With our pale blue planet logging the hottest summer on record since 1880, fall can’t come soon enough. And for the tech community, the season brings a broad menu of events to carry us into the holidays.
If you’ll allow me one indulgence, let’s kick off the calendar with the annual Hawaii Geek Meet, taking place Sunday at Magic Island.
Launched in 2004, the Hawaii Geek Meet embraces the uncommon when it comes to tech events: It’s outdoors, kids and families are welcome, and it welcomes every stripe of geek — people who are deeply passionate about a specific topic or activity and are eager to share it with others.
I’m proud to see the Geek Meet celebrate its 15th year, and I’m always humbled by the different groups that come down to form the “geek village” at the beach. We’ll once again have astronomers and stormtroopers and LEGO clubs, plus drone pilots, coders, keyboard collectors and more.
Every year also brings new participants, and this year we have a number of first-timers: STEM clubs from UH and Chaminade, live-action role players (LARPers) and groups focused on artificial intelligence and extended reality (AI and XR).
I invite you to enjoy the first fall weekend in the park.
For more information, visit HawaiiGeek.com Opens in a new tab.
Two days later a more focused gathering will explore agtech — the intersection of agriculture and technology — at the Hawaii Agrifood Summit, taking place Sept. 26-27 at the Hawai‘i Convention Center.
I was honored to participate in 2022’s inaugural event in Hilo, which brought international leaders in agtech to East Hawaii, but this year’s conference is co-organized with SVG Ventures and its THRIVE venture arm, and has partners that include the Ulupono Initiative, NEC, the USDA, UH and HTDC.
The goal of the two-day event is nothing less than achieving sustainable food, agriculture and aquaculture across the Asia-Pacific, and will feature global experts, industry leaders and even a startup pitch competition.
For more information, visit HawaiiAgrifood.com Opens in a new tab.
College students take center stage next, with UH expanding its Tech Days of Fall to span 10 events over four weeks. Running from Sept. 28 through Oct. 27, the program covers everything from tech education to IT careers to cybersecurity.
The kickoff event is “Talk Story With Tech Pros,” co-organized by ThriveHI and the Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship (PACE), and will be hosted at the latter’s amazing new RISE facility across from the UH Manoa campus. Students and educators can meet face to face with professionals from across the tech sector, exploring a variety of career paths.
Other Tech Days of Fall events include a job fair for intelligence agencies, an education industry summit, a cybersecurity workshop and an esports tour.
For more information, use your favorite search engine. The website address is too long.
In October I’m helping to organize the first Hawaii Grant Summit, taking place Oct. 26 at the Entrepreneurs Sandbox. While it has its roots in technology, the scope is broader: leveraging state and federal funding to support digital equity, rural infrastructure and education.
As I’ve launched a nonprofit and started to explore the world of grant funding, I’ve come to appreciate how complex yet valuable these opportunities can be. I’ve also learned that Hawaii — and Native Hawaiians — aren’t claiming their fair share and are being overrun by well-resourced outside groups that have cracked the code. We need to keep these resources at home.
For more information, visit HawaiiGrants.org Opens in a new tab.
Nov. 7-9 brings the annual TechNet Indo-Pacific conference, hosted by AFCEA, a long-standing coalition that brings together military, government, industry and academia.
The program is dense, and the expo floor is full of fascinating technology focused on defense and cybersecurity. Now in its 37th year, it draws pretty much anyone who interacts with the military.
A high point? The STEM Innovation Showcase, which showcases local initiatives — most of them run by or serving students.
For more information, visit events.afcea.org/tip23 Opens in a new tab.
Finally, the Schools of the Future conference will take place Nov. 16-17 at the Hawai‘i Convention Center.
Organized by the Hawaii Society for Technology in Education, the event explores best and emerging practices in education.
For more information, visit SOTFConf.org Opens in a new tab.
The Hawaii tech sector has come a long way, with something interesting happening every week — and sometimes every day. I hope to see you out there!
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Ryan Kawailani Ozawa publishes Hawaii Bulletin, an email newsletter covering local tech and innovation. Read and subscribe at HawaiiBulletin.com.
