Nashville Post Techie 2017 by FW Publishing

SUMMER 2017

BEYOND HEALTH TECH

An alternative approach to backing good ideas

CULTURAL MOVEMENT

Shannon Terry on his next big venture

without a manual

SMARTER

CITY

M e t r o ’ s p us h t o use — a n d s h a re — d ata l i k e ly w i l l c h a n g e how Nashville looks, m o v es a n d g r o w s

IoT education programs prepare for launch

shared

education Inside the city’s booming user group community

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You need IT

Protected. Secured. Funded.

We have the IT factor. nashville

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birmingham

austin

memphis

wallerlaw.com

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S: 8”

T E N N ESSEE H E FO AT T

R E F RO N T O F H E A L T H C ARE

S: 9.875”

care in the nation. UnitedHealth Group is honored to be part of that by providing high-quality care to more than one million Tennesseans, and equipping doctors and nurses with data and insights that can help prevent and treat illness. More than 3,000 of us live and work in Tennessee, serving our communities every day. Tennessee doesn’t shy away from tough health care challenges, and neither do we.

UnitedHealthGroup.com/TN

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Tennessee is one of the most innovative and modern states for health

OPEN

CONTENTS

USEFUL IN MANY WAYs

City’s user groups ecosystem continues growth

39 living lab

Metro’s Robyn Mace turns Music City into smart city

CUTTINGEDGE COOL

University researchers deploy technology in pioneering efforts

ERIC ENGLAND

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summer 2017 | NASHVILLEPOST.COM

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See what we’ve got cooking in Nashville THIS FALL. Tickets and info available at MUSICCITYFOODWINE.COM

SEPTEMBER 15–17, 2017

Featuring Hugh Acheson Jimmy Bannos Jimmy Bannos Jr. John Besh Matt Bolus Maneet Chauhan Drew Curren Cassidee Dabney Susan Feniger Joseph Lenn Tim Love Marcus Samuelsson Alon Shaya Jonathan Waxman Levon Wallace Tandy Wilson Andrew Zimmern and many more!

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OPEN

CONTENTS

passion play

Shannon Terry eyes entertainment news seekers with PopCulture.com

DEPARTMENTS

09 YOU SHOULD KNOW Eric Elmquist fosters local life science culture

18 DATA bank

The tech sector numbers

20 GEEKING OUT

Past Most Powerful Women honorees talk app, gadget faves

10 tHE JOURNEY

24 PROGRESS NEEDED VU panel talks women in STEM

Health care companies tackle cybersecurity regulations

14 smart eyewear

Aaron Salow’s XOEye software is ‘new normal’ for clients

15 DATA LIQUIDITY

Ed Cantwell elevates status of Center for Medical Interoperability

16 THREE QUESTIONS Phil Shmerling on attracting tech capital

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59 EARLY EVIDENCE Health care decision support

50 NOT BY ACCIDENT

66 DRIVING MANUFACTURING Knoxville could play key role in

cyber attack hits

Splitsecnd eyes growth after pivot, partnership with German giant

features

FBI agent talks cybercrime

12 THE RULES

48 INTERDISCIPLINARY FIRE DRILL What to do when the inevitable

52 BLOCKCHAIN’S PROMISE, HURDLES

Outlinging the progress, regulatory issues involving emerging platform

26 TALKING TO THE SUITS

54 HIGH-SPEED CHASE

36 [NOT] BY THE BOOKS

56 BRAVE NEW WORLD Human-robot collaboration expert

How to communicate tech value to the C-suite VU, FHS students to learn about IoT without proven educational materials

47 PRIVACY IS DYNAMIC

summer 2017 | NASHVILLEPOST.COM

Public, private sectors must work in tandem with regs

Nashville drives toward ultrafast internet future

talks automation, AI

58 GET SMART

Off-the-shelf technology returns senior care to the home

software entity starts quickly

next-generation vehicle production

68 A PERFECT FIT Mbody prepped to disrupt the

bra-making industry

69 3D DOUBLE VISION Cheekwood, NovaCopy partner

on restoration plans

70 READING CORNER The blockchain standards race 72 THE BIG QUESTION Can we add one more priority to

our tech to-do list?

ERIC ENGLAND

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spoNsoreD profile

CompaNy profile The Nashville Technology Council exists to be a catalyst for the growth and influence of Middle Tennessee’s technology industry. NTC’s vision is to establish Nashville as the nation’s creative tech destination by connecting, uniting, developing, and promoting our community.

500+ attendees of the Middle Tennessee & surrounding technology communities

40 workshop/ speaker sessions

presented by experts from various industries and backgrounds

Addresses topics ranging from Big Data & Predictive Analytics to Delivery Insights & Professional Development

keynote

Tom Davenport

www.theanalyticssummit.com

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Nashville Technology Council 500 Interstate Blvd. S, Suite 200, Nashville, TN 37210

NTC Develops Nashville TeCh TaleNT Launching Community Hub & Hosting 5th Annual Analytics Summit The history of the Nashville Technology Council dates back to 1999 when a group of business leaders came together to address the need in Nashville for better paying tech jobs and improved capital investment in technology start-ups. From its inception, the mission of the NTC was to be a catalyst for the growth and influence of Middle Tennessee’s tech industry. Today, the NTC supports the local technology industry and its 380+ member companies, by coordinating local technology workforce development, connecting professionals to cultivate a collaborative community, uniting around policies that nurture expansion and attract both talent and businesses, and promoting Middle Tennessee as the nation’s creative tech destination. One of the most successful examples of the NTC’s work is the growing BI & Analytics peer group which connects professionals around effectively leveraging big data and analytics. With the peer group’s guidance, the NTC produces the Nashville Analytics Summit. 2017’s Analytics Summit will be held August 8-9 at the Omni Hotel in Downtown Nash-

ville and is expected to see 500+ attendees from hundreds of organizations across Middle Tennessee and surrounding technology communities. The program includes 40 workshop & speaker sessions presented by experts on topics ranging from big data & predictive analytics to delivery insights & professional development. This year’s keynote speaker is Tom Davenport, distinguished professor, leading author, and pioneer of the concept of “competing on analytics.” This spring, the NTC opened Tech Hill Commons: a new public gathering place for Nashville’s diverse community of tech leaders, business builders, user groups, students and tech educators. The 9500 sq foot tech venue houses the NTC’s new HQ, two executive board rooms, 150-person event space, and a tech learning center. The NTC invites Middle Tennessee’s tech community to take advantage of Tech Hill Commons - an ideal space for launch events, off-site team retreats, usergroup meetups, professional development, and student techenrichment.

