Nanotronics Manufacturing Summit 2023

Date: October 6th, 2023
Location: Building 20, Brooklyn Navy Yard

Nanotronics’ 2023 Manufacturing Summit will convene influential manufacturing experts, industry pioneers, thought leaders, academics, and key stakeholders for a cross-platform exchange to evaluate the most innovative technological achievements of today. A series of thought-provoking panels will delve deeper into the topics of Generative AI and manufacturing, as well as their contingent factors, with the sole mission of responsibly and efficiently shaping our industrial future.

The Summit provides a venue for essential discourse that challenges conventional narratives surrounding AI’s profound influence on contemporary society, as well as an opportunity for meaningful networking and inspired insights.

A highlight reel summarizing last year’s events can be found here.

SCHEDULE AND AGENDA FOR THE EVENT

12:30 PM – 1:00 PM

Guests arrive

1:10 PM – 1:20

Opening Remarks | Peter Hopkins, President: Nanotronics

1:30 PM – 2:15 PM || Panel I: The Search for Next-Generation Chips: History and Future of Semiconductor Architecture

Though the semiconductor chip shortage appears to have attenuated due in part to the distribution of government subsidies granted by the CHIPS Act, it has shed light on the weaknesses of a precarious supply chain structure, and the dangers of broad dependence on limited raw materials for chip manufacture. The ubiquity and necessity of chips became evident during their scarcity which has signaled a need for urgency in addressing potential issues, and mandates proactive measures to prevent future crises.

It appears that Moore’s Law, the conjecture devised by computer scientist Gordon Moore in 1975, has reached the end of its pertinence. Moore’s Law states that the number of transistors placed on a semiconductor chip doubles approximately every two years, increasing the chip’s speed and energy capacity. However, chip area can no longer accommodate the addition of more transistors. Conventional chip architecture and materials, namely silicon and gallium nitride, are not capable of facilitating the rate at which new technologies are developing, primarily the hardware necessary to support more advanced AI systems. This panel proposes innovative alternatives to traditional methods: what is currently missing from modern devices, and in the wake of the CHIPS Act’s economic impact, how do we source, design, and fabricate the chips of the future?

2:30 PM – 3:15 PM || Panel II: AI Ethics and Geopolitics: Distributed Intelligence for a Globalized World

As we have observed since the genesis of AI, algorithms have the property of informating what we consider mundane actions, rendering the otherwise invisible very visible and reshaping a world inundated with data, from biometrics to algorithmic cultures. Generative AI’s implications for the manufacturing sector remain largely untapped. However, these systems have demonstrated substantial improvements within factory settings, with the ability to prevent production errors and fortify industrial control as well as quality of data insights, simultaneously transforming worker satisfaction.

Generative AI’s influence extends beyond manufacturing, fueling concerns about the proliferation of misleading media and targeted spread of disinformation that is often weaponized to advance political agendas. Given the volatile combination of threats to democracy, cybersecurity risks, and widespread dependence on condensed markets, it becomes necessary to explore the intersection of geopolitics and AI, and examine distributed, localized production as a site of opportunity. Generative AI has the potential to strengthen alliances between nation states or erode them, making it advantageous to enable global distribution of AI for manufacturing purposes. This discussion will address ethical concerns that accompany worldwide circulation of intelligence, assess generative AI’s role in networked structures, and seek responsible solutions to uphold democratic values and equal access to automation.

3:20 PM – 4:00 PM || SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

Matthew Putman, CEO & Cofounder of Nanotronics

4:10 PM – 5:30 PM || Networking Opportunity

PANELISTS, PARTNERS, AND KEYNOTE SPEAKER TO BE ANNOUNCED