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DEC 4th 2013: Innovation Vitality (Do you have the capacity to deliver on critical innovation initiatives?)

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What does it take to enact change in a stationary field? Innovation is difficult to enact anywhere, do you have what it takes? This discussion will touch upon what it takes to enact change on a larger scale.

It takes a lot of grit and determination to create and enter a new market, develop and apply a new process,  or do anything that is new and different. There is always resistance to change that needs to be overcome. Most individuals would also like to positively adapt to the situations they find themselves in, and all companies over time find themselves required to adapt to changing circumstances. Some of these circumstances are serious enough to demand a strong innovation response in order to keep the enterprise healthy or in some cases to even survive.

Although we frequently have excellent ideas about what to do in order to improve things,  they can be difficult to execute upon. The continued ability to operationalize insights can be called Innovation Vitality. This vital energy is what champions need to advocate innovation to all stakeholders including team, staff, colleagues, management and customers.

From this perspective, Innovation Vitality can be regarded as a measure of an organization’s capacity to launch and deliver on critical innovation initiatives. While innovation may occasionally occur without it, sustained innovation on the part of an individual, department or enterprise is generally directly proportional to innovation vitality.  As such, innovation vitality is an important, complex and multidimensional capability for any forward thinking entity.

Examples of Situations Requiring Critical Innovation Initiatives:

So how would you and your organization score on innovation vitality?

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Pre-Registration Tickets ($20)  – on SALE NOW!

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Come find out at the SVII Holiday (Christmas/New Year’s) Party this December 4th!

This will be a practical and interactive experience where we will each have a chance to perform a self-assessment using an Innovation Audit Questionnaire designed by Howard Lieberman, and currently used by organizations and their leaders around the world.

In addition, we will be bringing back some of your favorite panelists and innovators from 2013!  Keep checking back to see the updated roster (and don’t hesitate to send us requests).

This event will take place at 7PM at:

Hangen Szechuan Restaurant (2nd Fl), 134 Castro St, Mountain View, CA 94041

Dinner will be served!

Pre-Registration Tickets ($20)  – on SALE NOW!

(We will reconvene again with the first event of 2014 on Feb 5th)

PANELISTS:

HOWARD LIEBERMAN
Chairman, Senior Science and Technology Advisor 
SVII, DARPA, Apple Inc, Bose Corporation
After completing university programs in both Physics and Electrical Engineering, Howard spent fifteen years working for two large technology companies, Bose and Apple where he shipped more than a billion dollars of innovative products while taking Bose from analog to digital and Apple from computers into sound.He then spent a decade as a serial entrepreneur and a college dean and this last decade he has been applying these experiences as an innovator, innovation manager and innovation educator by founding and running the Silicon Valley Innovation Institute where he often finds himself functioning as an innovation articulator. He has also been an advanced technology procurement consultant to the US Air Force and is currently a Senior Science and Technology Advisor to DARPA, He is also active as a composer and performing jazz.
JUSTIN BAILEY
Vice President of Business Development
Double Fine Studios
Justin Bailey spent a dozen years in business development and strategic planning in the entertainment industry. During this career, Bailey has lead M&A initiatives, closed venture deals, setup crowd funding campaigns, and helped publishers make the transition from retail to digital distribution at Accenture, NAMCO BANDAI Games America, Perfect World Entertainment, and Double Fine Studios – where he currently presides over all business operations and is exploring how to effectively leverage crowd funding and crowd sourcing as a repeatable business practice.
BIRGITTE RASINE
Chief Evolution Officer
LUCITÀ Inc.
Birgitte Rasine serves as the Chief Evolution Officer (CEO) of LUCITÀ Inc., a hybrid design and communications firm. In line with her diverse media career that spans film production, journalism, publishing, marketing and technical writing, Birgitte has produced mobile apps and documentary films, written screenplays, funding proposals for NASA, and articles for Business Week, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety, and worked in visual effects, camera and lighting on Hollywood and independent feature films for PDI/Dreamworks, ILM, Universal Studios, HBO, and Disney, whom she credits for giving her time in the trenches.
She is also a literary author, with several books to her name, including the novella “Verse in Arabic,” which was named a Finalist in the 2013 Press 53 Open Awards, Novella Category. She blogs regularly for The Write Practice, a community of over 95,000 monthly readers. Her web site is www.birgitterasine.com
Birgitte holds a BA in Film Aesthetics from Stanford University and studied cinematography at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles and international relations at the Instituto Universitario Ortega y Gasset in Madrid, Spain. She is a Founding Circle member of the Association of Women in Water, Energy and the Environment and sits on the board of directors of a non profit organization in New York City dedicated to supporting the leaders of tomorrow.
CHRISTOS CHRESTATOS
Director  / Cinematographer
Thoughtpusher
Christos Chrestatos is an experienced filmmaker and director, and founder of Thoughtpusher, a New York City based creative shop specializing in commercials, music videos, fashion films, and “hybrid advertising”.  His work has been featured in the New Museum of Contemporary Art in Manhattan, XLR8R (leading voice in independent electronic music for the US and many top international markets), RES Magazine (bi-monthly publication chronicling the best in cutting edge film, music, art, design and culture), as well as TV channels in countries like Japan, Canada, and Germany.  Christos draws his inspiration from a curiosity towards the human condition, his love for mythology, and an appetite to create meaning;  He believes strongly in the universal language of imagery (and its ability to resonate with individuals), as well as the power of the narrative in bridging the gaps of global culture.

