Recently I was asked to be part of a workshop at IIT looking at the food manufacturing industry in Chicago. One the exercises involved choosing two technologies and imagining their combined impact across the food system (growing, packaging, disposal, etc.). The technologies were listed on two decks of cards, each a different color, which gave the whole thing a sort of Tarot-meets-Board-Game feel. My group chose "Open Source Design" and "Robots" (hat tip to Chris Bue whose admiration of the Roomba tribe runs deep). Very quickly we zoomed in on disposal as a sector full of opportunity riffed on the city's potential to become a trashbot hub. That got me curious... Sure enough, trashbots are a thing! It is hard to get a sense of just how big, but according to a new industry report, the sector globally is expected to enjoy a robust compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 20% by 2024. There is a gold mine in garbage!
I have a weakness for trade shows and Waste Expo is amazing. I went to one several years ago at McCormick Place and I hope it returns here for 2019 (I would really like to keep my streak of never having been to Las Vegas going as long as possible...).The technologies are amazing and the opportunities are vast. However, it is an industry dominated—at the management level—by white men. Just look at the promo video. There is no good reason for this.
There are a couple of ways this can be fixed. The first is more aggressive outreach by the industry (e.g., free passes for students). The second is for people simply to make the decision to go and learn. Many of these kinds of conferences offer free-with-registration access to the trade show floor. Vendors are generally very friendly and it's a good way to research job prospects. It is a one-stop shop for trade magazines, too. If you live in a city with a convention center, find out what's coming to town and whether there might be a way you for you to attend. Whenever I walk into a big show at McCormick Place I alway sigh and think, "They did this all for me?"
I have a weakness for trade shows and Waste Expo is amazing. I went to one several years ago at McCormick Place and I hope it returns here for 2019 (I would really like to keep my streak of never having been to Las Vegas going as long as possible...).The technologies are amazing and the opportunities are vast. However, it is an industry dominated—at the management level—by white men. Just look at the promo video. There is no good reason for this.
There are a couple of ways this can be fixed. The first is more aggressive outreach by the industry (e.g., free passes for students). The second is for people simply to make the decision to go and learn. Many of these kinds of conferences offer free-with-registration access to the trade show floor. Vendors are generally very friendly and it's a good way to research job prospects. It is a one-stop shop for trade magazines, too. If you live in a city with a convention center, find out what's coming to town and whether there might be a way you for you to attend. Whenever I walk into a big show at McCormick Place I alway sigh and think, "They did this all for me?"
