Sidewalk Labs: Reimagining the City as a Digital Platform

Google Tech Talk, 2/22/2016, Presented by Anand Babu and Craig Nevill-Manning ABSTRACT: Since humans first settled in cities thousands of years ago, technology has repeatedly revolutionized the way we live. Just in the last 200 years, steam, electricity and the automobile have radically changed the daily lives of city residents. We are now poised for a revolution based on digital technology that can improve quality of life and make cities more human-focused, while using scarce resources more efficiently. Sidewalk Labs will discuss the opportunities and challenges that they are taking on as they start up right here in New York City. Note: Some slides are blurred due to confidential material. About the speakers: Anand Babu Anand is Chief Operating Officer for Sidewalk Labs. He previously led efforts in Google's Special Projects team focused on cities and transportation and led product incubation within Google’s Machine Intelligence team. Anand is originally from Peoria, Illinois and earned his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, MBA and M.S. in Engineering Management from Northwestern University / Kellogg School of Management. He lives with his wife and two sons in New York City, where he’s nurturing his kids’ interests in garbage trucks, trains, and maps. Craig Nevill-Manning Craig is Chief Technology Officer of Sidewalk Labs, leading the engineering team – which focuses on developing new urban technologies – and working with portfolio companies to develop their engineering teams and technology. Before joining Sidewalk Labs, he founded Google's first remote engineering center, located in New York City. As a Director at Google New York, Craig worked on a broad array of impactful products. A native of New Zealand, he earned a BSc in Computer Science from Canterbury University and a PhD in Computer Science from Waikato University. Passionate about great coffee, he co-founded Happy Bones café in Little Italy with his wife Kirsten and partners from New Zealand.