JONATHAN BREMER
Mechanical Design Engineer, Thermal Systems
Tesla Motors
Bremer is currently working as a Mechanical Design Engineer at Tesla Motors. Curiosity has always driven him. After finishing his undergrad at Western Washington University in plastics and vehicle engineering he quit his job and dedicated himself to the WWU X-Prize Team.  The WWU X Prize team built a carbon fiber, monocoque hybrid super mileage car, from the ground up.  He was personally responsible for in car computer, interior and exterior LED lighting, display system, software integration, and the auto centering windshield wiper. Viking-45(WWU X Prize car) ranked 6th out of 121 competitors achieving an average of 112MPGe. Directly after the X Prize competition he was hired onto the Prototype Vehicle Group at  Tesla Motors. He spent a year developing the Toyota Rav4 EV and Tesla Model S prototypes. As the Model S left the prototype phase Bremer moved to the Vehicle Engineering Thermal Systems Team where he played an active role in the rapidly evolving company supporting manufacturing, quality and service along with his Thermal Team responsibilities.

When the surfing is bad, Bremer spends most of his free time playing with LEDs, flying his drone, and riding around his electric skateboard, if he’s not getting arrested trying to change laws. Battle for the beach http://vimeo.com/75373721,  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/zach-weisberg/surfers-walk-in-martins-b_b_2663848.html. Projects and resume: http://theprojectportfolio.blogspot.com/

CODY A. SMITH
Consultant
Deloitte Consulting, Positivity Inc. 
Cody is a born entrepreneur.  He is deeply passionate about helping organizations find new frontiers in their overall culture,retain top talent and create healthier workplaces.   He is relentlessly curious and has a genuine love for exploring the world’s perspectives by getting to know new people. After obtaining his masters, he began consulting work forDeloitte.  He spent the first two years of his career traveling around the world helping clients understand better their risk of licensing intellectual property to the global marketplace.  He considers this international growth experience to have altered his life in an extremely positive and open-minded way.  He went on to spend 2 years atDeloitte Consulting in their Strategy & Operations practice where he helped executives of a Fortune 50 client spin-offhalf their business.

Cody is also an avid marathon runner and has competed in over 15 races around the world. His passion for running extends past participation as he has founded and organized a road race for charity.
(More Panelists TBA!)

Pre-Registration Tickets ($20)  – on SALE NOW!

NOV 6th 2013: Accelerating Large Enterprise Innovation

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Innovation on a large scale is a difficult task to approach, even more so when dealing with numerous people all of whom have the power to make important decisions. How is one to go about approaching this task. Is there a way to move forward quicker than a snail’s pace?