Website https://technologycouncil.com Twitter @NashTechCouncil facebook facebook.com/NashvilleTechCouncil linkedin linkedin.com/company/nashvilletechnology-council linkedin.com/groups/51917 Number of employees 8 Number of Company members 380 founded 1999

speCialTies Tech hill Commons: A hub where Nashville’s tech community comes together. Located at 500 Interstate Blvd. S., the beautiful new space offers two executive board rooms and a 150 person event space. Room rentals available. TechHillCommons.com Community programming: The NTC hosts 125+ community events a year, on topics including: professional development, tech education, BI & analytics, tech marketing, business development, cyber security, health tech, public policy and more.

CoNTaCT Phone: 615.873.1284 Email: info@technologycouncil.com

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COVER

That ambulance coming downtown from Goodlettsville should perhaps be sent back out to the county’s northern neighborhoods rather than responding to the most imminent incident downtown. A 30-second response delay downtown could cut a subsequent response time in an outlying area by several minutes or more — enough to potentially save lives. Emergency dispatchers understand the problem, too, but Biswas, who studies the city’s emergency response incident reports as part of the VISOR program, can offer concrete data and automated algorithms that show where an ambulance should be and when it should be there. “I’m not saying you’ll remove the human from the loop,” he says. “These automated algorithms will work, but you’ll still have a human that makes the decision. In some cases, you can automate the process. But in many cases, you’re building decision-support systems to help humans make better decisions.”

‘The data a government o w n s i s r e a l ly t h e p u b l i c ’ s d a t a .’ Keith Durbin, Metro

NEW EXPECTATIONS Biswas’ research is part of a larger effort at Vanderbilt — and an even larger initiative in Metro Nashville government — to turn Music City into a truly smart city. By pointing data science and other private-sector technological innovations at the public sector’s daily workings, city officials believe they can introduce efficiencies across the board — to emergency response operations, transit, housing and more. The first step, says Robyn Mace, who joined Metro as chief data officer last year, is to make more of the city’s data — from domesticated hen permits to building permits and police incident statistics — freely available on its portal at data. nashville.gov. After that, the city’s data coordinators and department staffers must acquire data fluency in order to be able to take advantage of the new tools and vast troves of information. Beyond that, Mace’s plan calls for Nashville’s citizenry to learn how to use the city’s data tools. Keith Durbin, Metro’s chief information officer since 2009 and a longtime driver of the open

data initiative, says putting government data online is a natural evolution. “The data a government owns is really the public’s data,” he said during a recent smart cities panel discussion hosted by Vanderbilt. “So we should not be requiring special forms or requests to access that data. Rather, we should be putting it out proactively on an open data platform.” The larger open data and smart cities initiative is an outgrowth of changing expectations as a result of Netflix, Uber and other new on-demand cultural and economic mainstays. Around the globe (see page 44), cities have joined companies and consumers in recognizing the ability for aggregated information to drive better decisions. But not surprisingly, the speed of municipal progress hasn’t matched that of the private sector. “Because of shifts in technology, in what people are demanding, there’s been a general perception that government doesn’t really serve a purpose or generate a lot of value,” Mace says. “Governments are realizing we have to get better at communicating what our value is but also communicating what we do to our citizens. The evolution of society, the increased level of customer interaction [with services like Amazon and Netflix], that’s really driving what people are expecting from their government.” Metro’s smart city push got a nudge forward from an early failure. When the U.S. Department of Transportation did not select Metro’s application to the Smart City Challenge last year, Mayor Megan Barry decided to proceed with some of the work anyway. “The Smart City Challenge sparked an important conversation about how to better integrate technology and data into our transportation system,” Barry said at the time. “While I’m disappointed Nashville was not selected as a finalist, the hard work we and our partners put in to prepare for this challenge generated real momentum for exploring how we use data and technology to build a more connected Nashville.” Enter Mace, who came to Metro after a long career in public sector analytics. The Memphis native earned undergraduate and graduate business degrees from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania before turning to government-related work. She was a planner with a New Jersey police department while working on her doctorate in criminal justice, which she later taught at Michigan State University for more than a decade. During that time, she also consulted with NATO, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and other groups. “I started to realize that there was a whole

world of government that I hadn’t thought about that needed access to business school tools and decision making,” she says. “Because not only was it government money, but it was people’s outcomes.”

FROM POLICE TO PARKING Though Mace has worked in criminal justice and with police departments for much of her career, she is quick to point out that the Metro Nashville Police Department is separate from her office and already has its own robust crime analysis unit looking at the types of data she hopes to bring to other Metro offices. But she does cite MNPD as one prominent example of the potential for big data to improve city services. A report published last year by local criminal justice activists indicated the police department stopped and searched black and Hispanic Nashvillians more frequently than their white counterparts, even though police were more likely to uncover evidence of unlawful activity during stops of white drivers. (Metro Police Chief Steve Anderson has refuted the report’s conclusions, calling it “morally disingenuous.”) The differing views of the report’s outcomes notwithstanding, Mace believes equipping police officers with more robust data could reduce or eliminate implicit racial biases — whether hypothetical or actual. “If the data doesn’t support what our contention is about the dynamics of how crime is distributed in an urban — or any — environment, it has the potential to change the way we enforce,” Mace says. Under the VISOR umbrella, VU researchers also are looking at police data to identify patterns and assist patrolling officers. While officers may have an inclination that certain trends exist, “the data can find these kind of patterns that you would know intuitively but don’t have the precise knowledge of,” Biswas says. “With time, we should be able to do it more or less online as the data comes in— by looking at how it’s changing from the norm and interpreting what the implications are.” Mace says Vanderbilt’s VISOR program “has been really instrumental” in moving Nashville’s smart cities work forward. Its analytical capabilities sometimes surpass Metro’s, and the expertise of VISOR’s professors and students keeps Nashville on the cutting edge of smart cities research. Vanderbilt also a clear self-interest in helping the city. A smarter and more efficiently run Nashville will benefit the university, nestled as it is in

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one of its densest nodes. For instance, if Nashville’s public transit system were made more efficient, VISOR’s Biswas predicts fewer VU faculty, staff and students would need to drive to campus every day, thus reducing the need for on-campus parking. “Vanderbilt real estate is really prime property,” he says. “Why should we have so much space occupied by garages?” Smart-city progress could kick off a virtuous circle: Some of the land now occupied by parking lots and garages could be converted to parks or student housing, further reducing the need for commuter parking. “Those are long-term plans that need a very close partnership between the city and Vanderbilt,” Biswas says.

