So this week is when everyone in the digital/interactive world descends upon Austin, TX for an overwhelmingly intense display of what’s being done/what’s next in the space.
New to the world of South by Southwest? Check out the main website for more information on the general scope of the event – here is the area for the Interactive portion, which I will be attending along with the Film parts. Since beginning the FastForward Health Film Festival, film has definitely become part of my passions/interests.
This will be my third time attending the conference after first moderating a panel looking at Twitter during the H1N1 outbreak, then the first year of being on the SXSW Advisory Board for the new Health track. This year I’ll be attending as a panelist, a board member and an enthusiast for all things innovative.
Health/Wellness is Back @ SXSW!
This is the second year that health will be an official area of focus during the SXSW Interactive events. It’s so great to see the growth of health-focused content that was presented during the panel submission process and of course what will be on tap this year.
We had almost 100 submissions this year for the Health/Medicine topic area, which was absolutely fantastic to see. If you are interested in submitting an idea to speak about for SXSW 2013, by all means I encourage you to do so. One of the things I’m looking forward to is seeing those panels/talks that really encourage a new way of thinking for health that can be implemented in our society. It’s all about reality now.
For those of you on Twitter, we’ve gotten together a list of 2012 SXSW Health people for you to follow. Big thanks to Aman Bhandari (good friend, health innovation leading man and co-founder of FastForward Health)!
The Beacon Lounge: Home to Nonprofit/Social Change
Ever since I first attended SXSW, the Beacon Lounge became my home away from my hotel room. It can definitely get draining with all the walking around, absorbing new information, networking, etc at the event that it really is important to have a place to recharge (and yes, electronically too). This truly is a meeting ground for sharing ideas and connecting to people of impact – I love it!
The Beacon Lounge is the magnificent creation of the folks over at Beaconfire. They put together a great space for folks across various sectors (focused on the nonprofit and social change folks, from my experience) complete with music, food/drink and speakers. I will most definitely be headed back to the Lounge with a Conscience this year to re-connect with friends and collect my thoughts from what has been going on throughout the weekend. In particular, I’m looking forward to hanging out with the folks at LIVESTORNG and Legacy (the Truth campaign folks, anti-smoking) for their happy hour. I’m personally on a mission to bring more of these organizations out to join the conversation on innovation and the future of health. For more information on the Lounge and what they are bringing this year, check out their latest blog post.
Reverse Innovation: Global Health Ideas for Domestic Health
And now to plug the panel that I will be a part of – you know I had to do it. On Sunday @ 5pm CST, I will be on a panel with 2 esteemed colleagues of mine: Jaspal Sandhu of the Gobee Group and Molly Kinder of USAID’s Development Innovation Ventures. Basically we’ll be talking about how we can borrow innovations from the global health landscape. Mobiles, low-cost tech, crowdsourced/co-created solutions with communities. Many of these can be applied health issues needing attention in the States. Follow me on Twitter this week as I’ll be promoting the panel session and giving more updates!
Lastly, here are some additional resources/recaps from last year and this coming event:
- CTO of HHS, Todd Park’s presentation on Open Data & Health Innovation (2011)
- SXSW Health Accelerator for 2012
- Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Joins SXSW Health Accelerator (2012)
- The Hope Phones @ SXSW project I did last year
- SXSW Health: What’s Coming and What’s Missing (for 2012)
- Dr.V’s recap of SXSW 2011
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