Innovation is extremely challenging when large numbers of decision makers in a well defined hierarchical chains of command are involved. Yet some multi-national multi-billion dollar companies routinely do just this, resulting in their persisting as world leaders in their respective markets. The principles behind these innovation cultures that permit and encourage the special behaviors required of both innovators and innovation advocates can be adopted by any size enterprises wishing to accelerate their innovation. Lets face it even if leaders can not agree on a definition of innovation, it does not stop them from declaring it to be a very high priority! Nor from desiring to accelerate it (whatever it is). Even if people do not know what it is, they know they want it and that is a totally reasonable stance.

This event will take place at 7PM at:

Hangen Szechuan Restaurant (2nd Fl), 134 Castro St, Mountain View, CA 94041

Dinner will be served!

Pre-Registration Tickets ($20)  – on SALE NOW!

PANELISTS:

HOWARD LIEBERMAN
Chairman, Senior Science and Technology Advisor 
SVII, DARPA, Apple Inc, Bose Corporation
After completing university programs in both Physics and Electrical Engineering, Howard spent fifteen years working for two large technology companies, Bose and Apple where he shipped more than a billion dollars of innovative products while taking Bose from analog to digital and Apple from computers into sound.He then spent a decade as a serial entrepreneur and a college dean and this last decade he has been applying these experiences as an innovator, innovation manager and innovation educator by founding and running the Silicon Valley Innovation Institute where he often finds himself functioning as an innovation articulator. He has also been an advanced technology procurement consultant to the US Air Force and is currently a Senior Science and Technology Advisor to DARPA, He is also active as a composer and performing jazz musician.

JONATHAN BREMER
Mechanical Design Engineer, Thermal Systems
Tesla Motors
Bremer is currently working as a Mechanical Design Engineer at Tesla Motors. Curiosity has always driven him. After finishing his undergrad at Western Washington University in plastics and vehicle engineering he quit his job and dedicated himself to the WWU X-Prize Team.  The WWU X Prize team built a carbon fiber, monocoque hybrid super mileage car, from the ground up.  He was personally responsible for in car computer, interior and exterior LED lighting, display system, software integration, and the auto centering windshield wiper. Viking-45(WWU X Prize car) ranked 6th out of 121 competitors achieving an average of 112MPGe. Directly after the X Prize competition he was hired onto the Prototype Vehicle Group at  Tesla Motors. He spent a year developing the Toyota Rav4 EV and Tesla Model S prototypes. As the Model S left the prototype phase Bremer moved to the Vehicle Engineering Thermal Systems Team where he played an active role in the rapidly evolving company supporting manufacturing, quality and service along with his Thermal Team responsibilities.

When the surfing is bad, Bremer spends most of his free time playing with LEDs, flying his drone, and riding around his electric skateboard, if he’s not getting arrested trying to change laws. Battle for the beach http://vimeo.com/75373721,  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/zach-weisberg/surfers-walk-in-martins-b_b_2663848.html. Projects and resume: http://theprojectportfolio.blogspot.com/

OSMAN ISVAN
Inventor, Audio Engineer, Consultant
Hewlett-Packard/Palm, Plantronics, Gibson Guitar, Bose Corporation 
Osman Isvan has been an acoustics and audio professional for over 30 years. After receiving a Bachelor of Science degree from the Istanbul Technical University in Turkey, Osman moved to the United States at the age of 25, and earned a Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Tufts University, specializing in vibrations and acoustics. He then joined Bose Corporation as a Research Engineer, where he developed loudspeaker simulation software, designed acoustic transducers and enclosures, and built a novel laser-Doppler vibration analysis system for the characterization of loudspeaker and headphone diaphragms and materials. In 1998 Osman joined Gibson Guitar Corporation in Nashville. The following year he invented and prototyped a multi- axis pickup for the company’s first guitar with digital audio interface, developed in partnership with the Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT) at the University of California at Berkeley. Osman then moved to California as an acoustics engineer for Plantronics, where he developed wired and wireless headsets and stereo headphones, before joining Palm / Hewlett Packard as Lead Audio Systems Engineer responsible for acoustic systems and audio parameter optimization of smart phones. Since 2011 Osman became an Engineering Consultant, serving clients in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Osman Isvan authored technical papers on audio signal processing, vibration damping, guitar pickups, the effect of winds on bicycles, and power optimization for Light Electric Vehicles. He is an inventor with 9 patents on loudspeakers, guitar pickups, noise reduction, echo cancellation, microphones, earphones and headsets. Recently he became interested in data integration and performance analysis for cyclists. He wants to develop a bicycle speedometer that measures wind velocity.

