Ep. 39 - XPRIZE and Collaborative Innovation with Amir Banifatemi
In this installment of the Future Grind podcast, host Ryan O’Shea is joined by Amir Banifatemi, the General Manager of Innovation and Growth at XPRIZE. XPRIZE is a nonprofit organization that offers cash prizes to encourage teams to create technology capable of solving humanity’s grand challenges and bring us closer to a better, safer, more sustainable world. In this role Amir is directly involved with prizes including the $5 Million IBM Watson AI XPRIZE and the $10 Million ANA Avatar XPRIZE.
In addition to his work with XPRIZE, Amir is a co-founder and curator of the AI for GOOD Global Summit, which he helps to lead in association with the United Nations. Amir is also a co-founder of AI Commons, a nonprofit organization that seeks to make using and benefiting from AI available to all.
They discuss what XPRIZE is and how to get involved, strategies to enable anyone to participate in solving the world’s most pressing issues, and much more!
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Show Notes
Amir’s focus on innovation & growth [1:58]
Amir’s background in startups and VC [2:53]
Work with the European Space Agency [4:50]
The goal of XPRIZE [5:53]
The ANA Avatar XPRIZE [8:09]
Contrasting Avatar XPRIZE & DARPA Robotics Challenge [12:06]
Collaboration & Combinatorial Innovation [15:28]
How to get involved with the Avatar XPRIZE [18:30]
Success and impact beyond the prizes [22:22]
XPRIZE Pittsburgh and cities partnerships [25:30]
The AI for Good Global Summit [29:10]
The United Nations and Sustainable Development Goals [35:20]
AI Commons [37:56]
What’s next? [41:30]
Mentioned
Ansari XPRIZE
DARPA Robotics Challenge
Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson
Astrobotic
RoboTutor
Hera Global Tech
TrashBot (CleanRobotics)
Behaivior
City AI
International Telecommunications Union (ITU)
AI for Health Focus Group, World Health Organization
Elon Musk
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