Elliot Kotek’s 2015 SXSW Diary from Austin

Australian expat and co-founder of Not Impossible Labs in Venice Beach, Elliot Kotek – the recipient of last year’s Cannes Titanium Lion was a keynote speaker at SXSW Interactive. His final report exclusive to CB.

“The SxSW Interactive Innovation Awards” – aka “Those who are ‘crushing it'”.

Firstly, by way of sheer amazement, the whole awards ceremony took ONE HOUR, inclusive of entertainment, thereby making it the BEST EVER AWARDS SHOW.

This post also requires a full disclaimer/bit-of-a-boast – we were nominated in two categories:

1.     Innovative 3DIY: Innovative use of 3D printing for “Project Daniel: 3D Printing Limbs for the Children of War-Torn Sudan.” An award we won, but a category where all nominees are “crushing it;” and,

2.     In the Sci-Fi No Longer category. Where our Brainwriter project to enable people with ALS to draw using their thoughts and eye-movements received a nomination, and did not win, and was not robbed – the award went to a device that looks like a pen, and can detect skin cancer

With Netwars winning for their exercise and campaign around cyber security. FireChat won for developing a system of blueooth-to-bluetooth phone messaging where there is no internet connection or cellphone reception, and VocaliD won for their building of a database of human voices that will eventually enable those who can’t communicate to sound more like themselves when represented by a synthesized voice, the nominees were both impressive and made more attractive by the 140 character limitation placed on speeches (there was a gong girl who casually struck her copper circle whenever the character count of a speech ran high).

It must be said that we can imagine ourselves working with a number of these companies – VocalID could really help with our Don’s Voice project’s next iteration – while we helped a farmer with ALS speak audibly to his wife for the first time in 15 years, imagine if it sounded somewhat like him? That is our future.

From the Hilton, where the awards were held, we zoomed under the freeway to the Dell/Intel/Mazda/Converse/Fader “Fort” to check out Passion Pit (for those that know them, a band that like taking walks), then to Stubbs’ BBQ/bar/outdoor band venue for Interactive’s official closing night party. The philosophy, insight and innovation took a hiatus, and was replaced by hip hop artist Ludacris singing “Move bitch, get out the way, get out the way.” Similar to, but not quite reminiscent of, the buzzwords that “Crushed,” “Disrupted,” and “Broke through the noise” thus far that week.

My final morning at the fest/conference/mental-balderdashery that is SxSW was one mad spirnt for just one more taste of BBQ, one quick lick of something unusual (Taco Mahal’s Indian-inspired tacos – quite possibly the perfectly inappropriate pre-flight meal) and a run through the convention center before everyone broke down their booths. Tomorrow, the people making the Meerkat app popular, will give way to SxSW’s Flatstock – an aisle-by-aisle showdown between font-tastic independent music poster artists. The Flatstock artists are seriously “crushing it.”

So, on that last dash, as I weaved and baulked with the skill of an 80s Aussie rules footballer, I was bombarded with branded wayfarer copies, squeezy stress-bally things in their company mascot’s shape (promotions people still order these???) and a slate of offers to try out beta-level software to test “pre-revenue” business models.

The companies are each trying hard to trademark fairly usual words by switching out vowels for the letter “Y” (e.g. Gyft), and if I were to have to pick a darling in the space it must have been Fove, a VR headset that utilizes eye-tracking technology instead of the head-turning prospect that is Oculus Rift.

The potential humanitarian uses of Fove to transport people who are otherwise paralyzed, and to enable the voiceless to speak and play and be understood and entertained, is mindblowing. Note though, that we were also warned that Microsoft’s own VR unit, HoloLens, is also going to absolutely “crush it.”

We were also gobsmacked by a brilliant piece of wearable tech – a bra that uses circadian diagnostics to painlessly detect breast cancer. Called the ItBra, the tech’s story is being told with funding from Cisco Systems, whose hashtag the #InternetOfEverything represents their view to adding-a-human experience spin on the IoT (internet of things). A worthy endeavor indeed.

By the way, stats thrown around at SxSW included one point that, by 2020, a third of all data swirling around the net will be between devices communicating to each other.

Ahhh, the Internet of Things, the Internet of Everything and surely, next year, the Ynternet of Everythyng. Crushyng Yt.