PETER J. ANDREWS
Senior Electro-Acoustic Engineer
Materion Corporation, ZT Amplifiers Inc., Transonos , Tymphany 
Born and raised in New England, Peter has called Northern California home for the past 8 years. An avid multi-instrumentalist, you might trip over any number of musical items on your way into his home. An early love of music & science culminated in degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Music Performance and Acoustical Engineering, studying under and assisting Dr. Amar Bose. During the ensuing 25 years, Peter has realized successful products for many professional and consumer sound brands, both in employee and consultant roles. From high-performance automotive and home entertainment speakers to acoustically calibrated screening rooms, from custom test & measurement software to telecomm peripherals, from guitar amplifiers to digital signal processors, Peter’s work has spanned nearly the entire electro-acoustics space. Patented inventions were shipped by brands like Boston Acoustics and Tymphany for many years.
After a few years abroad in Asia and Europe, Peter has developed a global perspective on the audio industry, leading multi-cultural and intercontinental teams to successful innovations and product launches. He now works for Materion Electrofusion designing ultra-high-performance beryllium diaphragms for professional loudspeakers. Peter jointly published an AES paper with Marshall Buck and others detailing improvements to large-format compression drivers, also presenting this work at ALMA International Symposia. He has recently accepted a nomination to ALMA International’s Board of Directors, and is excited to be co-chairing ALMA’s Winter Symposium.
SIEGFRIED LINKWITZ
Electrical Engineer
Linkwitz Lab, Hewlett-Packard

Born and raised in Germany, Siegfried Linkwitz came to California with his wife in 1961 for a two year experience in R&D of Hewlett-Packard’s Microwave Division. Siegfried had received the Diplom Ingenieur degree in Electrical Engineering from Darmstadt Technical University in Germany. He continued his education with postgraduate studies at Stanford University while working. His initial stay turned into 37 years of R&D at HP, on state-of-the-art electronic test equipment, such as microwave spectrum analyzers, network analyzers and EMI receivers.

He also traveled to Europe and Asia, teaching HP Seminars on test and measurement in the frequency range from 10 kHz to 20 GHz. During his last 18 years at HP he participated in leading roles in national and international standards development for Electromagnetic Compatibility Test Instrumentation through ANSI and IEC/CISPR 16. After retirement in 1998 from HP, now Agilent, in Santa Rosa, Siegfried continued to pursue a life-long interest in audio that started when he came to HP. There he and his colleagues designed and built their personal Hi-Fi systems, from the phono pre-preamp to the power amplifier and FM stereo tuner. Loudspeaker design followed, because commercial products seemed strangely designed to a microwave engineer.  The “Linkwitz Transform” circuit and earlier, in 1975, the “Linkwitz-Riley Crossover” filters were a necessity for his active speaker designs and came out of a shared audio hobby with Russ Riley. Between 1994 and 1999 he developed a line of open-baffle loudspeakers with moving coil drive units for Audio Artistry.

In 1999 he set up a website to share what he had learned about speaker design and to give a practical example, the PHOENIX. The site has grown significantly. ORION, PLUTO and LX521 loudspeakers have been added as new insights had been gained. He provides plans for DIY construction of state-of-the-art dipole and monopole loudspeakers using active electronics. The speakers are optimized for operation in reverberant domestic spaces. He believes to have found the ideal loudspeaker concept for creating a convincing auditory illusion of an acoustic event in a typical size living room.  The job is done. www.linkwitzlab.com

CODY A. SMITH
Consultant
Deloitte Consulting
Cody is a born entrepreneur.  He is deeply passionate about helping organizations find new frontiers in their overall culture,retain top talent and create healthier workplaces.   He is relentlessly curious and has a genuine love for exploring the world’s perspectives by getting to know new people.