THINKING AHEAD Don’t start holding your breath, though, in anticipation of cities tearing down all parking garages in sight and building affordable housing and green spaces in their place. Everyone involved in these plans agrees results such as those will take a lot of time. But baby steps are being taken: Bob Murphy, president of Nashville-based RPM Transportation Consultants, says that some developers — considering the possibility of a future with fewer cars — have begun building garages so they could later be repurposed for other uses, including residential. “We’re having to think about how we design buildings and the area around buildings in a whole different way,” he said during the panel discussion at Vanderbilt, which also covered the potential impact of autonomous vehicles on urban environments. To take steps toward those long-term goals, VISOR managers are working alongside Metro on possible improvements to the public transit system, including tracking and predicting bus routes in real time to make commuting by public transit more efficient. Additionally, the group is looking at configuring so-called smart garages, which can track vacant spaces, adjust pricing levels and independently communicate with potential parkers. Mace and Metro also are considering how to use urban telemetry — a sort of sensing network — to track the city’s buses and other vehicles, as well as traffic flows. Such a network could give residents and visitors better conditional information with which to make travel decisions. For example, a family heading downtown for a concert at Bridgestone Arena could quickly find out if there is — and will be — sufficient parking or if some form of public transit would be a better travel option.

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‘ g o v e r n m e n t r e a l ly i s n ’ t a b o u t t r y i n g to get you for these stupid little traffic violations. We’re about giving y o u t h e b e s t s e r v i c e t h a t w e c a n .’ Robyn Mace, Metro

“Being able to look at that info to make that trip in a real-time way is one of the things our smart city is going to have to do,” Mace says. “A pretty big driver of what younger people are looking for in public transit options — and also tourists and locals who don’t want to fight the traffic — is real-time options on our smartphones.” But creating a network that tracks all pedestrian and vehicular traffic citywide creates a whole new set of problems: How does Metro protect privacy while at the same time collecting troves of data about anyone who passes through? To answer that question, Mace works with Metro’s Chief Information Security Officer John Griffey and others in the mayor’s administration to develop privacy protocols. “A lot of people have these dystopic images of the future where we as citizens are just wandering around giving up our data to everyone who’s grabbing it,” she says. “We want Metro to be open and free of unnecessary surveillance, so we are actively engaging in what is the best protection for citizens.” That means anonymizing and aggregating data, she adds. The work with Metro has the added benefit of turning the city into a “test pit” of real-life problems for Vanderbilt’s undergraduate and graduate students, Biswas says. Sometimes, though, it takes a little social engineering. “How do you incentivize a change in behavior? If you go around and ask, hardly anyone wants to give up their car,” he says. “There are many interesting problems that you couldn’t solve before because of the magnitude of the problem or its complexities, which now we have algorithms — mostly using artificial intelligence — where we can churn out a lot of these [solutions].”

TAKING THE NEXT STEPS Over the long term, Mace wants to see Metro digitally literate and fluent — meaning 30 percent of

the workforce has visualization, data manipulation and analysis skills — by 2027. Well before that, she will spend the rest of this spring and the summer directing the addition of batches of backlogged data assets to the online portal. Before Metro’s emergency response or transit systems are revolutionized, Nashvillians can or will be able to use the open data portal to see city employees’ salaries or — a hot topic these days — which homes in their neighborhood have short-term rental permits. “The approach we’ve taken has really been based on the needs of Nashville,” Metro CIO Durbin said during the VU panel earlier this year. “We are not interested in shiny technology for shiny technology’s sake.” Metro has already completed one major optimization project — low on glamor but high on practicality. Last year, Metro Public Works synchronized the timing of 550 traffic signals on 18 major pikes and roadways, a project that promised only subtle changes in motorists’ daily commutes but reduced delays citywide when viewed through the lens of cumulative data (at least according to announcements at the time). Mace offers up another example of the sort of nuts-and-bolts improvement city governments can make with the help of big data. It centered on a single parking space in New York City. Data scientist Ben Wellington was looking at Big Apple parking ticket data and noticed one particular fire hydrant was the site of far more tickets per year than any other place in the city. When he went to check it out, he noticed the spot was poorly marked. After being contacted, city officials repainted the area and tickets there dropped off a cliff. “By clearing up a situation like that, he was able to reinforce that government really isn’t about trying to get you for these stupid little traffic violations,” Mace says. “We’re about giving you the best service that we can.”

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Be a Part of the 2017 Induction Ceremony! With a mission to honor men and women who have made significant and lasting contributions to the health care industry, The Tennessee Health Care Hall of Fame seeks to recognize and honor the pioneers and current leaders who have formed Tennessee’s health and health care community and encourage future generations of health care professionals.

DON’T MISS THE THIRD ANNUAL INDUCTION

honoring these health care legends

Dorothy Lavinia Brown, M.D.

William “Bill” Frist, M.D.

First female African-American First heart and lung transplant surgeon in the South surgeon at Vanderbilt Longtime practitioner and professor

Former U.S. Senator and Majority Leader

Joel C. Gordon

Harry R. Jacobson, M.D.

Stanford Moore, Ph.D.

Donald Pinkel, M.D.

47-year health care veteran

Physician, entrepreneur and investor

Nobel Prize-winning biochemist

Former CEO of Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Longtime scientist and researcher

First Director and CEO of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

Introduced physician ownership/joint ventures as a business structure

BELMONT UNIVERSITY  CURB EVENT CENTER  OCTOBER 17, 2017

Sponsorship information available at tnhealthcarehall.com The Tennessee Health Care Hall of Fame has been created by Belmont University and The McWhorter Society and is supported by the Nashville Health Care Council, a Hall of Fame Founding Partner

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A smarter world

Emerging ideas and approaches from across the globe

Gartner analysts late last year predicted that, by 2019, half of all people living in cities of 1 million people or more will benefit from smart-city programs. Some of those benefits, they wrote, will come from the passive sharing of data via various partnerships. But they added that, as “hyperconnectivity picks up pace […], citizens will become more aware of the value of their ‘life data’ and will be willing to proactively exchange it for ‘in the moment’ value.” Cities around the country and world are pushing hard to better collect and use data and improve their services. Here’s a snapshot of just a few of those efforts.

chicago columbus s e at t l e

b r o o k ly n

chicago

b r o o k ly n

Chicago officials last summer began installing a network of 500 sensor devices to collect data on air quality, traffic patterns and other measures. The goal is to leverage the open data from the so-called Array of Things via partnerships with educational institutions and other partners and improve the quality of government and urban planning. The last of the sensors, which are being funded by the National Science Foundation and Argonne National Laboratory, will be installed next year.

