klein – Singularity University – Host & MC
• Sonia Arrison Senkut – Pacific Research Institute – Panel Moderator
• Liddy Karter – Karter Capital Advisors
• Cynthia Kenyon – UCSF
• Rebecca Moore – Google
• Laurie Yoler – GrowthPoint Technology Partners

Singularity University is hosting its first Women’s Forum featuring top female entrepreneurs, VCs, humanitarians, innovators, scientists and technology leaders to hear their voices on issues relevant to our future.  The event will begin with a ‘Frontier Expo’ showcasing cutting edge scientific and technological breakthroughs, women-led initiatives, entrepreneurial ventures and start-ups, and women’s resources associations. Following the Expo, the event will culminate with a ‘Frontier Panel.’

WHEN: Tuesday, July 13, 2010 — Exposition: 6:30-7:30 pm, Panel + Q&A: 7:30-9:00 pm

WHERE: Singularity University Campus, NASA Ames Research Park, Building 3 Ballroom, Moffett Field, CA 94035

RSVP:  http://event.pingg.com/women-frontier

DIRECTIONS: http://singularityu.org/about/directions/bldg-3-nasa-classrooms

WEBSITE: http://singularityu.org/women2010/

ABOUT SINGULARITY UNIVERSITY

Singularity University (SU) is an interdisciplinary university whose mission is to assemble, educate and inspire a cadre of leaders who strive to understand and facilitate the development of exponentially advancing technologies in order to address humanity’s grand challenges. With the support of a broad range of leaders in academia, business and government, SU hopes to stimulate groundbreaking, disruptive thinking and solutions aimed at solving some of the planet’s most pressing challenges. SU is based at the NASA Ames campus in Silicon Valley. For more information, visit, http://www.singularityu.org

Thank you to all the 300+ people that were able to attend our Graduate Studies Program 2010 Opening Ceremonies and party on Monday night!

This was a great kick-off event and our 80 amazing students from all over the world thoroughly enjoyed meeting guests and hearing from keynote speakers Larry Brilliant, Larry Page, Dan Barry, Peter Diamandis, and Ray Kurzweil.

To view a quick 3 minute video please visit http://singularityu.org/gsp10oc (video is also below)

Click here to view the embedded video.

To view a gallery of photos please visit singularityu.org/gsp10oc-photos

Thank you!

-From the entire Singularity University Team

PS: To track and stay updated about the program over the next 10 weeks, please join our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/singularityu

Class Size Doubled to Accommodate Growing Interest in Addressing “Humanity’s Grand Challenges” through Scientific and Technological Collaboration

Opening Ceremonies Launches Summer Program at NASA Ames on June 21, Innovative Program Welcomes Students from 35 Nations

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. – June 15, 2010 – Singularity University (SU) — the academic institution with the goal of preparing the next generation of leaders to address “humanity’s grand challenges” — today announced the second year of its Graduate Studies Program (GSP), and a doubled class size to accommodate 80 of the top students from 35 nations around the globe. On June 21 SU co-founders, faculty, industry leaders, and other VIP guests will welcome the new class of students at the program’s Opening Ceremonies to take place at NASA Ames Research Park. The Graduate Studies Program will begin June 19 and end with Closing Ceremonies on August 28.

Singularity University co-founders Dr. Ray Kurzweil and Dr. Peter H. Diamandis will formally introduce the GSP-10 class and introduce the students to their 10-week exploration of the convergence of science, exponentially accelerating technologies, and grand challenges. Dr. Larry Brilliant of the Skoll Urgent Threat Fund will keynote the event.

“The past year has demonstrated pressing global challenges, as well as a significant shift in the zeitgeist for exponential and accelerating technologies,” said Dr. Ray Kurzweil, co-founder and chancellor, Singularity University. “It is only through the scale of exponentially growing information technologies that we can meet these challenges.  It is our goal at Singularity University to foster a deep understanding of these technologies and through the team projects to directly solve urgent world needs.”

Ten Weeks of Study, A Lifetime of Innovation

The Graduate Summer Program is a ten-week interdisciplinary curriculum designed to facilitate understanding, collaboration, and innovation across a broad range of carefully chosen scientific and technological disciplines whose developments are exponentially accelerating. In addition to lectures and workshops with world-class leaders, students can also participate in hands-on excursions to leading Silicon Valley labs and companies, and exposure to NASA’s many technologies.

From more than 1,600 pre-applicants, the 80 graduate and post-graduate students in the summer program were chosen based on their level of expertise in individual “tracks,” demonstrated entrepreneurial and leadership skills, and their commitment to addressing and solving important issues facing our world. Taught by the leading minds in their respective fields, the GSP curriculum tracks include: future studies and forecasting; policy, law and ethics; finance and entrepreneurship; networks and computing systems; biotechnology and bioinformatics; nanotechnology; medicine, neuroscience and human enhancement; AI and robotics; energy and ecological systems; and space and physical sciences.

