Inventing “civilization 2.0”
Today’s most innovative technologies and tech-driven ideas — such as wearable electronics, the “Internet of things,” big data, and crowdsourcing — are forever changing the way we connect to one another and conduct business. On Saturday at the MIT Media Lab, a host of entrepreneurs and executives converged at a student-run conference to discuss how they’ve leveraged these technologies, and others, to improve business, human interaction, and urban planning — and to inspire others to do the same. “In a nutshell, it’s about making ‘civilization 2.0,’” said Kevin Yu, a graduate student in the MIT Sloan School of Management, and co-chair of this year’s MIT Infinite Labs Tech Conference, along with classmate Brian Bozzello. For the first time, the annual conference also included a tech competition that gave three student teams — which are developing novel drones, facial-recognition software, and black solar panels — a shot at a $3,000 prize. The winning team, Waterfly, is...