This sponsored post is produced by Techmanity.
Silicon Valley was the site of the first-ever Techmanity, and now with a successful inaugural year behind them, the organizers are looking to go bigger yet in 2015.
Silicon Valley may be the center of the tech universe, but historically it hasn’t done a tremendous amount to welcome the world to its door. Through a new signature event co-produced by Live Nation, Fast Company and IDG World Expo, Silicon Valley has entered the fray in a big way.
Plans for next year’s event are already percolating. But in the meantime, Techamanity can look back at a great launch earlier this month (October 1-2) which featured industry elites such as Biz Stone, Tim Draper, Adi Tatarko of Houzz, and Sonny Vu of Misfit. California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom spoke, as did young civic entrepreneur Vivienne Harr.
Celebrities came, too, like actor-musician-turned-tech-entrepreneur Jared Leto, Kellan Lutz (Twilight), David Harewood (Homeland, Selfie), and Robert Patrick and Scooter Braun from the new CBS hit show, Scorpion. And there were after-parties and music from acts like Weezer, Kongos, Thievery Corporation, and Dash Berlin.
The event also saw the first annual Techmanitarian Awards presented to Participant Media, the movie studio founded by former eBay president Jeff Skoll; Nicholas Negroponte, founder of One Laptop Per Child; and posthumously to programming whiz kid and Internet freedom fighter, Aaron Swartz. The Award to the late Swartz was movingly presented to his parents, Susan and Roberts, by Aaron’s mentor, Larry Lessig.
A big feature and crowd draw was the Starlandia exhibit area at the San Jose Convention Center featuring 58 hot new start-ups in spaces ranging from Bit Coins to health care and social media.
Techmanity was backed by Samsung, Cisco, PayPal, Adobe, and Silicon Valley Bank among others, and was attended by virtually every major Valley company, including Facebook, Twitter, Google, Apple, LinkedIn, Box, and SpaceX in addition to myriad start-ups.
Drawing more than 2,000 registrants its first year, Techmanity’s successful launch signals the arrival of an important new tech conclave inviting the world to hear about the future directly from those who are inventing it. Expect the date and location of the Techmanity summit 2015 to be announced shortly. More to come at: Techmanity.com
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