After obtaining his masters, he began consulting work for Deloitte.  He spent the first two years of his career traveling around the world helping clients understand better their risk of licensing intellectual property to the global marketplace.  He considers this international growth experience to have altered his life in an extremely positive and open-minded way.  He went on to spend 2 years at Deloitte Consulting in their Strategy & Operations practice where he helped executives of a Fortune 50 client spin-off half their business.
Cody is also an avid marathon runner and has competed in over 15 races around the world. His passion for running extends past participation as he has founded and organized a road race for charity.

OCT 2nd 2013: Perspectives on Innovations in Food (Consequences or Breakthrough?)

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Are innovations in the food industry as healthy as we think it is? Are GMO’s as bad as many believe them to be? This roundtable with discuss the pros and cons of the innovation occurring in the food industry.

This month, SVII is taking on a topic that is literally close to our hearts. Very close in fact: our stomachs.

We all eat. Some of us eat to live, and others of us live to eat. Then, there are those who make their living from food production, preparation, alteration, transportation and distribution. At this month’s roundtable discussion, we will be acknowledging a healthy (and maybe not so healthy) variety of perspectives on innovations in food.

Today, the average consumer has an enormous number of choices regarding food. Eating out, take-out, cooking for yourself, growing your own food, getting it from far away, local, organic, exotic, in season and more. How are we to decide what to choose? There are few domains with so many options as food.
To top that, we also hear very contradictory advice about food. The number and types of diets espoused every year continues to go up and there does not appear to be much convergence in sight. Then again, how much is health and longevity a function of diet or genetics or environment?
In any case, food is something we should be better informed about and true to form, SVII is hosting a roundtable discussion with (as you would expect) more than one (or two) point(s) of view.
So come join us for another lively and at times provocative roundtable discussion!
Note: This event will take place at:


Hangen Szechuan Restaurant (2nd Floor)
134 Castro St. Mountain View, CA 94041
Appetizers will be provided!  (Waiter service will also be available for menu items.)

Pre-Registration Tickets ($20)  – on SALE NOW!

PANELISTS:
LINDA RIEBEL (Moderator)
Linda Riebel, psychologist and environmental educator, has published professional and popular works in addition to The Green Foodprint. As a faculty member at Saybrook University in San Francisco, she co-created the environmental studies program and co-authored two of its course texts. A graduate of Wellesley College, she serves on the boards of Sustainable Lafayette and SaveNature.Org, where she is the program director of Edible EdVentures, which brings the message of earth-friendly eating to classrooms around the San Francisco Bay Area. Linda has received notable recognition for her work as an environmental educator and author. Most recently, she won a 2012 Green Book Festival Award and was a finalist of the 2012 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Visit http://www.thegreenfoodprint.com/
DR. ED BAUMAN
Dr. Ed Bauman has been a pioneer in the field of holistic nutrition for over 35 years. His vision and leadership have inspired thousands of people to transform their lives in the form of wellness, community, and peace. He received his M.Ed. from the University of Massachusetts, and a Ph.D. in Health Promotion from the University of New Mexico. Dr. Ed Bauman created the Eating for Health model to teach individuals to make nutritionally comprehensive food choices and founded Bauman College in 1989, with a mission to change the world through better nutrition and healthful living. He is a special advisor for the National Association of Nutrition Professionals and brings a wealth of knowledge, wisdom, and a love of good health and good taste to his work.
ALAN FINKELSTEIN, M.B.A.
Alan received his MBA in Foodservice Management with an emphasis in Public Administration at Adelphi University in Garden City, New York. After attending the Culinary Institute of American in Hyde Park, New York, he completed an apprenticeship at the Hotel Schweizerhof in Bern, Switzerland. While teaching Culinary Arts at Laney College, he produced and performed in an acclaimed TV cooking series. Mr. Finkelstein came to San José State University as Executive Chef to oversee the food operations of Spartan Shops, Inc and served in that capacity for seven years. He teaches hospitality and cooking laboratories at SJSU and supervises the student-run First Class Dining Room on campus.
KATHRYN P. SUCHER, Sc.D., R.D.N.
Dr. Sucher received her Sc.D. from Boston University Medical Center in Nutritional Science. She has held several positions in industry before coming to San José State University. She is a recognized authority on how diet, health, and disease are affected by culture/ethnicity and religion. Dr. Sucher has published newsletters, numerous articles, and textbooks on this subject. Her latest textbook is Food and Culture, 4th edition (2004), published by Wadsworth. Other research interests include medical nutrition therapy.
CHEF JILLIAN LOVE
Jillian is a change agent & pioneer in the conscious cuisine and sustainable health movement! She is founder of Bay Area Raw, an organization providing events and social networking opportunities to bring together local businesses, entrepreneurs, visionaries, activists, community leaders and the greater Bay Area community members to share information, celebrate healthy lifestyle and support the growth of the Bay Area Raw Food Movement.  Jillian also runs the Revolutionary Raw Conscious Cuisine Meet Up Group, a community hub for individuals interested in exploring raw food cuisine and optimal nourishment and engaging in lifestyle choices that sustain the planet. Jillian Love is committed to global transformation through conscious cuisine and is an advocate for food justice.  Jillian completed her certification as Associate Raw Food Chef from Living Light Culinary Arts Institute in October 2003. She has her Bachelors Degree in Communications and a Masters Degree in Counseling. She is a Certified Life Coach through The Coaches Training Institute and a Certified Master NLP Practitioner through NLP California. She has lead retreats, taught classes and provided raw dinners, menu consultations and trainings in the USA, India, Thailand, and Indonesia. WEBSITE: www.JillianLove.com
Note: Every month, it is our express desire to bring to you topics of interest, with a conversation started by a variety of subject matter experts. This interactive forum also counts on other attendees bringing up their perspectives as well, and not just a five minute question and answer session at the end.  As always, our goal is to set the stage for a balanced interactive roundtable discussion. Although we seed the discussion with subject matter experts, the audience is also comprised of subject matter experts whose expertise lie in a larger range of topics. And it is within this cross fertilization of intelligent communication people that innovation can often occur. Change often originates from perspectives proffered from outside a field. We strongly encourage additional questions and points of view from everyone in the room.

