Filling in for Bob Smith, the ESD Alliance’s executive director, is Julie Rogers, the Alliance’s director of Marketing and Operations.

Julie Rogers, the ESD Alliance’s director of Marketing and Operations, is this week’s guest blogger.

Thanks to all of our members who attended the inaugural event for Industrial Revolution Four: The Cognitive Era held at San Jose State University September 20.

It was our first time partnering with the university in an academic setting; a good mix of industry, faculty and students provided a lively discussion and exchange of ideas during the Q & A session. Industry talent Sean O’Kane was emcee and Jim Hogan the main presenter. Take away: Overall the Industrial Revolution 4.0 is going to bring great benefits to many, but then there are going to be major disruptions in the “flow” of humanity. There will be winners and losers at the industry level, company level and worker level and the disruptive events will be shorter than revolutions bygone. Agility and adaptability will be the key to success. Many jobs will change; workers will need to be retrained. The Radiologist will need to train and help program the MRI machine on what to look for. The MRI will take less time and money, so it improves patient care and thus improves the betterment of the whole.
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Jim Hogan will help the ESD Alliance and San Jose State University (SJSU) usher in the Autumnal Equinox with a talk on “IR4 (short for the fourth industrial revolution): The Cognitive Era” Wednesday, September 20.

What, you might ask, is the Cognitive Era and why should I be interested? Well, anyone who knows Jim knows he’s an engaging speaker. He’s captivated by cognitive computing and all its implications. In this talk, he will discuss cognitive science, a diverse field unified by basic inquiries into how education, career and life change in the cognitive era, and how people, animals or computers think, act and learn. His presentation will explain how cognitive science brings together methods and discoveries from neuroscience, psychology, linguistics, philosophy and data/computer science to understand the mind/brain. Of course, we can rest assured Jim will tie this into what it means for electronic products, semiconductors and the system design ecosystem.

Our evening will get started at 6 p.m. with refreshments and networking. Jim’s talk will begin at 7 p.m. and run until approximately 8:30 p.m.
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