The Urban-X accelerator recently moved into a new space in Brooklyn, where its leaders are taking applications for their third cohort of companies. The program, backed by auto maker Mini and Irish venture capital firm SOSV, seeks startups focused on hardware and software making various aspects of cities run better. Businesses working their way through the program this spring are developing dashboards for real estate development and connected public furniture.

arrayofthings.github.io

urban-x.com

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s e at t l e Among the smart-city projects Seattle leaders have developed over the years is RainWatch, which converts precipitation data from a radar station into rainfall estimates that are calibrated with rain gauge measurements to predict accumulation totals up to 48 hours into the future. As a result, officials can get a better sense of where flooding could occur. m.seattle.gov/rainwatch.htm

columbus The U.S. Department of Transportation last summer named Columbus the winner of its $40 million Smart City Challenge. (The award was supplemented by $10 million from Paul Allen’s Vulcan Inc.) City officials plan to focus primarily on two projects: Electric self-driving shuttles linking a new bus rapid transit center and a retail district and better transportation options for a neighborhood with an infant mortality rate four times that of the national average. www.columbus.gov

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singapore Singapore leaders in 2014 rolled out an ambitious plan to become the world’s first “Smart Nation,” bringing together artificial intelligence technologies and masses of data to revamp transportation, payment, health care and other features. The system is being anchored around thousands of sensors that track traffic, air quality and crowd density, among other things. Later this year, the government plans to launch Virtual Singapore, a hub that digitally recreates the city-state and will allow all agencies to visualize data and simulate planning and policy scenarios.

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The amount of information Glasgow collects can be personalized by residents and tourists through an open dashboard. Widgets deliver real-time information on weather, travel times, community events and more — including an overall happiness indicator — and can be arranged as users see fit. futurecity.glasgow.gov.uk

In Copenhagen, city leaders have partnered with three companies to create a public test area for internet of things technologies and other smart-city solutions. The Street Lab project, which covers a small area near the offices of the city’s CPH Solutions Lab hub for trying out new ideas, is testing novel ways to facilitate parking and waste management as well as to monitor air quality and noise. cphsolutionslab.dk/

www.smartnation.sg www.citylab.com, search ‘Singapore’

glasgow c o p e n h a ge n

G u aya q u i l , Ecuador

singapore ecuador A team that includes Nashville-based TransCore was chosen early this year to install its TransSuite software to improve the coordination of traffic management systems in Guayaquil, Ecuador. The project includes a pilot implementation of an RFID-based bus priority system, with TransCore will in the next phase to coordinate the integration of other controllers, closed-circuit TV and Bluetooth readers to enable better travel time calculations. bit.ly/smartguayaquil

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From the ground up A new city being built in the shadow of the Rockies is giving Vanderbilt researchers the chance to research new home technologies

The development of Sterling Ranch, a sprawling master-planned community southwest of Denver, was an unprecedented opportunity to incorporate smart home and smart city features in what is predicted to be a community of 45,000 people, 12,000 residential units and 2 million square feet of commercial and retail space. When the first residents of the community move in — which could happen as soon as this August — they’ll be welcomed by homes able to track and automate water, electricity and gas use in real time, among other innovations included by the developers. The enormous undertaking has been underway for a decade and will continue for years to come, but in the last two years,

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Vanderbilt University students and professors have joined the effort, using the development as a test lab and training ground for engineering and education. (The development will eventually include as many as seven schools.) It’s one of several Vanderbilt transinstitutional programs that are part of a $50 million initiative introduced in 2014 by Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos as a way to combine research resources across multiple schools and departments. Brock Smethills, chief technology officer of Sterling Ranch Development Co., graduated just four years ago with a bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt’s engineering school. He says he called up a professor there and told him, “We’re designing a wastewater system, a road

network, a fiber optic network, in-home technologies — all these engineering efforts that we are undertaking — and it would make a lot of sense for your undergraduates to get involved with that.” Vanderbilt leaders eventually approved the project and a number of education and engineering professors and students have been to Colorado to study and work on the homes and community plans. Smethills says Vanderbilt has applied for a National Science Foundation grant that could lead to the next phase of involvement between the university and Sterling Ranch. Such funding could allow VU researchers to collect and analyze energy usage data from Sterling Ranch homes, possibly leading to money- and resource-saving changes to the way future homes are designed and built. “This will be anywhere from 100 to 3,000, 4,000, 5,000 units that can opt in to share that information. It will be the largest sample size in the country that we can find,” Smethills says. “It’s very valuable information.” > Stephen Elliott

PROVIDED BY Sterling Ranch Development Company

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SECURITY

Privacy is dynamic: Best practices for smart strategy Companies need to lead in protection, government should create flexible frameworks by Lydia Jones and Robyn Mace

echnology has transformed expectations of privacy in the 21st century. Strategic thinking for effective, productive and profitable data collection and data use is now, more than ever, critical for business success in the private, public and nonprofit sectors. Public- and private-sector leaders, elected officials and citizen consumers have compelling, and sometimes competing, interests to deliberately and systematically address how to best manage regulatory, operational and social obligations to protect individual identities as well as the privacy of the individuals they represent. Simultaneously, society must also grapple with how to appropriately regulate markets and protect users in complicated and sometimes politically or economically volatile circumstances. Considering big data and privacy in terms of data collection and use, privacy regulations and data disclosures provide a solid framework to contemplate the conveniences, efficiencies and costs that influence privacy concerns in various contexts. These three counter-intuitive insights can help shape strategic thinking on data and privacy:

• Data collection and use are context specific. Obligations and levels of protection vary depending on the collector and circumstances. For example, an individual choosing to share genetic data with a doctor, public health department and private commercial testing entity should expect quite different legal duties regarding privacy protection from each. Doctors are bound by patient confidentiality, professional and legal regulations, standards and practices. Public health departments are similarly bound — and further restricted by government data processing and storage rules. Private companies without explicit regulatory requirements are bound by their terms of service and privacy policies and informed by industry regulation, including those enforced by the Federal Trade Commission. While the genetic data remains the same in these examples, the privacy obligations do not; instead, those obligations are dynamic and vary according to context. • Privacy regulations reasonably should include data sharing. If properly structured, regulations can

foster innovation, engagement and individual protections. The possibilities of continuous sensing through the internet of things (e.g., Wi-Fi or wire-connected devices) necessitate that consumers and manufacturers be aware, informed and responsible about the personally sensitive data smart devices capture. Chicago’s Array of Things, an urban sensor network designed to capture environmental and infrastructure data, is being engineered (and anonymized) to allow city officials, technology developers, citizens and researchers access to data to generate energy efficiency, traffic improvements, air and water quality improvements and better city planning. And German officials recently ordered parents to destroy or disable a toy that allowed access to the internet through speech recognition software and control of the toy through an application. Its Bluetooth device had no password protection or other controls to prevent remote monitoring of conversations. • Data disclosures — whether to citizens, consumers or business partners — are integral for maximizing the value of an organization’s data. Available and transparent privacy policies enable informed decision-making about the disclosure of data based on the value of services, risk tolerance and institutional commitment to best practices. Easy-to-understand disclosures should be a part of every strategic plan to maximize the value of data. Yahoo, for example, publicly disclosed a policy of scanning, and possibly sharing, emails between subscribers but faced class-action litigation over whether non-Yahoo Mail subscribers were on notice of, and therefore consented, to this policy as well. In other words, disclosures to nonYahoo Mail subscribers were just as important as disclosures to Yahoo’s actual customer subscribers. Privacy, like technology, is not static; it is dynamic. And it contin-

ues to evolve as imagination, technology and services proliferate and expand boundaries of established convention and law. Companies must take the lead to develop and clearly communicate appropriate and sufficient protections around products and services to ensure the safety, privacy and trust of their consumers. Similarly, governments must create flexible regulatory frameworks that facilitate consumer protections while enabling businesses to develop new products and services. Agencies must also fulfill their data-related obligations and disclosures in transparent and engaging ways that build (or restore) trust, confidence and legitimacy. Finally, consumers — especially parents — must take time to understand the implications and impacts of terms of service, particularly for “free” services — and be willing to say no to products and services with policies that do not respect their values. Looking forward, IoT, artificial intelligence, machine learning, sensor technology and other innovative developments present almost innumerable opportunities for companies to address and alleviate consumer concerns around data sharing. There’s never been a better time to think explicitly and systematically about privacy. Privacy is inherently dynamic and strategic best practices should be as well.

