iotfuselogoIt turns out there’s a lot going on in the ‘Internet of Things’ space in our state. There’s also a ton of excitement and anticipation about where all this new technology is headed. Must be time for a conference! A group of technologists and early adopters in the Twin Cities decided to do just that, and are off to the races with plans for “IoT Fuse” in March — aptly described as “A Conference to Spark the Internet of Things.” Here’s the latest news from the team about the event:

IoT Fuse Announces Keynote Speakers
Minnesota’s First Internet of Things Conference to Host World-Class IoT Speakers

Minneapolis, MN – The organizers of Minnesota’s first Internet of Things (IoT) conference being held March 19, 2015 on the University of Minnesota Campus, IoT Fuse, are pleased to announce the conference’s morning and luncheon keynoters: Joel Young and Muhammad Abdurrahman, PhD.

JoelYoungJoel Young is Senior Vice President – Research and Development, Chief Technical Officer of Digi International Inc. (DGII (NASDAQ)), a company focused on embedded and external network (wired and wireless) communication solutions for its current, and growing, global customer base. One of Digi’s divisions, Etherios, is leading the Internet of Things revolution with its connected solutions and award.pngnning platform-as-a-service. Mr. Young will kickstart the conference by speaking on the state of the Internet of Things.

Muhammad-AbdurrahmanMuhammad Abdurrahman, PhD. is co-founder and Technology Evangelist for Playtabase, a startup which has been featured in Wired, Forbes, Gizmodo, and Business Insider among others and is an alumnus of Microsoft’s Internet of Things Accelerator. Recognizing a gap in the usability of ubiquitous computing interfaces, Mr. Abdurrahman invented Reemo, the wearable gesture controller for the Internet of Things. Mr. Abdurrahman’s talk will focus on human behavior and innovation as it relates to the future of the Internet and IoT.

IoT Fuse organizer Justin Grammens pointed out, “IoT is a broad market and there will be opportunities within it we have yet to imagine. These two keynoters will present two different perspectives targeted toward business leaders, startups, makers and hackers.” Grammens continued, “Fusing together the people behind the market is key to knowing where, when and how to enter the IoT marketplace with innovative products and services.

Multiple tracks at IoT Fuse will be offered in order to spark ideas and possibilities in the minds of attendees. Those tracks include: The Big Picture; Making IoT; Networks & Cloud; and a do-it-yourself, unconference track where attendees can create throughout the day and host their own ad-hoc sessions.  IoT Fuse is also introducing Speed Mentoring, a new concept to enable attendees to quickly connect with various experts. Tables will be setup to cover areas regarding  entrepreneurship (e.g., Tools & Resources; Capital; Legal; etc.) and manned by people with mastery to help mentor in those respective areas.

Registration is now open for IoT Fuse, Thursday March 19th, 2015  at http://IoTFuse.com or directly through Eventbrite at: http://bit.ly/1widtEP

The early-bird rate of $30 expires on February 15th. After February 15th the cost of registration is just $50. Registration includes, meals, refreshments and the opportunity to meet sponsors, networking with fellow IoT leaders in the Midwest. Free admittance is available for students as well. Contact us for more information.

About IoT Fuse
IoTFuse is a conference to unite accomplished doers, makers, and hackers with the brightest executives, entrepreneurs, and innovators from business. This event will align the Midwest toward a vision of where the Internet of Things is today, where it is headed in the future, and how technology can be used to improve the physical world in which we live.

Event sponsors include: Adafruit Industries; Arduino.MN; Digi International, IoT MPLS; Minnov8; Mojo Minnesota; Punch Through Design; SmartThings; Spark; University of Minnesota.