JULY 17th 2013: Dying Healthy (Care for Yourself Til the End of Your Days)

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What does it mean to die healthy? It means to be able to care for yourself until the end of your days. There are numerous approaches to this idea, three being Biochemical, Engineering and Psychospiritual.

One proposed definition of Dying Healthy is: “Being able to take care of yourself to the end of your days.”  Do you agree?

No matter who you are, we are all aging along with our loved ones.  While it is generally agreed in the medical community that human lifespan is somewhere between 75 and 100 years, we now seem to have some options that may extend this range and also raise some questions fo the innovators out there.

So join SVII to take a look at:

What is aging?

What can we do about it?

Can we prevent it?

Can we reverse it?

Can we diagnose our own personal day to day aging?

What ethical questions does aging raise?

There are at least three very different approaches to these issues:

1) The engineering approach has to do with regeneration of tissues or even growing new tissues (organs) etc.

2) The biochemical approach has to do with chemically resetting biological clocks for cell divisions which can only occur 50 times. 

3) The psychospiritual holistic integral approach is more about living in balance than about living longer. 

There is a great deal of innovation regarding all of these approaches. So join us for a roundtable discussion featuring scientists and other practitioners who are knowledgeable about this topic!

This event will take place at:  

Hangen Szechuan Restuarant (upstairs)
134 Castro St.
Mountain View, CA 94041

 * Appetizers will be provided AND a dinner menu from Hangen will be available

Pre-Registration Tickets ($20)  – on SALE NOW!

PANELISTS:

David V. Schaffer, Ph.D, Director, Berkeley Stem Cell Center; Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Bioengineering, and Neuroscience, University of California, Berkeley

David Schaffer is a Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Bioengineering, and Neuroscience at University of California, Berkeley, where he also serves as the Director of the Berkeley Stem Cell Center. He graduated from Stanford University with a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering in 1993. Afterward, he attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology and earned his Ph.D. also in Chemical Engineering in 1998. Finally, he did a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Fred Gage at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, CA before moving to UC Berkeley in 1999. At Berkeley, Dr. Schaffer applies engineering principles to enhance stem cell and gene therapy approaches for neuroregeneration, work that includes novel approaches for molecular engineering and evolution of new viral vectors as well as new technologies to investigate and control stem cell fate decisions. David Schaffer has received an NSF CAREER Award, Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, Whitaker Foundation Young Investigator Award, and was named a Technology Review Top 100 Innovator. He was also awarded the Biomedical Engineering Society Rita Shaffer Young Investigator Award in 2000, the American Chemical Society BIOT Division Young Investigator Award in 2006, and was inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering in 2010. David is also co-founder of 4D Molecular Therapeutics, a venture devoted to developing new gene therapy technologies for treating a range of human diseases.

