It’s that time again – time to decide what you want to see and hear at South by Southwest (SXSW) 2013. Once just a local music festival here in Austin, Texas, SXSW has grown to be the biggest interactive, music and film event of the year – a must attend event on the calendar every year for folks around the world. One of the best things about SXSW, is that you (yes, you) get to vote on the conference program – pick from presentations, conversations and interviews, workshops and panels, even more unconventional structures like Q&As, meet ups, hackathons, core conversations, mentor sessions and book readings.
We had such a blast at SXSW last year hosting a track – with topics including mobile payments, cloud computing security, enterprise privacy, and social networks – that we decided to throw our hats in the ring again this year with some interesting and innovative panel topics.
Here’s Gemalto’s lineup of panels to vote on – anything you think we have missed?
- Smart Cities and Connected Objects: Did you know that 2.1 billion devices will be connected by 2020? This trend towards Machine to Machine (M2M) technology will eventually connect cities, and maybe even the world, for transportation, healthcare, utilities, and more. All of this is driven by the need to stay linked, share data, and make our digital lives easy, convenient, and secure. This session will discuss current R&D trends in the M2M space, where money is being invested and where consumers can expect to see major growth in their networks.
- Privacy, Security and the Citizen ID: If you’ve read the news lately, you know that stealing someone’s identity is way too easy. Most industries have already gone digital – now it’s time to tackle the DMV. This session will discuss the steps needed to implement an electronic driver’s licenses, the benefits of going digital (including millions of dollars saved and stronger background monitoring), myths and facts about privacy and how consumers can get involved.
- The Glamorized Hacker and Data Protection: “Hacktivism” is growing and infamous groups, such as Anonymous, test their strength in the cyber world and use their followers online to hype their next target – last year alone, there were 855 security breaches and 174 million compromised records. This panel gives the experts – those that have been on the security sidelines for decades – the floor to talk about why hackers are so often glamorized and the real tried-and-true ways that breaches can be prevented.
- Mobile Fin Services & Merchants – A perfect pair: Paying with your mobile phone sounds great for consumers, but it can also provide great value to merchants, too. In addition to enabling faster and more secure transactions, mobile payment gives merchants the ability to collect data from sales for better service, and is compatible with the secure EMV chip technology on its way to the United States. Attendees of this session will learn about the backend technology that enables mobile financial services, the benefits to merchants, and the potential of a fully connected mobile wallet including mobile banking, mobile money and mobile NFC solutions.
All you need to sign up to vote is an email address and a password. Voting and comments account for 30 percent of the conference’s decision making process so be sure show your support by the August 31st deadline. Now, let’s get to voting and we will see you at SXSW 2013 next March!