And the keystone of the GSP, the challenging Ten to the Ninth Power Plus (10^9+) group projects, are designed to positively affect at least one billion people within the next 10 years in five key areas. SU faculty chose five challenges for this year’s class: home energy, water, vertical farming, up-cycling, and space exploration.

“The biggest changes affecting the world today, such as the financial crisis, the growth of social media, medical technologies, aspects of climate change, are all rooted in accelerating and exponential factors,” said Dr. Peter H. Diamandis, co-founder and chairman at Singularity University. “Billion dollar companies are popping up overnight while century-old companies are folding. Our 10-week Graduate Studies Program is an extraordinary program for graduate and post-graduate students to understand exponential technologies, their projected growth, their disruptive nature and their ability change the world. Students gain a working knowledge of ten different “exponential tracks,” as well as take an interdisciplinary deep dive to learn how to better manage and navigate these technologies. This year’s class of students are incredibly accomplished and truly exceptional, we expect the effects of the GSP graduates and their 10^9+ projects to be far-reaching and positively affect humanity’s challenges.”

We were pleased to see a long article featuring Singularity University appeared in today’s New York Times titled “Merely Human? That’s So Yesterday.”  While factually accurate, the narrow focus of the article may lead readers away from the core goal of our program, which is to leverage accelerating technologies to address global issues. It’s our focus on these global Grand Challenges that has attracted such a world-class faculty and applicants from 85 countries to apply to attend, and we thought it appropriate to explain this in more detail than the scope of the article presented.

We certainly agree with the acceleration in technology and the enormous impacts they continue to have on our lives.  But the major benefits also come with major costs and risks – the oil disaster in the Gulf is a clear example of that.  It’s also clear that many people around the world — including policy makers or business leaders– would like a better handle on the dramatic impact rapidly advancing technologies have on society.  The impact of the financial crisis, itself rooted in accelerating factors, is a further example.

We work to bring together students from around the world and from a wide variety of backgrounds: they are researchers and teachers, NGO workers and social and business entrepreneurs. Next Saturday, 80 students from 35 countries will start a 10-week intensive Graduate Studies Program that is the heart of Singularity University.

In Week One, we’ll bring together global experts in our grand challenges to examine the characteristics of home energy,
clean water, the future of food production, and upcycling of consumer waste.  They’ll learn what’s been tried, what’s worked, and what’s failed in these areas.  After that, they’ll spend half the program getting unique interdisciplinary views of accelerating technologies – including the state of the art and what might be possible in the next decade.  The second half is spent entirely on a set of team projects leveraging these technologies and working on products and services that can help people address them.  The four team projects from our inaugural summer are a great testament to our approach.

Our curriculum spends significant time on the risks of these accelerating technologies as well as the benefits.   We logically conclude it is probable that these technologies are coming, whether people like them or not, and it’s quite important to try to study them and their consequences, both good and bad.   Some may see optimistic projections as wishful thinking, and indeed there are those who believe in a better future simply because they like the idea.  But even if one assigns a low probability to the world changing events and technologies we study in our sessions, the effects are so dramatic that it would be an error not to have a place to study them.

Mr. Kurzweil has often stated that war is a very expensive method of human development, while technology has been an extraordinarily powerful and inexpensive method.  We at Singularity University agree – our view is that these accelerating technologies can actually scale to meet the needs of our Grand Challenges.

Salim Ismail
CEO & Executive Director
Singularity University

Congratulations are in order for GSP-09 alumni Tim Coleman, Shawna Pandya, and Zubin Wadia and the rest of the CiviGuard team for their first city customer win in the Emergency Communications 2.0 space!  Check out Zubin’s Gov 2.0 Expo presentation for more details, and the full news release below.

As one of the companies launched from last year’s 10^9 team projects, CiviGuard is making great progress in the challenge to positively impact one billion people within 10 years. We look forward to following their successes throughout the year and beyond!

CiviGuard and City of Manor, Texas Partner to Bring Emergency Communications 2.0 to Citizens

CiviGuard to Announce First Government Customer at Gov 2.0 Expo

CiviGuard, a pioneer in Emergency Communications 2.0, announced the City of Manor, Texas as its first public sector customer.  CiviGuard and Manor will collaborate on a pilot deployment of the CiviGuard platform, which delivers authoritative, location-specific alerts and guidance in real-time to civilian populations via smartphones. CiviGuard will discuss details of the partnership and initial deployment during a keynote presentation at the Gov 2.0 Conference in Washington, DC later today.

