NYCML April Newsletter
NYCML April Newsletter As we’ve all moved to social distancing, we continue to work hard to use our tools to stay connected…
The NYC Media Lab prides itself on making connections — connections between students, companies, startups, mentors, and our members. As we’ve all moved to social distancing, we continue to work hard to use our tools to stay connected.
This past month has been a time of extraordinary learning and we’re proud that we’ve played a part in keeping our students learning and our startups growing. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if the NYC Media Lab team can support you and your efforts to solve problems and explore hard questions — that’s why we’re here.
Steve Rosenbaum
Managing Director, NYC Media Lab
steve@nycmedialab.org NEW & NOTEWORTHY The Combine: Demo Day Goes Virtual
Each year, The Combine — NYC Media Lab’s 12-week startup accelerator program — culminates in a “Demo Day” where each university team shares their pitches for original lean startup concepts. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Combine cohort went 100% virtual — and the results were extraordinary.
Quickly adapting to challenging circumstances, seven teams mobilized to virtually pitch new applications for AR/VR, machine learning, computer vision, and more to an online audience of 125, including Anne del Castillo, Commissioner of the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, and Karen Bhatia, Senior Vice President at NYC Economic Development Corporation. To our intrepid entrepreneurs: during a time of unprecedented change, you inspire us.
Watch each team’s pitch below or watch the full Demo Day livestream HERE.
- LostBytes: A sustainable tech startup that uses an on-site bio-digester machine to convert food waste to organic fertilizer for plants
- Candid: This smart online dating app is powered by Wingbot, the AI-enabled wingperson that helps users find their most compatible matches and gamify conversations to reduce performance pressure
- LYFE Proof: A group exercise program that uses AI movement assessment to adapt to individual needs, allowing senior communities to provide daily exercise classes safely while improving personal health
- Fovea: This web platform utilizes eye-tracking technology to improve HR onboarding, training, and continuing education
- Grouphug Solar: Their ridiculously good-looking solar panels can be hung in any window and used to charge any USB device — like your phone — completely off the grid
- PressDB: This online program helps users overcome writer’s block through user-centered design and AI
- AI & VR Immersive Theater: An online subscription-based platform for the new generation — like Netflix but for VR
The NYC Media Lab 2019 Annual Report Is Now Public
The NYC Media Lab’s 2019 annual report is now public. The detailed 35-page report dives deep into 2019. Highlights include:
- 2019 was a record high for corporate membership: Estée Lauder, The New York Times, Bertelsmann, and the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) joined the NYC Media Lab community
- $1.4 million in award money was issued to university faculty and students
- 47 prototypes and startups emerged from the NYC Media Lab
Welcome Marion Bernstein, NYC Media Lab’s New Head of Communications & Events
We’re thrilled to welcome Marion as she takes the reins in leading strategic comms and events for the NYC Media Lab. Prior to joining us, she developed and executed a multi-phase integrated marketing campaign for the NYU Journalism Institute. Gaining invaluable experience on both sides of the journalistic coin, Marion spent years running strategic comms campaigns for business book authors while freelance writing for food and wine publications. Her work has been featured in Time Out New York, Bustle, and Brooklyn Magazine. Marion holds a BS in psychology from the University of Mary Washington and an MA in international education from NYU.
VIRTUAL EVENTS MUST WATCH: Is the Future of the Internet at Risk? NYCML Managing Director Steve Rosenbaum Moderates SXSW Virtual Web Freedom Panel
With declining trust and confidence in large technology firms, there’s growing bipartisan agreement that it’s time for legislative change. Members of Congress have been calling for a revision or repeal of Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act which gives websites broad legal immunity.
But is it that simple? Has the internet’s ability to publish and disseminate hateful material with speed, breadth, and no human editorial review created a new paradigm? Is it time to rethink the protections of Section 230 and its rights in the digital world? Recall The Wall Street Journal Opinion article: “Kill Section 230, You Kill the Internet.” Is the future of the internet at risk?
Watch the virtual panel video and read about the panelists here. STAY TUNED: NYC Media Lab to Present Spring 2020 Digital Open House Series
Throughout the fall and spring semesters, university teams have been hard at work developing prototyping projects in collaboration with NYC Media Lab’s member companies.
Over the next few months, we’ll be presenting these innovations during our Spring 2020 Digital Open House series. Each weekly “episode” will be free and 100% online. Teams from our NYTimes Spatial Computing for News Challenge will kick off the first episode of our Digital Open House series — link to come. Stay tuned for more info!
KEEP IN TOUCH…
We’ve expanded our social media presence. Follow our new pages on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
We also publish three newsletters. Our monthly newsletter reaches 16,000+ students, faculty, startups, and industry leaders and our DataDownload newsletter reaches 4,000+. Our new Innovation Monitor newsletter reaches 700+ industry leaders and executives. Subscribe here.
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NYC Media Lab connects media and technology companies with NYC’s universities to drive innovation, entrepreneurship, and talent development. Visit our website or contact us at info@nycmedialab.org with any questions, comments, or tips.
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