Robyn Mace is the chief data officer for Metro Nashville Government. Lydia Jones is a data monetization strategist, the founder of the Data Monetization Workshop and an adjunct professor of law at Vanderbilt and Boston University law schools. Since the submission of this guest column, Jones has joined Gartner Inc. as an analyst. Nothing in this column should be considered an expression of opinion by or a statement of Metro or Gartner.

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‘ Y o u c a n u s u a l ly f i g u r e out whether your team h a s a w e a k p l a y e r .’ Amy Leopard, Bradley

An interdisciplinary fire drill For many businesses, a cyber attack is all but inevitable. What do you do when it hits? by stephen elliotT

t’s not “if,” but “when.” Businesses, individuals and other computer users (read: everyone) should expect to one day be victimized by a cyber attack. “If somebody is determined enough, there’s no secret system that’s 100 percent safe,” says Amy Leopard, a partner in Bradley Arant Boult Cummings’ Nashville office and co-leader of the firm’s cybersecurity and privacy practice group. “The actors you’re dealing with are incredibly sophisticated.” Bradley started its practice group three years ago, and it now includes 17 lawyers from multiple offices and practice groups. It’s also led by partner Paige Boshell in the firm’s Birmingham main office and includes attorney Jordan Stivers in Nashville. Leopard, Boshell and Stivers recently joined the Post to discuss cybersecurity.

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One thing clear from that conversation: It’s perhaps equally as important to be prepared for the fallout from a cyber breach as it is to actually defend yourself from attacks. “The first step is, you’ve got to stop it,” says Boshell. “We usually get called soon enough by our clients that they’re just discovering that something happened.” A cyber breach can cause chaos within a business, according to the lawyers, who deal with them in one form or another about once a week. “You’re running on different tracks all at the same time,” Boshell says. “You’ve got a group of people trying to stop it, a group of people trying to assess what happened factually, a group of people trying to assess the legal implications. You’ve got marketing/PR and internal HR people trying to come up with a coherent message.” Leopard, who compares these situations to a “fire drill scenario,” says she tries to get businesses to practice incident response before a breach occurs. By practicing, she says, “you can usually figure out whether your team has a weak player, whether people work together well. You

can’t have people eating each other.” One of the challenges in responding to cyber breaches is the diversity of expertise needed. “You can’t just call a banking lawyer for a bank breach,” Boshell says. You might also need a litigator, an employment lawyer and an attorney with experience in government regulation. “As law firms have gotten called more and more, their awareness has increased about what an interdisciplinary response it has to be.” After notifying clients affected by a data breach, some organizations set up credit monitoring and other protection regimes for the affected individuals, either out of a legal obligation or a commitment to the clients. The industry standard is to provide that service for about two years, says Ben Flatgard, who led cybersecurity policy in the Obama National Security Council and moved to Nashville after the inauguration of Donald Trump in January. But the need to provide protection after the fact and prepare an adequate response to a breach can be rendered moot by taking some basic precautionary measures. “Once the incident happens, it’s kind of too late,” Flatgard says. “Companies can say they take security seriously, but until they put in place some pretty basic protections, it’s not going to get better.” Recent high-profile data breaches — including at Yahoo and Anthem and during the 2016 presidential election — have caused businesses and individuals to pay attention to cybersecurity, but not everyone is on the same page. “People are either extremely sophisticated or extremely ignorant, and there’s not a whole lot of middle ground,” Leopard says. That’s a sentiment echoed by Flatgard, who has consulted for companies since his move to Nashville and is working on breach response education programs. “It’s still astonishing how poorly a lot of companies end up managing security incidents,” he says. “The companies who don’t get out in front of the incident and communicate clearly and effectively are the ones who end up suffering the greatest impact.”

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FeatuReS

SECURITY

Learn to code in Nashville.

We’ll teach you web development and help you find a job.

Mel Taylor Splitsecnd

NOT BY ACCIDENT Startup Splitsecnd primed for growth after pivot, partnership with German company by Cillea HougHton

theironyard.com/nashville or call us: 615.953.0089

hen Splitsecnd President and CEO Mel Taylor and her team approached the head of the trauma unit at Vanderbilt University Medical Center on various occasions in December 2014, they asked one question: “What information, if we can get it to you, can help save a life?”

It was a defining moment for the Nashville-based company, which has since evolved into a global enterprise with a seemingly simple device that offers anything but simplistic results. Originally, Splitsecnd (the company stylizes as “splitsecnd”) started in 2010 as a conceptual app by then-Vanderbilt University undergraduates William Green and Chris Thompson. In 2014, Splitsecnd acquired the rights to the app and patents, with Taylor re-founding the company as it is known today via JumpStart Foundry. At that point, Taylor quickly realized it would best flourish as a stand-alone and fully self-functioning device.

daniel meigs

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SECURITY

That pivot is complete. Now Splitsecnd is an auto crash detection and notification device that plugs into a vehicle’s 12-Volt cigarette lighter oulet and notifies first responders and emergency contacts when there has been an accident — in addition to being able to handle several other crucial tasks. The device works automatically in a vehicular accident, immediately connecting with a 24-hour call center and capturing all the vital information from the crash — including speed, what direction the car was moving, force of impact and medical information that alerts first responders as to what trauma level condition, if any, the person is experiencing. Also functioning as a cell phone, the device can operate for four hours outside the vehicle. Taylor and Splitsecnd officials have hit on some of the city’s major industries — such as health care, transportation and tourism — to create worldwide availability. Before gaining certification from the Federal Communications Commission, the Global Certification Forum and the European Economic Area (among others), the team engaged in a “huge amount” of research to decipher what features needed to be included in the device, working with several engineers to build the product. “And we’ve pushed the boundaries that whole time,” Taylor says. “So our absolute mantra that we come back to every day is ‘safety and simplicity.’ Everything we do is based around that.” The company recently partnered with Orange, a French cellular carrier that utilizes a global SIM that allows Splitsecnd to roam on a strong signal regardless of wireless carrier or country. But its main international partner is Germany-based SAP, which discovered Splitsecnd during its yearly accelerator program in which startup companies showcase ideas to global players. Splitsecnd was accepted into the multinational software corporation’s insurance and mobility categories, one of the first times a company has accomplished such a feat with SAP, which bills itself as offering regional offices in 130 countries and 345,000 customers in 180 countries. SAP (systems, applications and products in data processing) is in the process of setting up in vehicles wireless connectivity that would allow consumers to pre-book and pay for parking spots and gas pumps, with Splitsecnd providing that connectivity. All of these factors feed into the mission of technologically driven smart cities, Taylor says. “So what we’re moving toward is this whole smart city and this flow of critical data in a way that the consumer does not have to ever worry about what to integrate with. So SAP is very much on the road map of where we’re headed,” Taylor says of the partnership. In addition to global collaborators, new legislation in Europe and Japan is going to cause an increase in Splitsecnd’s production. A new law set to be enacted

