Webinars | Harvard in Tech Seattle

Harvard in Tech Seattle presents a special webinar on “Microsoft Cloud Intelligence/AIOps – Infusing AI into Cloud Computing”.

We were joined by a distinguished team from Microsoft to explore how Microsoft scientists approach cloud computing, the translation of research into product strategy, applications of AI in Azure, as well as a discussion on recent technologies. This conversation will bring a holistic view, approaching AI from research, product strategy, engineering and customer experience perspectives.

Panelists:
Dr. Dongmei Zhang, Distinguished Scientist, Microsoft Research
Dr. Marcus Fontoura, Technical Fellow & Corporate VP, Microsoft Azure
Murali Chintalapati, Partner Group Software Engineering Manager, Microsoft Azure
Igal Figlin, Partner PM Manager, Microsoft Azure

Moderators:
Mahenoor Yusuf, Executive Director, Harvard in Tech Seattle
Anastasia Chernykh, Program Manager, Harvard in Tech Seattle

Key Takeaways:

Artificial Intelligence is shaping the entire IT industry path. The cloud computing platform is becoming part of the underlying infrastructure of our society.
Data centre networks and infrastructures are becoming increasingly powerful. As a result, managing them becomes more complex. Considering AIOps as a strategic direction enables companies to automate processes, recognize problems in the IT environment earlier and facilitate communication between teams.
The digital transformation of the software industry itself has focused Microsoft researchers' attention on cloud computing in software updates. Scientists are looking at the importance of non-functional properties of cloud computing platforms, including availability, reliability, performance and security.
Operating in an area vulnerable to rapid innovation requires proactive and predictive problem identification and resolution. This requires a unified predictive framework that can cluster and correlate disparate data sources. Artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities allow the software to perform in-depth root cause analysis, speeding up troubleshooting.
The development and prioritization of solutions needs to be based on the definition of the customer experience and continuous monitoring of the platform. Improvements in artificial intelligence provide insights and predictions of what customers will need. This will also help in addressing the client's concerns about the quality of the different types of data collected by applications.
As cloud technology evolves, the requirements will increase. Proactive system design is one of the big innovations that could lead to easier and faster decision-making.

Harvard in Tech Seattle presents a special webinar on “Space for Sale! The Commercialization of the Space Economy”.

We explore the evolution of digital assets, regulation around crypto currency & digital assets, insight on official adoption of cryptocurrency, and its global disruption on all financial players and more.

Panelists:
Dr. Matthew Weinzierl (HU), Professor, Harvard Business School
Sinéad O'Sullivan(HBS ‘17), Strategy & Competitiveness, Harvard Business School
Kylie Lucas (HBS), Corporate Strategy Lead, BLUE ORIGIN
Dr. Benjamin Jenett, Founder, Metavoxel Technologies
Jeff Matthews, Space Industry Lead, Deloitte

Moderators:
Mahenoor Yusuf, Chair, Harvard in Tech Seattle
Roger Hackett, Founder Ryan and Robbie LLC

Key Takeaways:

China is in the forefront of digital currency Renminbi (RMB) electronic payment at world level. Their goal is to maintain control of money supply & prevent foreign exchange risks. This official adoption of cryptocurrency in China is with the aim to gradually reduce the dependency of the US dollar.
The decision to move the U.S to digital currency five to seven years from now is political but will not replace the paper dollar. It wolid be a mix adoption.
The free and non-fungible nature of bitcoin’s energy consumption makes it greener and more sustainable than other mixed sources, while it can generate money and security.
Crypto and digital assets offer permission less, cashless, and yield, which is a payment revolution for value transfer.
To invest in Crypto, one should contribute a small percentage of their total investment, be prepared to lose a significant part of it, stay for the long-term, and have the same investment vision as a traditional investment.

Harvard in Tech Seattle presents a special webinar on “The Future of Digital Assets”.