Irina M. Conboy, Ph.D, Assistant Professor of Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley

Irina Conboy received her PhD (Cellular and Molecular Immunology) from Stanford University in 1998. Dr. Conboy is an Assistant Professor of Bioengineering at UCBwho joined the Department in November of 2004. Her research is focused on deciphering the key signal transduction pathways that control behavior of adult stem cells and understanding the age-related changes in this signal integration. This research program will ultimately lead to developing novel methods for combating the degenerative disorders that often accompany human aging. Since 2005 she is Faculty Mentor for UC Berkeley Chapter of Student Society for Stem Cell Research and sponsor of the Decal class: Stem cell science and Society. She is also Reviewer for CIRM Training Grant Program at UC Berkeley and a member of Peer Review Committee for State of Maryland Stem Cell Initiative, Invited peer-reviewer for Neurogenesis and Cell Fate study section at NIH, and Reviewer for Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging. Irina Conboy received CIRM New Faculty Award in 2008, Glenn Award for Research in Biological mechanisms of aging in 2008 and Ellison’s Medical Foundation Award, New Scholar in Aging in 2005.

Aubrey de Grey, Ph.D., Chief Science Officer and Co-founder, SENS Research Foundation

Dr. de Grey is the biomedical gerontologist who researched the idea for and founded SENS Research Foundation. He received his BA in Computer Science and Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Cambridge in 1985 and 2000, respectively. Dr. de Grey is Editor-in-Chief of Rejuvenation Research, is a Fellow of both the Gerontological Society of America and the American Aging Association, and sits on the editorial and scientific advisory boards of numerous journals and organizations. Click here to download a copy of Dr. de Grey’s CV.

Gleb Dirzu, Founder and CEO, SILC Program

Gleb Dirzu has developed an innovative wellness method targeting the common challenges of the modern person: stress, anxiety, the effect of toxins, and the weakened immune system among others. Based on studies and experiences that he has had traveling for the last 14 years in Asia, South America and Europe, while teaching wellness programs based on yoga and martial arts, some highlights of his approach include: 1) a holistic vision of wellness taken from both Eastern and Ancient Cultures, 2) preserving, protecting and developing the natural, inner resources of the body, 3) developing long term and highly personalized wellness strategies. Gleb currently resides in Barcelona, but continues to traveling as he develops his research and teachings.

MODERATOR:

Elzbieta Holsztynska, Ph.D

Dr. Elzbieta Holsztynska (Ela) has over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry (Warner-Lambert, later Pfizer, Cocensys , Athena Neurosciences, later Elan, and Rigel Pharmaceuticals).  Over her career, Dr. Holsztynska has contributed to discovery, development and global regulatory submission of multiple commercially marketed drug products.  As a leader of Drug Metabolism division, Ela has studied therapies for a variety of disease groups, including oncology, immunology and nervous system disorders.   Ela is a published author of multiple scientific papers and book chapters.  She holds a Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Michigan, and completed post-doctoral training at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School.  At present she is working on exploring new venues for understanding and treating age-related neurodegeneration.

Note:

While there is no shortage of opportunities to be in an audience observing world class, world wide talent in the Silicon Valley, there are fewer chances to personally and actively address a crucial issue (or if you prefer, you can sit politely and listen to such an exchange).

The Silicon Valley Innovation Institute (www.SVII.net) monthly gathers entrepreneurs, community and corporate leaders, technical and artistic innovators, and folks who are just plain curious about their world, for a potent exchange of ideas. This is neither a conventional lecture, panel discussion, nor dinner. It is an opportunity to exchange ideas fueled by the contributing minds.

SVII is a 501C3 founded in Silicon Valley in 2005, and has just commenced east coast operations on our eight birthday.

Our active mission?

…To help turn vision into value for countries, corporations and individuals.

See you on July 17th!