The CiviGuard platform is the first in the world to deliver near real-time information from authorities to civilians by combining cutting-edge smartphone technologies such as HTML5, cloud-based infrastructure, multi-touch scenario management and intelligent multi-channel message distribution into a single offering.

“We are thrilled to be announcing Manor, Texas as CiviGuard’s first public sector client at the prestigious Gov 2.0 Expo,” said CiviGuard CEO & co-founder Zubin Wadia.  “Manor has a proven reputation and appetite for innovative technology solutions that focus on enhancing the way citizens interact with their government. This partnership is the first step towards achieving our goal of making CiviGuard’s platform the global standard for Emergency Communication 2.0.”

“The City of Manor was thoroughly impressed by the innate capabilities of CiviGuard’s cutting-edge emergency communications solution,” said Dustin Haisler, CIO for Manor, Texas. “CiviGuard’s advantage is clear – its rapid-messaging capabilities, its location-specific alert focus, and cross-platform optimization enable the City’s first responders to more effectively disseminate crucial, actionable information to civilians in crisis situations. The City of Manor prides itself on making sure government is more accessible, efficient and responsive to the needs of its citizens and we feel confident that CiviGuard will be a solid partner to further our citizen-centric approach to governance.”

CiviGuard presented at the Gov 2.0 Expo keynote kick-off on Tuesday, May 25 at 5:20pm (EDT) at the Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC. Please visit http://www.gov2expo.com/gov2expo2010/public/schedule/detail/14850 for presentation details.

Maker Faire Attendees Can Win a $15,000 Seat at an Upcoming Singularity University Exponential Technologies Executive Program

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. – May 20, 2010 – How would you positively impact a billion people within ten years? How would you use science and technology to address grand challenges such as water, healthcare, and education? Singularity University invites you to visit the “Singularity University Café” at this weekend’s Maker Faire to learn about these grand challenges, and hear how new technologies are empowering teams to work on some of these most pressing issues. Visitors to the Singularity University Café–located at Midway M20–can also enter for a chance to win a spot in an upcoming Singularity University Exponential Technologies Executive Program valued at $15,000.

MAKING ITS MARK AT MAKER FAIRE

Singularity University Café will illustrate the goals and vision of the university with on-going presentations by two exciting companies born from last year’s Graduate Studies Program–CiviGuard and Gettaround. The CiviGuard team will discuss their latest products focused on dramatically improving crisis communications for emergency and disaster response. The Gettaround team will discuss how their person-to-person car sharing community can positively impact the climate, and demonstrate their award-winning car controlling mobile application. In addition, several thought-leading speakers will discuss some of the topics taught at SU, ranging from the latest in medicine and robotics to energy and 3D building construction.

“In a fun and visually impressive fashion, Maker Faire shows what can happen when the current limits of science, technology, and design are pushed,” said Salim Ismail, Executive Director of Singularity University. “As Maker Faire has proven before, one’s imagination is truly the only limit to some of the greatest innovation. We’re looking forward to participating in our first Maker Faire, and sharing the ideas and achievements of SU students, faculty and associates with the Maker community.”

A CHANCE TO WIN AN EDUCATION, EXPERIENCE OF A LIFETIME

Taught by world-class faculty and some of the leading minds in their respective fields, the Executive Program is an intensive education designed to prepare executives and entrepreneurs to face the dynamic business realities of today and tomorrow. Held quarterly, Singularity University offers its Exponential Technologies Executive Program to a very limited group of C-Level executive participants. All qualified Maker Faire attendees can register at the Singularity University Café for a chance to win a seat, including on-site accommodations at NASA Ames. Registration qualifications will be posted at Singularity University Café. A winner will be selected randomly from all registrations received at the Singularity University Café from 10:30 AM on Saturday May 22, 2010 to 6:30 PM on Sunday May 23, 2010. The winner will be announced on Tuesday, June 1, 2010 on the Singularity University webpage , via Twitter (@singularityu) and on the official Singularity University Facebook page.

The imaginative and innovative Maker Faire takes place at the San Mateo County Fairgrounds on Saturday, May 22 and Sunday, May 23, 2010.

About Singularity University

Singularity University (SU) is an interdisciplinary university whose mission is to assemble, educate and inspire a cadre of leaders who strive to understand and facilitate the development of exponentially advancing technologies in order to address humanity’s grand challenges. With the support of a broad range of leaders in academia, business and government, SU hopes to stimulate groundbreaking, disruptive thinking and solutions aimed at solving some of the planet’s most pressing challenges. SU is based at the NASA Ames campus in Silicon Valley. For more information, go to singularityu.org.

Press Contact:
Denise Vardakas
The Conversation Group
denise@theconversationgroup.com
+1-650-483-5083