We explore the evolution of digital assets, regulation around crypto currency & digital assets, insight on official adoption of cryptocurrency, and its global disruption on all financial players and more.

Panelists:
Holger Arians, CEO BANXA
Massimo Buonomo, Expert Blockchain in Finance, Former UN
Torsten Hoffmann - Founder & CEO, 3DCH Media (Cryptopia Documentary)

Moderator:

Mahenoor Yusuf, Chair, Harvard in Tech Seattle

Key Takeaways:

China is in the forefront of digital currency Renminbi (RMB) electronic payment at world level. Their goal is to maintain control of money supply & prevent foreign exchange risks. This official adoption of cryptocurrency in China is with the aim to gradually reduce the dependency of the US dollar.
The decision to move the U.S to digital currency five to seven years from now is political but will not replace the paper dollar. It wolid be a mix adoption.
The free and non-fungible nature of bitcoin’s energy consumption makes it greener and more sustainable than other mixed sources, while it can generate money and security.
Crypto and digital assets offer permission less, cashless, and yield, which is a payment revolution for value transfer.
To invest in Crypto, one should contribute a small percentage of their total investment, be prepared to lose a significant part of it, stay for the long-term, and have the same investment vision as a traditional investment.

Harvard in Tech Seattle presents a special webinar on “Future of Travel”.

We explore innovations in travel industry, Urban Aerial Mobility, technology capability of individual flying cars, infrastructure requirements, self flying planes and drones, travel during COVID and more.

Panelists:
Jorge Roberts, CEO, Avports
Rohit Goyal, Product Intel, Joby Aviation
Karina Yamamoto, CEO, Travilous
Harrison Wolf, Director Global Aviation, Zipline International
Greg Land, Director Global Industry Leader - Aviation, IBM

Moderator:
Mahenoor Yusuf, Chair, Harvard in Tech Seattle

Key Takeaways:

Digital transformation of Travel Industry will be driven by customer experience, customer expectation & value creation.
In order to restore traveler’s trust we will see adoption of digital credentials related to Biometrics, autonomous cleaning and touch less interaction that is managed through individual mobile devices at the airports.
IBM is leading the way with Health Pass using Blockchain. Health Pass will enable organizations to help return individuals to a physical location such as workplace, school, airline flights and also enhance activities we love like sports events, and eating at restaurants in a safe and enjoyable way.
There will be a roll out of a new form of air transportation to alleviate traffic congestion at major cities in the world. Air taxi will give back the travel time to the urban commuters, will be cost efficient, environment friendly (no carbon emission, noise pollution). Public acceptance and cost efficiency will be the main driver for this new technology adoption.
In Africa there is a massive need of connecting the economy and Autonomous Vehicle will play a big role addressing that.
Autonomous Vehicle commercial delivery will improve efficiency. In Rwanda Zipline not only saved lives through on demand delivery of medical supplies but also reduced medical system blood waste from (6-7)% to 0%.

Harvard in Tech Seattle presents a special webinar on “Technology Innovation in US Defense”.

We explore Defense Technology Policy, DOD partnership in R&D, Biological war tech, Quantum Computing, National defense & economic competition, Cyber Security and more.

Panelists:
Dr. Lydia Kostopoulos, Strategy & Innovation Advisor, US Special Operations Command
Arjun Bisen, Product Policy Advisor, Google
Dr. Sarah Kreps, Professor, Department of Government, Cornell University
Jake Sotiriadis, Ph.D., Chief, Strategic Foresight and Futures Branch, US Air Force
LTG. Russel Honore (Retired) US Army

Moderator:
Mahenoor Yusuf, Chair, Harvard in Tech Seattle

Key Takeaways:

There are a plethora of emerging technologies with NatSec implications and DOD has made great strides in building cross sector partnerships, up-skilling, and forecasting, to help it take advantage of several tech revolutions, including digital, bio and quantum. Still more needs to be done to allow emerging tech to be integrated and adopted at a DOD scale and with older hardware while developing norms and humanitarian law to ensure new tech is deployed responsibility.
Quantum Computing is a long horizon platform that will vastly reshape war and peace, from Quantum security, to Quantum Clocks, and Quantum Communications to synchronize All Domain Warfare. These same technologies have the potential to transform economies, supply chains, and data security, and privacy for corporations and individuals.
The tradeoff between security, role based access, and ease of use in Military Technology on the battlefield needs to evolve to match the civilian experience.
Military and University partnerships need to be broader to include social sciences to address global culture to go beyond winning wars, and win the Peace. Universities need to offer, and Military roles and leadership needs to embrace PhD and advanced Graduate programs for Military personnel as part of a core leadership progression.
Culture matters and needs to be considered on the front end of Military Action. Once we win the war, we need to win the peace. The seamless transition to a PeaceTime governance happens best when there is a comprehensive understanding of the end goal, and the means to achieve this goal through leadership in the countries where the war takes place. Like South Korea, Germany, and Japan, part of achieving a successful peace and thriving economic partnerships may involve long term military base installations to safeguard alliance countries and regions.
The world population growth from 7B to 10B will strain Global security, putting pressure on Food, Water, and Energy. The overlap between national security, and civilian economic activity will be expansive and requires holistic thinking and planning. DOD efforts need to seamlessly implement strategies and technologies to eliminate threats, increase sustainability of DOD activities, and to support compatible leadership regimes that resonate with the authentic cultures of the diverse regions of the world.

Harvard in Tech Seattle presents a special webinar on “Technology Influence on Politics”.

We explore technology influence, Social Media influence, foreign influence into US election, policy making, campaigning, voters influence, special interest group and more.

Panelists:
Sonal Shah, Executive Director, Beeck Center for Social Impact & Innovation
Allen Collinsworth, President, Fara Group
Jennifer Hollett, Executive Director, The Walrus
Dr. Dipayan Ghosh, Co-director, Digital Platforms & Democracy Project, Harvard Kennedy School

Moderators:
Mahenoor Yusuf, Chair, Harvard in Tech Seattle
Roger Hackett, Founder Ryan and Robbie LLC

Key Takeaways:

Technology, and more specifically social media platforms, and algorithms influence citizens. This can be positive, or negative depending on the platform policies, and the actors on the platform.
Technology policy alone cannot be expected to effectively secure free and fair elections. The U.S. government for example must set its public policy, laws, and regulations to drive incentives, including cyber tech to ensure proper engagement of Campaign support from foreign powers and interests.
Policies that Social Media firms, and search engine firms set represent the interests of the firm's stakeholders. There is an overlap between the Firm's Stakeholders and Country's stakeholders, however the emphasis differs, and on a Global level foreign powers can take advantage of the differences between incentives that a firm has and the rights of citizens and interests of the nation to achieve their own foreign policy agenda.
Social Media platforms offer a potential power equalizer with traditional lobbyists and special interest groups in that these platforms allow voters to combine their numbers to vote for candidates who represent the changes they seek. This can be seen both in the presidential election of Barack Obama, the election of the Squad, and the Black Lives Matter Movement. Globally it can be seen through the Arab Spring toppling the government by organizing and coordinating demands for change in an overwhelming fashion.
Civic Tech, and the role that government plays can be updated and modernized to match government services to citizens needs through software, and platforms that leverage algorithms, machine learning, and AI. The government's role reimagined as a technology provider or purchaser of technology systems in the Civic domain can transform the quality of services that citizens receive. It also may reduce conflicts of interests between Firm interests i.e. special interest groups, and the rights and interests of the country. A good example of this is the Public Library system, or Military Hospitals. Defining the right level of capability and role for the public vs. private sector is a balance between efficiency, and price vs. national security. There is a lot of room for improvement, and a lot of potential for powerful change.

