10/9/13: TechNW – Gaming & Mobile

Check out the videos from the event on our YouTube Channel. Photos from the event are posted on our Facebook page.

TechNW is a meeting of the brightest minds and most innovative technology companies in the Northwest. It is the region’s high profile, must-attend forum for learning, business development and strategic networking. By fostering intellectual and creative interaction among industry leaders, TechNW provides critical insights into the future of ever-evolving tech sectors, many that originated and continue to thrive in Washington State.

This year, TechNW will be a 3-part event series featuring two panels focused on different sectors and a reception at each event.

Topics & Speakers:
Games to Transmedia: The Evolution of Interactive Entertainment in Washington
Washington has long been a national leader for video games. Many of the industry’s leaders started in the Puget Sound region. As video game consoles evolve and tablet computers and mobile phones become our “second screens”, the way that we consume content is becoming more interactive. Movie and television producers are exploring innovative ways to distribute both their core and ancillary content, stories are “gamified” – making readers and viewers participants in their favorite content, and content creators are using new and innovative ways to present their narrative. Washington has again taken the lead with ways to tell new stories and new ways to distribute content.

Kraig Baker, Partner, Davis Wright Tremaine (moderator)
Brent Friedman, Co-Founder, Rainspark Labs (watch video here)
Amy Lillard, Executive Director, Washington Filmworks
Jordan Weisman, CEO, Harebrained Schemes LLC

The Mobile Competitive Landscape
The “Bus Stop Experience”. You walk to your bus stop and you look around at the other people waiting for the bus. It used to be that maybe only a handful of people would have or be using a mobile device and likely all of those devices would be from the same manufacturer and under the same carrier. With the proliferation of mobile as the new leading access technology, what do you see at the bus stop now? Not only is every person at the stop using a mobile device, but they’re likely all different types of phones from different carriers and each user is likely doing something different – playing a game, checking email, texting, using an app, etc., etc.. So what’s next? What’s the current competitive landscape? What’s the impact of ubiquitous bandwidth? The WTIA welcomes perspectives from a global consultant, a highly recognized mobile investor, a CEO of a massive data processing platform company for carriers, and the Northwest Region President of the nation’s largest wireless company for an open-ended conversation on the future of mobile.