First Peek at Techonomy NYC Program & Speakers (May 8-9)

Techonomy’s next big conference is in New York City on May 8th and 9th, and we are proud to announce a superb lineup of speakers and topics.
Techonomy is a forum where leaders can think strategically and collectively about the vexing and fast-moving trends transforming business and society. There is both promise and peril in blockchain, machine learning, 5G wireless, autonomous vehicles, the Internet of Things, and the role of looming tech giants. How can we leverage formidable technologies and trends that may threaten entire industries?
Joining us will be WPP CEO Martin Sorrell, a big-picture business leader and advertising’s most powerful person. We’ll also host Prof. Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University, the world’s top development economist and a frequent consultant to heads of state and the United Nations. Sachs will help us tackle a key question for our time: How can technology and business help drive progress towards the U.N.’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030? The global goals are an urgent road map for business and government to address the word’s most vital issues. Tackling them is an obligation for all of us.
Another speaker is Peder Holk Nielsen, CEO of Novozymes, a $14 billion market cap biotech company based in Copenhagen. It claims the title of the first multinational to consciously base a corporate strategy on the Global Goals. Among Novozymes’ top products are enzymes that enable washing clothes in cold water, saving energy and thus carbon emissions. Climate Action is Global Goal 13.
We’ll range widely across New York’s own top industries and how tech is transforming them. Eric Hippeau of Lerer Hippeau Ventures will explain why he has invested in more local companies than any other VC firm. He’s especially engaged with new media, and will be joined at Techonomy NYC by other media leaders like Raju Narisetti, CEO of Gizmodo Media Group, and Marta Tellado, CEO of Consumer Reports. Tellado, of course, has plenty of expertise about the wide-ranging changes in consumer behavior driven by tech.
We’ll host CEOs of top, New York area tech companies like Jon Stein of Betterment, David Rosenberg of AeroFarms, and Anjali Sud of Vimeo; policy experts like Dean Merit Janow of Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs; technologists like the chief algorithms officer of Stitch Fix, Eric Colson, or legendary AR/VR expert Tony Parisi of Unity Technologies; and journalists including Jessi Hempel of Wired and author Jeff Jarvis of CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.
David Lee, a Washington-based tech strategist, will explain his work on Startup Virginia, a project to create training, jobs, and economic development by harnessing tech and the tech industry in southwestern Virginia.
Conversations will range widely. That’s what makes a Techonomy conference special. We put enormous emphasis on a multidisciplinary dialogue, and getting people in the room talking with each other.
Join business and policy leaders for two exciting and highly curated days. Our community is thinking deeply about the role technology can play in driving responsible change.