DG717 Grand Opening in San Francisco

Location
San Francisco, USA

Date
5-6 November, 2013

To commemorate the launch of DG717, a startup support center in San Francisco, the event welcomed entrepreneurs, researchers, and government officials. Talks by Twitter (now X) co-founder Biz Stone and UI researcher John Underkoffler focused on environments that foster innovation. The opening ceremony, attended by the San Francisco mayor, and a pitch event with Japanese and U.S. startups emphasized the development of a global startup ecosystem.

Global IT History

Smartphone Penetration Surpasses 50%
  • Global annual smartphone shipments exceeded 1 billion units, marking the mainstream adoption of mobile use
  • The app market expands rapidly, with App Store and Google Play handling tens of billions of downloads

Widespread Adoption of Cloud Computing
  • Enterprise-level cloud adoption accelerates globally
  • AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure begin solidifying their positions as core infrastructure providers

Growing Focus on Big Data and AI
  • Big data analytics spreads across finance, advertising, and distribution sectors
  • The role of data scientist gains recognition as a key profession
  • AI research, particularly deep learning, transitions from academia to industrial applications

Rise of GAFA and the Consolidation of the Mobile IT Ecosystem
  • Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon dominate search, OS, social networking, and e-commerce, establishing an overwhelmingly oligopolistic foundation for the mobile era

Speakers

Biz Stone

Biz Stone

Twitter Inc., Co-founder

John Underkoffler

John Underkoffler

Oblog Industries, Inc., Chief Scientist

Howard Hartenbaum

Howard Hartenbaum

August Capital

Kaoru Hayashi

Kaoru Hayashi

Representative Director & Group CEO, Digital Garage

Joichi Ito

Joichi Ito

Director, MIT Media Lab / Co-Founder & Board Member, Digital Garage