MakerCon welcomes Minerva Tantoco, first New York City CTO, to speaker line-up

MakerCon Welcomes Minerva Tantoco, First New York City CTO, to Speaker Line-up
Over 50 speakers talk the new work economy, open innovation, entrepreneurship, design and distributive making

San Francisco, Calif. – September 2, 2015 – MakerCon, the only conference by and for leaders of the Maker Movement, continues to add new speakers drawn from a wide range of professional disciplines that demonstrate the growing breadth of interest in the Maker Movement and its impact on traditional business models.

Slated this year for Thursday, Sept. 24, at the New York Hall of Science, MakerCon’s East Coast iteration will attract more than 500 attendees eager to hear from 50-plus speakers during 10 panel sessions and four keynotes. MakerCon New York’s focus is on the Business of Making and the rapidly evolving Maker Ecosystem.

Minerva Tantoco, Chief Technology Officer for the City of New York, joins the expanding speaker list, alongside James Fallows, national correspondent for “The Atlantic,” Dr. Ellen Williams, director at Advanced Research Projects Agency of the Department of Energy, and Genevieve Bell, Fellow and Vice President of the Corporate Strategy Office, at Intel Corporation. Tantoco will be introduced by Margaret Honey, President and CEO of the New York Hall of Science, host partner of Maker Faire Week events.

Other recently added speakers include:
• Massimo Banzi, Co-founder, Arduino Project
• Brent Chapman, Army Cyber Institute
• John Dimatos, Design and Tech Outreach Lead, Kickstarter
• Dorian Ferlauto, CEO, BriteHub
• Lisa Fetterman, CEO, Nomiku
• Brian Garret, CPO and co-founder, 3D Hubs
• Andrew Grevstad, Senior Applications Engineer, Tormach
• Luke Iseman, Director of Hardware, Y Combinator
• Bethany Koby, Co-founder and CEO, Technology Will Save Us
• Pierre Orefice and François Delaroziere, Les Machine Nantes
• Eric Pan, CEO, Seeed Studio
• Danit Peleg, 3D Fashion Designer
• Chris Quintero, Associate, Bolt
• Ben Salatin, Clinical Rehabilitation Engineer
• Dan Shapiro, CEO and co-founder, Glowforge
• Jay Silver, Founder and CEO, JoyLabz/MakeyMakey
• Eben Upton, Founder, Raspberry Pi Foundation and CEO, Raspberry Pi
• Bill Young, Special Projects at ShopBot Tools

Another exciting component of MakerCon is the Pitch Your Prototype Challenge, an innovative competition presented by Make: in partnership with Cornell University. Earlier this year, emerging Maker Pros submitted prototype devices they designed and constructed for a chance to win a $5,000 prize. After months of anticipation, the winner will be announced at MakerCon. The five projects that earned the chance to pitch their product before a panel of judges and the MakerCon New York audience include: Mechanek, GrowBox, the Transforming Wheel Robot, Null Space VR, and the Elemental Building Unit.

“The Pitch Your Prototype Challenge is an incredible opportunity for Makers to showcase their products and gain the attention of some of the most prominent business and Maker Movement leaders,” said Dale Dougherty, founder and executive chairman of Maker Media. “I’m always impressed with the creativity and innovation demonstrated by the next generation of Maker Pros. I’m so glad this competition fosters that spirit.”

The conference will end with the “Evening of Innovation” showcase, presented by Sprout by HP, which will feature some 25 exhibitors demonstrating innovative products and technologies.

Featured companies include:
• Flyte
• Smart Vision Labs
• Play Works Studio
• Haddington Robotics
• QFusion
• PlasmonLAB

Tickets are available in advance for $295 until Friday, September 18. For more information about attending MakerCon New York, the speaker lineup, session descriptions, and to register, visit makercon.com. The schedule of events for Maker Faire Week and World Maker Faire can be found at makerfaire.com.

About MAKER MEDIA
Maker Media is a global platform for connecting makers with each other, with products and services, and with our partners. Through media, events and ecommerce, Maker Media serves a growing community of makers who bring a DIY mindset to technology. Whether as hobbyists or professionals, makers are creative, resourceful and curious, developing projects that demonstrate how they can interact with the world around them. The launch of Make: magazine in 2005, followed by Maker Faire in 2006, jumpstarted a worldwide Maker Movement, which is transforming innovation, culture and education. Headquartered in San Francisco, Maker Media is the publisher of Make: magazine and the producer of Maker Faire. It also develops “getting started” kits and books that are sold in its Maker Shed store as well as in retail channels. The Make: brand caters to a universe of more than 25 million makers collectively across its Make: magazine, makezine.com, Maker Faires, and Maker Shed properties.

About Maker Faire Week New York
Maker Faire Week is a week-long celebration for Makers with activities, events, meetups, parties and more, all focused around the Maker Movement. With reach across all sectors, including tech, design, education, city planning and artistry, Makers will enjoy meeting and collaborating with their peers at events around the greater New York area from September 21-27, culminating with World Maker Faire. Maker Faire Week New York also hosts signature events presented by Maker Media including MakerCon, the professional conference by Makers for Makers on September 24, Make: Education Forum on September 25 and World Maker Faire on September 26 and 27. With over 150 Maker Faires worldwide, Maker Faire Week New York is just one of the ways that the Maker Movement reaches over 1 million people, including families, educators, inventors, artists, corporate professionals and investors each year. Learn more about Maker Faire Week New York here.