Harvard in Tech Seattle presents a special webinar on “Smart City, The Future Of The Economy”.

We explore Smart City technology solutions, socio-economic impact, human centered design, social sustainability, data privacy, safety, ethics and more.

Panelists:
Dr. Alex `Sandy' Pentland, Professor, MIT
Dr. Jaana Remes, Partner, McKinsey Global Institute
Dr. Christian Vogt, Chief Innovation Officer, Data & Analytics, Cisco
Peter Jackson, Senior Portfolio Director, IDEO
Dale R. Killinger, Former Section Chief, FBI
Shih Hor Lau , Chairman, Smart Nation Chapter, SGTech

Moderators:
Mahenoor Yusuf, Chair, Harvard in Tech Seattle
Roger Hackett, Founder Ryan and Robbie LLC

Key Takeaways:

Smart City can improve the quality of life 10% - 30%
The most effective way to get the public to buy in to implement a Smart City is to find a specific pain point, and integrate a Smart City approach to show the value of Data Driven real time Intelligence integrated into city life. This will increase adoption of future Smart City projects, and overall appreciation for the importance of a Smart City.
Designing a Smart City should not be a Technology looking for a problem to solve, it should start with the needs of the City’s citizens.
Smart City alone cannot transform our economy. Economic Transformation requires that Smart City gains diffuse across all communities and current barriers due to race, and economic wealth hinders the diffusion of benefits.
Smart Cities adoption is increased if the City passes a law requiring Smart City compliance.
Data Security is much stronger if the Data Stores are distributed rather than Centralized.

Harvard in Tech Seattle presents a special webinar on “Racism, Why We Must Solve It In Technology”.

We explore how can technology improve the treatment of racial groups and their interactions with the Police, and criminal justice system, improve equity in education, improve financial opportunities and more.

Panelists:
Rachael Splaine Rollins, District Attorney, Suffolk County
Kevin L. Nichols, Founder, President & CEO, The Social Engineering Project
Angela Antony, CEO at Scoutible
Stacy Kirk, CEO QualityWorks Consulting Group
Jon Scott, Vice President/Risk Mgmt. Manager, Bank of the West

Moderators:
Mahenoor Yusuf, Chair, Harvard in Tech Seattle
Roger Hackett, Founder Ryan and Robbie LLC

Key Takeaways:

With technology, we have a choice. We can use technology to make the system fair, enrich society, unite the world and share the benefits that the world and technology has to offer in a loving and humanizing way
By 2042, the majority of the US population will be people of color. By closing the racial wealth gap, the US GDP could be projected 4% to 6% higher by 2028. No action will cost the US economy $1 to $1.5 trillion between 2019 and 2028. It is high time we reduce Systemic Racism on a targeted timeline and establish accountability at all levels of the society that triggers Systemic Racism. It is time to work together.
Need to reform the Criminal Justice System to minimize racial bias. i.e. A centralized, nationwide Data System for Criminal Justice system (including Police personnel record), policy reform - reevaluate qualified immunity for police, the ability of employers, landlords, and others to disqualify people for misdemeanors and other minor crimes etc.
Fair representation in politics is needed so that the policymakers can make justified policy reform. Technology can be leveraged to have a grass root level initiative to make the change.
In order to leverage a high tech education system, initial funding is required to ensure basic needs are addressed . I.e. Laptop for all students, high speed Internet access for underprivileged communities.
Soft skill (scientifically measured personality and cognitive aptitude) based technology driven hiring process is unbiased.

Harvard in Tech Seattle presents a special webinar on “COVID 19 Vaccine and Treatment”.

Humankind has never had a more urgent task than creating broad immunity for COVID 19. Harvard in Tech Seattle presents a panel discussion exploring COVID 19 Vaccine & Treatment.

