Speakers from NASA, Microsoft Headline A3 Business Conference Lineup

More than 500 executives in robotics, vision, imaging, motion control, and industrial AI will gather Jan. 31 through Feb. 2 at the Association for Advancing Automation’s A3 Business Forum. Keynote discussions will present the latest economic and industry statistics and projections, with TR Economics analyst Alan Beaulieu and A3’s vice president of membership and business Intelligence, Alex Shikany.

Additional keynotes will highlight technology, cybersecurity, and leadership, with talks from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Verizon, Microsoft, HP, and others. Attendees can also attend several roundtable discussions, including an outlook on the automation industry in 2022, with input from 3M, Microsoft, and Teradyne, and a discussion about trends in automation.

“As you’ll hear in the economic outlook, and demonstrated by our quarterly industry statistics report, demand for automation solutions has never been higher,” said Jeff Burnstein, A3’s president. “The A3 Business Forum provides the insights industry leaders need to take advantage of the growing opportunities in automation as well as connections to leading suppliers, customers, educators, startups, and others in the automation ecosystem.”

Presentations include:

Interactive Mind Reading, for People Who Have Seen It All

• Kevin Viner, mentalist.

2022 Global Economic Update

• Alan Beaulieu, ITR Economics.

BACKABLE, What Makes People Take a Chance on You

• Suneel Gupta, author; entrepreneur and CEO of RISE Labs; former head of product development at Groupon and Mozilla Labs.

How the Verizon Network Is Powering Industrial Automation

• Mariah Scott, president, Robotics Business Technology, Verizon.

Into the Unknown: How Leadership, Ingenuity, and Perseverance Put a Rover on Mars

• Adam Stelzner, chief engineer, Mars 2020, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Cybersecurity & Industry

• Jeremy Dodson, chief information security officer, NextLink Labs.

Prosumer-ism and the Automation Revolution in Digital Manufacturing

• Christoph Schell, chief commercial officer, HP.

In 2020, nearly 650 global automation leaders in the automation industry attended the A3 Business Forum. The event is exclusively available to all employees of companies that are members of A3.

Attendees also will hear several roundtable discussions. These include:

The 2022 Automation Outlook

• Alex Shikany, vice president, Association for Advancing Automation.

• Debarati Sen, president, Abrasive Systems Division, 3M.

• Rashmi Misra, general manager AI, Mixed Reality and Silicon Platforms, Business Development, Microsoft.

• Greg Smith, president, Industrial Automation Group, Teradyne.

Trends in Automation: Finding the Next Solutions

• Dean Banks, consultant.

• Oli Qirko, senior vice president and general manager, North America, Cambridge Consultants.

• Shane Dittrich, House of Design Robotics.

For more information or to register, visit www.automate.org/a3-content/a3-business-forum.