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in Europe in January 2018 states that all new vehicles must have some form of auto crash detection notification. Additionally, Japan has banned the use of the on-board diagnostics II port in any aftermarket vehicles. Located under the steering wheel and controlling many car functions, the OBD has been subject to hacking over the past few years through its wireless connection. Since it operates completely separate from the OBD-II port, Splitsecnd is unable to be hacked. “It is going to cause exponential growth for Splitsecnd,” Taylor explains of the new worldwide legislation. “Europe has become a huge opportunity for us. Japan is going to be a very obvious market. There’s clearly demand as we’re finding out right now. We know we are the only fully compliant device on the aftermarket (the market for spare parts, accessories, and components, especially for motor vehicles). “And we are currently going through certification and have no doubt that we will be getting that in the very near future,” she adds. A change in how the product is sold represents a major shift in Splitsecnd’s future. Initially, the company sold directly to consumers but has since transitioned into selling to businesses and government companies, in large response to the upcoming legislative changes. “The biggest challenge is how do we bring that to the aftermarket,” Taylor says of pain points for companies and government entities. “And that’s where Splitsecnd solves the problem. We recognize that we can bring this to consumers much quicker if we are working with a B-to-B-to-C environment,” she explains. “Once we have all of this data, there’s a huge amount we can do to benefit cities with regard to governments or municipalities.” In joining SAP’s worldwide network, splitsecnd’s own platform will grow exponentially with corporate clients, many with millions of members. “If we’re able to have them get it out to the network as quickly as they can, it makes a big difference,” Taylor says. “The impact on Splitsecnd is that we’re going to just experience global growth much quicker than was originally anticipated, which is a very good problem to have.” In fact, Splitsecnd is already planning for the future of connected cars with built-in technology, adapting the product so that it never becomes obsolete. Taylor says that Splitsecnd’s “complex” platform will still be able to connect to built-in systems. “We would end up being the platform that is able to almost be device-agnostic,” she says. “Anything that can provide me that data on the vehicle can come through the Splitsecnd platform. “On top of that, we’re evolving with SAP, which is going to be very much platform-driven as well,” Taylor adds. “We’re going to make sure that we’re relevant for a very long time.”

WITT provides a forum to empower women and girls in technology through education, outreach, mentoring, and networking.

Get Connected! Be Informed! Give Back!

www.wittn.org 5/11/17 12:28 12:21 PM

FEATURES

BLOCKCHAIN

Blockchain’s promise and hurdles Attorney outlines progress, regulatory issues around emerging platform

efore joining the intellectual property practice group at Waller, Kristen Johns was general counsel for a life sciences startup and part of the legal team at the former Emdeon. Those experiences and her work on cybersecurity and data privacy have transitioned nicely into her being an emerging expert in blockchain or distributed ledger technology. Here, Johns answers a few of the Post’s questions about the adoption of blockchain in health care — which, she notes, lags the finance and supply chain sectors — and where things might go in the coming years.

Is blockchain the solution for all the challenges in health data management? Blockchain should be considered one of numerous options. Recognizing the burgeoning interest of blockchain technology in health care, the National Institutes of Standards and Technology and the Office of the National Coordinator sponsored a competition soliciting white papers about potential uses in the summer of 2016. Of the 72 papers submitted, 15 winners presented ideas including a “Health Information Exchange of One” (from Adrian Gropper) to a decentralized record management system called “MedRec” (from MIT). Uses with commercial applicability already exist in connection with clinical trial management and claims processing. Because so much hype surrounds the blockchain discussion, some groups seek a blockchain-based solution without a thoughtful analysis of the existing problem. Similarly, some have eschewed blockchain technology without fully understanding the technology and its potential. Learning the fundamentals of the technology, including the nuances of this distributed ledger, is essential. Blockchain technology is not a panacea. Some problems can be resolved by using existing technologies, such as a centralized database or multiple databases with subscription capability.

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Which industry players are already moving in the direction of blockchain adoption? Many health care institutions, especially payers such

Kristen Johns

as Cigna and Aetna, have blockchain initiatives. Companies such as Gem have been blazing a trail in collaborations and blockchain education. Numerous start-ups are building applications with specific focus, such as health research and clinical trials. For example, PokItDok, a Savannah startup, has built its own clearinghouse and records certain transactions on a blockchain platform. In some cases, a blockchain solution can complement existing infrastructure. What regulatory issues are impeding the move from conversation to action? From a legal perspective, there is not one gating issue or regulation that precludes the widespread adoption of blockchain technology in health care. The current, but admittedly inadequate, answer to a legal question is, “It depends.” This is because further analysis of existing federal and state laws is necessary to define potential or existing barriers to implementation and adoption. Parts of HIPAA, for example, are based on a structure where one entity has been granted permission to have custody or control over personal health information for a specific purpose. Because blockchain is a decentralized platform, the inherent hierarchy of control and access is eliminated. Initial uses of distributed ledger technology have avoided navigating these complex regulatory issues. The current environment is one of legislative uncertainty. The 21st Century Cures Act was enacted in December and provides a statutory definition of “information blocking.” Eliminating some of the silos that exist in today’s health care system is one of the great promises of blockchain technology. The combination of these legislative efforts and the potential of blockchain technology are some necessary steps for more widespread and rapid adoption.