Panelists:
Sebastian Sorsaburu, MD: VP/Medical Head, Intercontinental at Amgen
Lorence Kim, MD, CFO at Moderna Therapeutics
Aysu Uygur, PhD, Strategy Officer at Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Tarun Gupta, MD GP, Clinical Commissioner at NHS
Rhiju Das, PhD, Associate Professor of Biochemistry at Stanford University School of Medicine
Libby Page, MPH, Immunization PM at Public Health, Seattle & King County

Moderator:
Mahenoor Yusuf, Chair, Harvard in Tech Seattle
Roger Hackett, Founder Ryan and Robbie LLC

Key Takeaways:

“Operation Warp Speed” an US based program funding 5 Vaccine producers - Moderna, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and Merck to expedite the production of Vaccines. The program is committed to deliver a vaccine by Jan 2021 and they are on target.
The Gates Foundation has funded 7 Factories of leading COVID 19 Vaccine providers. This funding allows the exploration of vaccines along parallel paths, and avoids a bottleneck on the critical path of vaccine availability.
More than one Vaccine is necessary in order to allow distribution to reach Global Scale (15 billion). Innovation in transportation is necessary for some types of vaccines, such as mRNA to maintain stability. i.e OpenVaccine project.
The vaccines must be provided to high risk groups and communities, independent of price.
More collaboration is needed across borders and across companies for timely vaccine production.

Harvard in Tech Seattle presents a special webinar on “COVID 19: Is Telemedicine the Future of Health Care?”

The unprecedented outbreak of COVID-19 across the globe has resulted in increased demand for telemedicine solutions. Social distancing and lockdown implementation by several countries as a preventive measure to curb the pandemic. The impact of COVID 19 led us to explore with six distinguished panelists - Is Telemedicine is the future of Healthcare?

Panelists:
Prof. Myra White, Lecturer on Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Greg Jarzabek, Co-Founder, CEO at Trustedoctor
Hassaan Ebrahim, Co-Founder, CEO at Hikma Health
Debbi Gillotti, COO at nVoq, Inc., Board Director at UP
Chad Hiner, RN, VP, Customer Experience at nVoq, Inc
Michael Hatzakis Jr, MD, Owner at HatzakisMD

Moderators:
Mahenoor Yusuf, Chair, Harvard in Tech Seattle
Roger Hackett, Founder Ryan and Robbie LLC

Key Takeaways:

Telemedicine Technology combines hardware diagnostics, software platforms, and Medical Practice guidance & services. The menu of services possible is expansive, and COVID 19 demonstrates the need to expedite availability.
Telemedicine has global reach that can restructure the supply and demand for healthcare.
The Rural Urban Divide, and the low income vs. high income divide can be addressed through hybrid offerings via extended reach in the USA and overseas. Regulation and policy across states, and across borders needs to be streamlined and optimized for shared value.
Telemedicine can provide a cost effective alternative to cover many existing gaps in the current medical system. These include follow up medical treatment, clarification, diagnostics, and maintenance of care e.g. remedial exercises, and medication adherence.
Telemedicine is powerful, and the privacy, governance, and innovation mindset are important to establish Social acceptance.
Telemedicine is the future of medicine, and it is critical that all stakeholders are at the table to make sure it is the right future.

January 27, 2022 @ 11am PST

AI on the Battlefield: The Future of Warfare

AI on the Battlefield: The Future of Warfare

Upcoming Webinars

Latest Webinars

10/13/21

Microsoft Cloud Intelligence/AIOps

05/27/21

The Future of Digital Assets

03/18/21

Future of Travel

09/24/20

Technology Innovation in US Defense

08/27/20

Technology Influence on Politics

08/23/20

Smart City, The Future of the Economy

06/25/20

Racism, Why Must We Solve It In Technology

06/12/20

COVID-19 Vaccine & Treatment

06/06/20

COVID 19: Maintaining Mental Health

05/25/20

COVID 19: Is Telemedicine the Future of Health Care?

05/03/20

COVID 19 and Reopening the Economy

04/09/20

EduTech solutions to COVID 19