Looking to the Year Ahead

Dear Friends and Supporters,

In all that we do, we seek to cultivate opportunities to prepare students, policymakers, business leaders, and the broader community to lead in a world of rapid change. The year ahead is full of opportunity to deliver on that promise.

We will launch our new season with an Entrepreneurs Unplugged on August 31 featuring Jim Packer, the President of Worldwide TV & Digital Distribution at Lionsgate. On October 4, we will explore “3D Wireless: The Promise and Challenges of Next-Generation Space and Airborne Wireless Systems.” On October 18, we will discuss “The Social Implications of Technological Change,” looking back at lessons from the introduction of the telegraph, and what that can teach us about today’s information age. On November 15, we will examine “Improving Resilience in Cybersecurity and Spectrum.” On January 25, in Denver, we will hold a conference on “The Supreme Court and Patent Reform.” Our annual technology policy conference will be on February 11 and 12 and will focus on “Regulating Computing and Code,” examining how the central role of software is creating new challenges for policymakers. On March 8, we will explore the issues around notice and takedown requests in our annual content-focused conference.

In addition to these conferences, we will continue to propel entrepreneurship on campus and in the community through hosting the New Venture Challenge Information Technology Track, the Crash Course and Entrepreneurs Unplugged Series, Startup Summer, the Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network, the Governmental Entrepreneurial Leadership Accelerator (GELA), and a conference on #GiveFirst, where we discuss a book by Brad Feld of the same name. Please take a moment to check out this event lineup and mark your calendar to join us for these exciting events.

I am proud to welcome a new Silicon Flatirons faculty member this fall, Margot Kaminski. She comes to us from Ohio State and will direct our privacy and cybersecurity initiative. She joins, in addition to myself, our four other faculty directors: Amy Bauer (Tech Lawyer Accelerator program), Brad Bernthal (Entrepreneurship), Kristelia García (Content and Intellectual Property), and Blake Reid (Technology Policy). Dale Hatfield and Pierre de Vries continue to lead our Spectrum Initiative. It is a pleasure to work with such talented professionals. As you review our plans for the year ahead, we welcome your thoughts, engagement, questions, and concerns. We will continue to experiment – taking on new topics and making some changes to a few conference formats – and appreciate your feedback and support as we do so.

Cheers,

Phil Signature JPEG

Phil Weiser
Executive Director
Silicon Flatirons

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