5/11/17 12:28 12:21 PM

BLOCKCHAIN

FEATURES

‘The noTion of fasT follower is a fallacy in a paradigm shifT’

Shout out to all the real tech innovators in Nashville!

by coREy TodARo And gilES wARd

In general terrms, a blockchain is a shared, distributed and secure ledger. A simple definition but one in which the significance of each word is crucial — if any piece goes missing, it isn’t a blockchain. Blockchain allows a network of transactional parties to share a common ledger, but rather than a single copy, every transactional party has its own copy of the entire ledger. The breakthrough is twofold: A blockchain allows all copies of that ledger to be in sync and in consensus at all times — there is no need for transacting parties to reconcile their own copies of the ledger and the security that comes from the fact that once something hits the ledger it cannot be changed. In health care, blockchain addresses the bureaucratic transactional inefficiency that adds tremendous cost and burden to the system but does nothing to improve the point of care. A matter as simple as picking up a prescription masks an often incredibly complex sequence of events: A prescription is called, faxed or hand-delivered to a pharmacy, which then does eligibility, prior-authorization or network coverage checks before looking at formulary, step therapy requirements and preferred drug offerings. Patient assistance programs, rebates, and deductible and copay checks all factor in and don’t yet consider if your pharmacy even has the drug you need in stock or if it can be ordered. All of these administrative tasks are kicked off by that prescription cascade, often in isolation — the findings from one check are not necessarily passed on to the next. This can cause delays, questions, phone calls and even costs that could be avoided if that prescription simply followed a set of rules down a single transaction path. To reframe the context slightly, think of the patient as the ultimate ledger in health care — every “transaction” goes through the patient. Every prod, poke, pill, scan, session, visit, consult,

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Corey Todaro

test, insurance card, copay, deductible and admission goes through you, the patient. Why can our records not do the same? Blockchain brings the thread of trust and identity that could securely tie together all those siloed encounters and data sets. As we sit in Music City — the epicenter of health care purchasing power — and look at a skyline dominated by the kings of provider-side health care, we must consider the impact and implications of blockchain. Nashville has an opportunity here; the notion of fast follower is a fallacy in a paradigm shift. The path to widespread adoption of blockchain architecture must come through Nashville and there is no reason that we can’t embrace the work that is already being done and ensure that it finds a home. The first and second annual global conferences on blockchain in health care (Distributed:Health) have taken and will take place here. If we unite around this technology now, there is no reason for us to consider that year three’s conference might be anywhere else. Corey Todaro is COO and Giles Ward is the executive director of the Blockchain Consortium at Hashed Health, a collaborative health care innovation firm dedicated to realizing the potential of blockchain and distributed ledger technologies. www.hashedhealth.com

Take control of your product content.

www.edgenet.com

5/11/17 1:05 1:04 PM

FEATURES

FIBER

High-speed chase

Nashville drives toward an ultrafast internet future — despite potholes by Linda Bryant

any Nashvillians, especially business and civic leaders, were overjoyed when Google Fiber announced in 2015 plans to expand into Nashville. Fueling that excitement: the hope of ultrafast internet speed — as much as 100 times faster than traditional broadband and, for example, enough to download an HD movie in 40 seconds. Many in the city’s entrepreneurial class immediately embraced Google Fiber, expecting the quality and speed of its connectivity to dramatically impact their productivity, creativity and technical sophistication. But the reality of the Google Fiber rollout has been markedly different than the lofty expectations that accompanied it. Indeed, it’s been a sobering experience for those who dreamed of Nashville becoming an elite hightech hub known for its lightning-fast internet access and speed and its ability to attract top technology sector. Rather, the rollout has been considerably slower — and much more disappointing and legally complicated — than anyone anticipated. And, until very recently, many thought Google Fiber, which is part of the Access division

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of Mountain View, California-based Alphabet Inc., was close to exiting the Nashville market altogether. Now, more than two years after announcing its entrance into Nashville, Google Fiber is signaling that it is ready to move forward, albeit at a gingerly pace. Of course, that doesn’t mean the future of ultrafast internet in Nashville is certain, and some tech sector leaders remain displeased about that. Others appear content knowing Nashville is probably not going be considered an elite city regarding fiber speed anytime soon.

Too late to ‘upset the apple cart’? You can count Steve Proctor among those who are frustrated with the slow rollout and by lawsuits from telecom giants AT&T and Comcast that challenge Google Fiber’s One Touch Make Ready program. Proctor, who is CEO of Nashville-based software as a service provider Edgenet, believes the actions of AT&T and Comcast are thwarting free competition in the Nashville market. “I’m happy to upset this apple cart,” Proctor says. “I don’t think people understand what’s happening. The lack of accessibility [to ultrafast fiber networks] is a big issue. Faster internet makes things easier, which in turn makes us more productive and information more accessible. It makes Nashville more credible. “It simply does not speak well for innovation in this city or Nashville’s reputation with technology that we’re sitting by while a monopoly protects its own,” Proctor adds. “Who are Comcast and AT&T to pick Nashville as their battleground?” Proctor asks. “It inhibits innova-

tion, and we are a state that needs innovation badly. Our education and income are not in the top half. You need the innovation because the whole basis of capitalism is that competition makes the service better.” Brian Moyer, CEO of the Nashville Technology Council, takes a more neutral stance. He says the city enjoys improved internet connectivity compared to three years ago and that competition has been spurred by Google Fiber’s local presence. While Moyer concedes that Nashville’s broadband and fiber optic speeds aren’t considered among the nation’s upper tier, he says they are respectable nonetheless. “We have more gigabits than most communities in the country. Most places only have about two providers,” Moyer says. “People tend to think of this whole issue in black-and-white terms; you either support Google Fiber or you don’t,” Moyer adds. “The issue is way more complicated than that. The thought of Google Fiber happening quickly here was probably unrealistic to begin with.”

SUMMER 2017 | NASHVILLEPOST.COM

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FIBER

Access OK, but not the best As stakeholders in Nashville waited for the gifts of a speedy fiber network, other cities in the region such as Chattanooga and Huntsville (and even Clarksville) radically improved their fiber offerings. Christopher Mitchell, a national expert who tracks and analyzes community broadband systems nationwide, says Nashville can do better. But Mitchell, who is the director of community broadband networks at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance in Minneapolis, also acknowledges that the city is in decent shape regarding quality and speed of connectivity. “You aren’t ever going to have poor access in Nashville. At the worst, you’re going to have mediocre or average service,” Mitchell says. “Even the mention of Google Fiber coming in caused AT&T and Comcast to up their game. “Legal games are part of the problem in Nashville,” Mitchell adds. “What’s really frustrating is that normally it would be difficult to build a network in a city as large as Nashville. But when you are also facing AT&T or Comcast holding

things up, getting things done becomes really hard.” Mitchell highly commends Chattanooga, which has branded itself as “Gig City” and now has one of the least expensive high-speed internet services in the United States. The city is one of the only in the world with internet speeds as fast as one gigabit per second — about 50 times faster than the U.S. average. To achieve this, Chattanooga’s municipally owned electricity company, EPB, built a citywide fiber network that requires companies such as Google Fiber or AT&T to lease pole space directly from the utility. “Chattanooga has the most successful [municipally-owned, fiberbased internet system] of its kind in the country,” Mitchell says. “Nashville may or may not [be able] to do what Chattanooga did, but it’s an option available to any city in Tennessee with a municipal electric utility. “It’s important to know [Nashville has] options, especially now that Google is not building these networks at the pace that was expected,” Mitchell adds. “If businesses feel they can’t get the connectivity they need from AT&T and Comcast, hoping Google Fiber solves the problem is probably not the most promising route. Finding an innovative partnership or doing something themselves [with a public utility] is an option.” The most likely scenario — though not necessarily the one Mitchell believes is the best for customers — is that Nashville will continue its uneven march into ultrafast internet service as AT&T, Comcast and Google Fiber continue to duke it out. In other words, although it’s theoretically possible, it’s not likely that Nashville can replicate the highspeed nirvana Chattanooga has created. And Mitchell believes Nashville is worse off because of it. “If I was in business and considering moving to Tennessee, there’s no way I’d go to Nashville,” Mitchell says, adding he would choose Chat-

tanooga, Clarksville or even Tullahoma, because of the quality and speed of those cities’ internet service.

