SXSW: What happens in Austin, stays in Austin!

Apart from everything I'm about to tell you.

So, last week I got back from a week in Texas, visiting the SXSW festival.

How I ended up there

I was taken as part of a cohort of Scottish businesses developing globally innovative technologies.

Whilst the funding came from Scottish Enterprise and the The Scottish Government , along with some lovely corporate sponsors, the event was conceived and organised by a magical organisation called foras .

Foras is run by a dynamic trio of Dec McLaughlin , Caro Melendez and Nick Murray , and is an absolute breath of fresh air in comparison to the standard incubators, accelerators, and networks I’ve seen, usually run by assorted establishment cronies with old school ties!

They’re promoting and empowering young, exciting startups, and taking them into the global market, using funding from above (without any expectation or exploitation), and for that I commend them highly.

Plus, they’re up for tacos, tequila and line dancing!

If you’re an investment firm, if you support innovation in any way, get behind them, because they are exactly what Scotland needs.

Who I went with

And my fellow cohort were no less impressive. From health tech to data security, defense engineering to gamification, immersive audio to robotics, AI in logistics to data-driven event security, they made Scotland proud, and in a sea of the world’s best technology, they were not found wanting.

If you want to check out the brilliant people and businesses, you can link to them here...

Aldin Wilson - Trapar, Ana Betancourt - Black Goblin, Anne Lanc - Ionburst, Camila Jimenez Pol - KONPANION , Colin Gray - Alitu by The Podcast Host, Damien Roux - Drimify 🏆 Gamification Experiences, Daniel Marrable - Forumm, Hamish Geddes - Lenz Labs, Janis Roddie, Jennifer McLean - Raven Controls, Mathew Norbury - FC Laboratories Ltd, Sheena Johnstone - Nursery Story

The festival bit

Anyway, to the festival, which itself is a bit chaotic.

And maybe it’s just me getting old and cynical, but the majority of the talks are just ‘influencer’ people promoting what they do or have done. 15 mins of fame, and all that!

But I barely saw 10% of what’s on offer, so others may have had a much different experience. (I’m also no longer really that interested in ‘tech bro’ stuff, or the AI crowd, so that may tarnish my view.)

I have a sneaky feeling that it’s an event past its heyday. I wish I’d gone about ten years ago really. But I’m glad I did. A bucket list item ticked off.

The volume is too big to really navigate, and the stress of planning, even with the app, sucks some of the joy out of it.

Having been at the Summit event a few years ago, where every speaker is a legend, SXSW could take some lessons.

That’s not to say there weren’t moments of awesomeness, there were, but I’ll point out a few highlights soon, most of them moments of serendipity, where you make a load of good contacts and a few new friends.

Megan Markle turned up too. Luckily I managed to avoid that!

I live in Edinburgh, and it reminds me of our Festival. Every nook and cranny venue is in on the act. And milking the opportunity. Which can be fun, but also overwhelming.

Personally, I needed to dip in and out of sessions and expo’s, just to stay sane.

I probably shouldn't say this...

I was looking forward to the creative Expo, to see the new technologies on show, but that too was pretty underwhelming. Some robot heads with realistic faces, a few motion tracking software apps, a box that projected dull holograms, and some secretive CIA recruitment people (I know because they had a massive stand marked ‘CIA recruitment’). The best thing was the $9k massage chairs (see the pics), the queue was the longest in the hall! Oh, and a pickleball court. Cutting edge!

I should definitely say this...

However, Austin is a wonderful city. Hugely welcoming. Fun and vibrant. Great bars and restaurants. Safe and easy to navigate. I love it. I can see why everyone from LA and NY have moved there.

I managed to go to a few very cool parties, and even enjoyed a night at Joe Rogan’s Comedy Mothership with my pals Spencer Gallagher , Peter Dolukhanov , Dan Bulman , Nigel Gwilliam , Tom Mott and Pete Hoole , which was awesome.

I also had the best steak of my life at the restaurant III Forks (picture attached). Took me about two hours to eat it, but it was insanely good.

Food trucks and tacos are great, but may be a little overhyped.

The bars on Rainy Street are amazing. I spent a joyous afternoon, sitting in the sun, philosophising with Mark Fallows , Oskar Serrander , Mike Boris and Ari David Ehrlich, CFA , before Mark noticed his old pal Rebekah Bakker !

A huge highlight was having breakfast with My good friend Mark Fallows and the luminous futurologist Dr Morgaine Gaye at Soho House (one of the good ones). Morgaine is a thinker after my own heart, we were straight into metaphysics, philosophy, the meaning of life, and eating insects for nutrition! Look up her talks, she’s amazing.

A couple of wondrous specifics

I’ll share two of the most interesting talks I attended;

I listened to Jag Singh on ‘Rethinking and Reinventing Medicine’ whose talk was really fascinating. In conversation with Shayla Love , he explained that the human body, and our cell structure, is simply a massive network of biological electrical sensors. And the way we connect technology to those sensors can ensure we move towards preventative medicine, away from remedial and curative medicine. 

I was also inspired by a talk hosted by Saul Elbein where Scott Lacy, Kathryn Meng and Arielle Miller discussed the need for advances in low cost, low impact solutions to prevent grid reliance, and reduce vulnerabilities in our global energy networks. Pumped hydro and gravity batteries are part of the solution, along with geothermal and hydrokinetic solutions. We really can move to sustainable clean energy if we choose too!

And a list of other highlights 

·      Tacos and beers with my favourite Frenchie and gamification god, Damien Roux .

·      Discussing advances in chemistry with Mike McCormick from MIT FloraWorks.

·      Practicing my virtual surgery skills at the Johnson & Johnson Innovation lab.

·      Watching Tim Polder use the Jedi Mind trick to get us past a suspicious bouncer into a subterranean speakeasy.

·      Dancing with Nick Murray to bluegrass music, me in a kilt, he in a Hawaiian shirt!

·      Discussing advances in particle engineering in the oldest beer garden in America with Hugh Smyth and Rex Moore from the University of Texas.

·      Demonstrating the 1nhaler to a diverse group of people, many with experience of inhalers, all of whom responded ‘when is it available?’.

·      Finding the AUSTIN TOY MUSEUM , with every star wars figure, transformer and He-Man ever made! Along with classic arcade games that were a great escape from the crowds for a few glorious hours.

·      Drinking neat rum with a Pentagon Colonel and a Taoist Distiller, Sailor and entrepreneur.

·      And yes, having my first hangover in seven years of sobriety! When in Austin!

And some very memorable quotes I noted…

“(For the clinician) It’s not just knowing what kind of disease the patient has, but what kind of patient the disease has!” Jag Singh

“When you invent the ship, you also invent the shipwreck.” Ari David Ehrlich, CFA (via Paul Virilio)

“If you need any free legal assistance, just let me know.” Columban Young-Smith

And to summarise...

The main takeaway though is simply this;

When you get out into the world, and engage with new people, new things happen.

And you won’t know who or what until you get out there.

This is the case with SXSW, but it's also the case with most festivals, conferences, symposiums and summits.

Huge thanks to y'all who made it an amazing week.

🤠