Singularity University Closing Ceremony

Peter Diamandis
Co-founder, Singularity University

An experiment that has been a “spectacular success”
graduating students; “type triple A personality”
done an amazing job in just a few weeks….
a least six companies are being formed as a result of the nine week summer session….

Singularity University will be expanding from initial 40 students to 100 students next summer

Today, we’re launching our executive program with the first session set for the end of the year or early next year…

looked forward to 20 years from now when there are 2,000 graduates of the program, just as there are in ISU today….

Futurist Ray Kurzweil
co-founder of SU

Created a group consciousness….the beginning of a community that is going to go forth and change the world….
Singularity has created a vibrant community that has already changed all of our lives here….

Presentations of group projects were very professional….looked like they were under development for two years, not just a few weeks….

Presentations of Group Projects

Overall Goal: how to impact a billion people positively within 10 years

Project 1: Acasa

– Traditional construction is slow, labor intensive and can’t meet the needs of 1.6 billion people with substandard housing…
– Use of 3-D printing technologies to build homes…

Project 2: Natural Disaster Management

– Networks that could alert people about what to do and where to go after a disaster…
– Phone apps that can transmit vital information on shelters, where to get help, etc.
– Has potential to save lives, change the way disaster response is done, and integrate data in an emergency better….

[Editor’s Note: An excellent idea, and from what I know of disaster management, would be a great addition. The challenge is robustness of the telecommunications infrastructure. The comm system tends to get quickly overloaded and go down immediately after a disaster. It certainly happened in New York on 9/11. So, when you need it most, it’s probably not there. It’s one of the reasons that emergency radios sell very well in California.]

Project 3: One Global Voice

– Take old 2G phones and connect them to the cloud computing system….
– Not a charity, a working business….
– A way to help people communicate and to lift them out of poverty….

Project 4: intelligent transportation

– Zip car meets ebay….
– peer to peer model….
– can rent out your car for money when you’re not using it…
– 44 percent reduction in miles traveled…40 percent decrease in carbon emissions…
– already incorporated a company, filed a patent, iPhone app and prototype tech….
– goal: a smart phone that will give someone access to transportation anytime, anywhere….

Pete Worden
NASA Center Director

great success….look forward to having them here next year….

Lori Garver
Deputy NASA Administration

Perfect that SU is at Ames….

just saw a briefing on work that NASA is doing on algae as a renewable fuel…
other briefing on amazing computing power that Ames has out here…