PROXIMITY: How All Industries Will Transform - and How to Win
Overview
Professor Wolcott will preview his new book, PROXIMITY, forthcoming from Columbia Business School Publishing March 2024. While everyone witnesses the dramatic changes underway as a result of digitally-enabled technologies from Generative AI and data analytics to rooftop solar and additive manufacturing, few have noted one common force they all exert across industries. Digital technologies push the production and provision of value ever closer to the moment of actual demand in time and space. Understanding this trend clarifies where industries are heading and suggests priorities for innovation and investment.
For a portion of his session, Dr. Wolcott will be joined by the CEO and founder of one of his portfolio companies, Interstellar Labs. Started by Barbara Belvisi to develop capabilities to grow food in controlled, self-sustaining environments on Mars— they still work actively with NASA and the ESA—the company’s largest customers are now cosmetic and fragrance companies. Proximity in action! Dr. Belvisi will join from Interstellar’s location just outside Paris.
Robert C. Wolcott, Adjunct Professor, Booth & Kellogg, Chair & Founder, TWIN Global
Barbara Belvisi, CEO and Founder, Interstellar Labs