8th Annual Science Fair
Science Fair is Autotech Council's once-a-year opportunity for technology companies to introduce innovation to strategy, R&D, scouting, and partnership executives from across the mobility industry. Share your innovation with a pitch or at a table, sign up for personalized MatchMaker introductions, or just browse the exhibits.
- Date: 10/11/2023 08:30 AM
- Location Western Digital, Sandisk Drive, Milpitas, CA, USA (Map)
Description
FULL DETAILS | AGENDA | ATTENDEE LIST | EXHIBITORS | PRESENTATION LIBRARY
Silicon Valley, California, October 12, 2023/Meeting Recap/ Autotech Council’s 8th annual Science Fair, sponsored by Honda Xcelerator Ventures, went beyond our usual format with, not only the 3-hour, high energy, hands-on, open house with demos and matchmaking, but added a morning of pitches from many of the startup exhibitors as a prelude to a closer look at demos and displays and private 1:1 meetings facilitated by our MatchMaker Meeting Service.
Over 30 exhibits, startup tables, parking lot displays, with cutting edge technologies from AI, robotics, navigation, battery tech and materials to digital modernization, solar, AUTOSAR, and suspension (to name a few) were fueling the creative energy of over 300 registrants. Out in the parking lot, demos included the impressive Project Arrow demo car which showcases over 30 cutting edge technologies including several startups, a peddle-assist non-electric bicycle from Exedy, a demo of in-car sensors by Murata, and a unique partnership demo of ADAS between dSPACE for data, AWS for fleet management, Seagate for mapping, and Equinix data centers.
On top of the Exhibition afternoon phase of this meeting, the morning was fired up with an excellent roster of innovator’s pitches, with a quick 10-minute window for each. This format is hard for presenters, who want to express all aspects of their startups, but it’s absolutely loved by our audience, who get to see a wider range of startups, and learn just enough about them to know if they want to set up a longer private meeting. The Autotech Council is truly designed for efficient triage, as opposed to maximum information sharing. If the objective is to generate deals, we seek to help that along in as productive a format as possible.
Notable presentation topics revolved around 5G connectivity to vehicles, lots of battery technology, robotics, and new takes on old-school auto issues, like an active suspension actuator to smooth out your ride.
These Science Fair presentations showed a very high level of polish, probably thanks to the presence of a Canadian Delegation of innovators that made up about half of the pitches. For the Canadian cohort, the Canadian government screens then trains the presenters to maximize their impact – so thanks to Chelsea Peet and the Canadian SF office for raising everyone’s game!
As our participants and members know well, when we put exciting technology in the room with tech scouts, investors and R&D engineers from OEs, T1s, and global mobility companies, the real magic happens through the MatchMaker meeting service. Not to disappoint, 16 of our startup companies were rewarded in their scheduling efforts with their own series of highly focused, private, 15-minute, conversations with the OEMs, vendors and investments in attendance.
A big thank you to Western Digital for hosting this year at their Silicon Valley offices. And to the following companies who showcased their innovation at the show:
Full exhibitor list available at https://autotech.cventevents.com/VKrx7B?RefId=QR
And if you missed the opportunity to present or demo this year, don’t despair, we will do it all again in 2024. Contact helen@autotechcouncil.com to add yourself to the list for next year!