Supernova 2007

Challenge Day at Supernova 2007 is designed to provoke opinions from leading technology and business thought-leaders on key Supernova topics. The structure of the day, and its setting in Wharton’s state-of-the-art West Coast executive education facility, promote deep interaction by all participants.


Connected Challenges
Supernova 2007’s Connected Challenges build on the workshops that prior attendees consistently rated as one of the most valuable elements of the conference. Connected Challenges are galvanizing conversations around significant industry issues. 2007 sessions will include:
Challenge Track: Markets & Relationships—Finding the ‘Individual’ Point of View

Relationships are becoming the new marketing. Now that we have expanded people’s networks through technology and ready access to information, they are self-organizing in ways that allow them to leverage their relationships as never before. They are inventing new products and media. And they are demanding that business relate to them on their terms.



Many terms are being used to talk about the newly empowered “individual”: engagement, attention, community, authenticity, and trust. Yet buzzwords alone provide little insight. This Challenge Track will assemble a variety of business disciplines to cut through the confusion, and examine key market issues from the individual’s point of view. It will feature five sessions:


Session I: Introduction to the new Relationship Economy
Session II: Relate: Markets are Conversations, Part 2
Session III: Reach: The new role of Advertising
Session IV: Research & Measure: It’s about more than Metrics
Session V: Where’s the Innovation?: Examples and Implications of the Relationship Economy


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Challenge: Virtual Life or Virtual Hype?
Do most people really want to be immersed in 3D virtual worlds? And what are the real business benefits of these massively multiplayer environments? This session will examine which activities will migrate to virtual environments, and when physical forms will continue to dominate.


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Challenge: Better Broadband?
Several novel alternatives—some technical, some organizational—are being proposed to deliver more powerful, cheaper, and more accessible broadband connectivity to power a new generation of users, communities, and services. Are any of these viable? What will it take for them to succeed? And how will business and policy issues influence the quality of broadband available to users?




Challenge: Will Intellectual Property Kill Social Media?
The promise of social networks, video sharing, and online communities goes hand-in-hand with the challenge of unauthorized use. Yet some see the legal and technical responses to that challenge doing more harm than good. Can we find an accommodation between the explosive creativity of social media and the constraints of intellectual property law?


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Challenge: Making Computers Smart—A Dumb Idea?
Artificial intelligence research has failed miserably to match the complex wonder that is the human brain. Yet some innovators claim that techniques such as pattern recognition, natural language processing, and structured semantics will usher in the new age of the intelligent Web. Are they on to something, or is the messiness of today’s Internet a strength rather than a limitation?




Challenge: Web Tools—Collaboration and Disruption in the Enterprise
How can businesses take advantage of the open, networked, user-centric innovations that power so much of the new activity on the public Web? What are the tools that promote real efficiency and group participation, and how will they change the way organizations behave?


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Challenge: Rewiring Politics
In the US, the 2008 Presidential campaign is shaping up to be the first to use the Internet as a core tool from the outset. Globally, debates about Internet governance raise the question of whether the fundamental relationship among individuals and political institutions is changing. Is it time to reshape the very notion of politics?




Challenge: Making the Most of Video
The ease of creating and distributing online video creates major opportunities for new businesses, as well as additional revenue sources for existing businesses. Yet the proliferation of user-generated content and new programming sources can be overwhelming. This session will explore case studies of using online video effectively.





Challenge: Investing and Entrepreneurship in the New Environment
In today’s market it’s easy to start a business – at least in terms of the capital it takes to do so. So what does that mean for how investors need to approach the market? And from the entrepreneurs’ perspective, what does this mean for how and when you approach investors? A cross-section of leading investors offer their perspectives.