Nathan Furr, Ph.D., Author of The Innovator’s Method, at #RootsTech Innovator Summit

The Innovator Summit is the more technical side of #RootsTech 2015. It will be held on Wednesday, February 11, 2015 at the Salt Palace, the day before the opening of the main #RootsTech 2015 Conference. To attend the Innovator Summit, you have to specifically register for the event when you register for #RootsTech 2015. Here is a brief description of this event and the Keynote address:

Innovator Summit offers developers, business leaders, and entrepreneur's access to the latest content and resources that provide insight on family history data, services and inspiration for current and future projects. 

This year’s full-day event features keynote speaker Nathan Furr, PhD. Furr is a leading author and recognized expert in innovation and entrepreneurship. 

His keynote address, titled “How to Apply the Innovator’s Method to Increase Your Success and Decrease Your Risk,” will zero in on the impact of learning on new market success and how to capture new opportunities, balance, execution, and flexibility, and develop innovative business models. 

Nathan Furr is an assistant Professor of innovation and entrepreneurship at Brigham Young University and has a PhD from Stanford University. His new book, The Innovator’s Method (Harvard Business Review Press, September 2014) combines innovation and entrepreneurship, bringing the radical “lean start-up” approach to innovation into established organizations. His previous book, Nail It Then Scale It (NISI Institute, 2011), shows how the seeds of entrepreneurial success are sown before you build anything. 

In addition to Furr, other exciting and inspiring business and technology speakers at Innovator Summit include: 

• Harrison Tang, cofounder and chief executive officer of Family.me
• Mike Davis, cofounder and chief executive officer of StoryPress
• Robert Charles Anderson, FASG, director of the Great Migration Study Project at the New England Historic Genealogical Society

Click here for a schedule of events and other links.

An added incentive for developers is the RootsTech Innovator Challenge. Developers are invited to:

Come and participate in this year’s big, new, and improved challenge for developers and entrepreneurs, with $25,000 in prizes and a huge potential to reach your audience! This year's Innovator Challenge will invite four finalists to the stage to show off their latest creations in front of thousands of RootsTech attendees, including renowned judges, with live-audience voting! Past winners, such as last year’s grand-prize winners, Harvey and Jane Baker of Savings Memories Forever, have gone on to successfully capitalize on the $4 billion family history market and stake a claim for themselves. Whether you have a project in the works now or an idea you want to try, or if you are interested in participating and looking for ideas, check out the RootsTech Innovator Challenge, and get started!

As I have in the past, I am planning on attending the Innovator Summit. I find this the part of #RootsTech 2015 that provides the best information about the direction of genealogy in the coming year.