10 things you need to know about SXSW Interactive 2016
SXSW is an annual take over of the world’s capital of weird, Austin Texas. It’s a festival infused with good vibes, tacos and the occasional unicorn. At the heart of the festival is SXSW Interactive, a five day showcase and celebration of how data, hardware, software and simply thinking differently is making huge changes to every aspect of life. The event provides an important gauge of the state and direction of tech advancement globally.
Saving you from the unseasonably hot temperatures, the queues and the crushing disappointment of not winning the Obama ticket ballot, here are the 10 things you need to know about what went on at SXSW Interactive 2016.
Barack Obama came to recruit the tech industry to the White House
This year was a pretty significant moment for SXSW Interactive. It finally stole the limelight from SXSW Music (Austin’s pride and joy) by booking the 44th president of the US, Barack Obama as keynote speaker. He got the kind of on-stage reception you just don’t expect from a technology conference. He talked passionately about the need to bring government and tech closer together, to both solve the world’s biggest problems and improve government services. Both agendas are being pursued by a team within the White House called US Digital Service, recruiting some of the tech industry’s finest brains. It felt like a tipping point in terms of world leaders recognising how the agile mentality of the tech industry could help bypass government bureaucracy.
Lyft is the new Uber
Imagine trying to take on Uber – the brand that has revolutionised taxis and is more or less universally loved. Cue Lyft, the taxi service that does exactly what Uber does, but is more fun. You can spot a Lyft car by the lit-up pink moustache on the dashboard and when you get in, you’ll probably be offered snacks and chilled drinks. Lyft did everything it could to own this year’s SXSW Interactive; there were so many discount codes flying around that everyone surely gave it a go, and there were enough people flyering in pink morphsuits and afro wigs that you simply couldn’t fail to notice them.
Virtual reality was everywhere, but wasn’t quite hitting the spot
There were lots of people in VR goggles at this SXSW Interactive; yet these VR experiences didn’t feel like they were doing justice to the bigger conversation around the future of VR as the next revolutionary story telling medium. Just imagine the suspense of a VR horror film with you in the lead role, or the empathy you would feel walking around a virtual refugee camp documentary, and you can see how this feels not only right, but really exciting. It seems VR is still a way off being cracked entirely, but there is a ton of innovation going on in this space.
Mr Robot was the darling of the festival
Last year Mr Robot won the SXSW film audience award and since then has gone on to be a huge Amazon-funded hit, so it’s no wonder that the festival has a lot of affection for it. This year the show’s writer, Sam Esmail, and its two main actors Rami Malek and Christian Slater, sat on a panel to discuss Mr Robot’s authentic approach to showing technology and tech skills. Malek learned to code his scenes for real, and every hacking moment on screen was worked through technically, even using apps built specifically for the scenes. The result is a new breed, maybe even genre, of TV show that puts real technology front and centre of the drama.
We are going to Mars
Nasa is such an emotive organisation for Americans, it’s not surprising that their Journey to Mars presentation ended in a standing ovation. In their Occupy Mars talk, the more technical side of how people will live on the red planet was detailed, including the use of a bendable spacesuit, that looks so much like Buzz Lightyear it felt almost purposefully done. Space travel is back in people’s hearts and minds – fuelled by recent Hollywood blockbusters such as The Martian and this exciting next pioneering step into the unknown.
The focus of education is shifting from knowledge to skills
Everyone from Nasa to computer gamers was talking about the macro-shift being made in education from old-fashioned facts-based learning to more hands on coding, engineering and general craft and making skills. We live in a world where all the knowledge we need is in our back pocket. We don’t need to be taught what or when any more, it is only the why and how that can push society forward at the rate we need it to.
Taking humanity out of robots can make them more effective
Silicon Valley was built on the idea of changing the world, and “keeping humanity in tech” is still very much an industry theme. The interesting development at this year’s festival, however, was about when to take humanity out of tech and specifically regarding artificial intelligence. For instance, robots designed to care for dementia patients are more effective when they don’t have a human appearance or personality, because they pose no stress to patients who struggle to remember people.
How innovation will transform your commute
Hyperloop is a high-speed ground transport concept, which propels pods of around 20 people at upwards of 700mph through vacuumed tubes. So far, so sci-fi. Incredibly, the idea was conceived of in 1837, but has only now become financially and practically viable thanks to the work of Elon Musk, SpaceX and Tesla. Hyperloop could be in existence in the UK by 2020 and be taking you from London to Edinburgh in an hour, dramatically changing our current concept of commutable distances and with it, our entire idea of what a city is.
Knowing your genetic data could change your health forever
There were lots of talks this year about how simply tracking and releasing data could make significant changes to the way we live, from better understanding the socio-economic issues of deprived areas of cities to predicting gun crime. This theory, however, really comes alive in healthcare. Day three’s talk Cracking the human code explained how we could translate human genes into unique pieces of personal code, allowing professionals to identify our allergies, susceptibilities to disease and unique physical abilities. This thinking will open a new chapter in the history of medicine over the next few years.
SXSW 2016 was more about the people than the tech
Unlike previous years, no single must-have gadget or invention stole the show. In fact, with Obama leading the way, this year was more about the people than the tech. Brené Brown, who practically life-coached a room of 2000 people on the importance of “daring greatly”, Gary Vaynerchuk, Kevin Plank of Under Armour, JJ Abrams and Andrew Jarecki all made an impact. SXSW understands the importance of people and networks to tech more than any other tech community gathering. Where else are parties, social BBQs and breakfast cocktail events, considered as important as the talks themselves? Only in Austin, baby.
Melanie Arrow is a strategy director and Leo Sloley is an account director at BBH London
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