Google Fiber speaks In recent months, hopes haven’t been high for the future of Google Fiber in Nashville. The lack of optimism isn’t just because of still-unresolved legal battles; indeed, several national news reports have indicated the technology giant is set to curb expansion efforts in other cities. But don’t count Google Fiber out, yet. In April, just when many seemed ready to give up on the company altogether, officials sent to Nashville Electric Service a signal that indicates they are ready to move forward with pole installations. “Google Fiber has given us indication that they plan to utilize the One Touch Make Ready process beginning mid-May,” says Holden Sheriff, an NES spokesperson. “[They said] that they have approximately 100 poles that will be ready to utilize the One Touch Make Ready process at that time.” Martha Ivester, city manager of Google Fiber Nashville, says the company is still committed to Nashville. “We’re continuing to make progress thanks to the innovative construction and deployment methods we are using in Nashville, including One Touch Make Ready,” Ivester says. “We plan to connect the first single-family homes, along with more condos and apartment buildings, later this year. “We started Google Fiber to connect more people to superfast and abundant internet — here in Nashville and across the United States,” Ivestor continues. “Two years ago, people in Nashville had no gig options available. Now there are three. We believe that access to high-speed broadband will drive more innovation in Nashville. Demand for fiber continues to grow, and we continue to push the boundaries of technology to [deliver] superfast internet.”

Google Fiber facts and timeline 2015

After announcing its debut in Nashville, Google Fiber officials determined that running fiber cables underground is an unworkable option since the city sits on a massive bed of limestone rock.

2016

Google Fiber then focused on fiber installation on telephone poles, pushing for an ordinance known as One Touch Make Ready. The legislation, which passed Metro Council with broad support, expedites the fiber installation process by allowing companies looking to attach to utility poles to move competitors’ equipment.

Late 2016

One Touch Make Ready was a big win for Google Fiber. But immediately after it became law, AT&T and Comcast, Google Fiber’s main competitors, filed lawsuits to block the ordinance. The telecom giants argued that Metro lacks the authority to regulate poles owned by Nashville Electric Service and that the new law violates existing contracts with the local power provider.

April 2017

Officials with Google Fiber, which is available in only 20 Nashville buildings, signal to NES they plan to move ahead with more installations.

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SUMMER 2017 | techie

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FEATURES

AUTOMATE

Dr. Julie Adams

Brave new world

Human-robot collaboration expert talks automation and artificial intelligence in the modern economy

r. Julie Adams, a former Vanderbilt University professor and an expert on artificial intelligence, robotics and human-machine teaming, spoke at TEDxNashville in March on the topic of “Robots and Humans — When It’s Best They Work Together.” Adams, now at Oregon State University, is not the only one thinking about these issues. Elon Musk (perhaps most vocally), Bill Gates and Stephen Hawking have all called for more oversight of the development of new artificial intelligence technologies for fear that the technology could someday break free of the constraints implemented by its human creators. When we caught up with Adams after the TEDxNashville event, she said that even though some of the criticism of artificial intelligence is fueled by “overzealousness,” there is valid cause for concern — as there is with any new technology.

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Adams spoke with the Post’s Stephen Elliott, touching on the future of the economy, humanrobot collaboration and regulatory roadblocks in the field of artificial intelligence. What industries are ripe for more human-robot collaboration? A large number of applications have the potential to be positively impacted by robotic technology that can collaborate with humans. I mentioned a few such applications in my talk, but examples include industrial manufacturing that does not rely on stationary, caged robot manipulators and any organization that requires coordination with humans for the delivery of goods, such as fulfillment centers. Further, the automation of agriculture is also an area that is on the cusp of benefiting from cooperative robots; however, such systems need to have low barriers on entry, [equally] on cost, maintainability and usability. Similar comments can be made for robots that can assist with health care. These are just a few of the possible applications. The 2016 U.S. Robotics Roadmap provides significantly more examples. Why are people concerned about the growing prominence of robots and artificial intelligence? One reason people are concerned is because of their perceptions of robotic and artificial intelligence technology based on the Hollywood representations and the tendency of those representations to sensationalize the technology. Having said that, there is cause to be concerned. Unbridled development of the technology can potentially result in technology that may be able to outthink, outwit and outperform humans.

The technology may not have ethics or morals representative of humans, in which case it may not be tied to the types of threats and consequences that curb human behavior. Should people be concerned about growth in the artificial intelligence field? Yes, there is reason to be concerned about the safety of any new technology, but there is also a bit of overzealousness in the warnings stated by various individuals about such technologies. The technologies have significantly improved over the last 10 years, and it is very possible that continued improvements will occur on more rapid time scales. At the same time, there are organizations in place, irrespective of your opinion, that are intentionally, or unintentionally, curbing the technology. Unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) are an excellent example. The FAA regulations on drones basically made it so difficult to fly a vehicle that very few people were doing so legally until the rules were simplified in 2016, which made the technology more accessible. The changes to the FAA regulations in August 2016 made it easier for consumers as hobbyists to fly but still have not removed all the constraints on those who wish to fly for business or research purposes. Similar concerns have arisen with prior technologies — automobiles for example. But over time, not only have the necessary rules and regulations regarding the use of automobiles been solidified, they have also become accepted by society. As a researcher, I hate to see restrictions put on robotic technology, but I expect that there will be rules and regulations placed on this technology that will curb the concern. What sort of jobs will disappear as we rely more on robots? Jobs that require manual labor — for example, farming, janitorial work, long-haul truck drivers — will likely disappear or be transformed. In other areas, robots will not take away jobs, but they will transform the existing jobs. For example, in health care, robots may handle portions of the jobs nurses and nursing assistants now do, such as checking vital signs, changing bedding and helping patients with therapy and bathing, while freeing the humans to focus on other aspects of patient care. It is not unusual for new technologies to eliminate or transform existing jobs while creating new jobs. When automobiles replaced horse-drawn carriages, blacksmiths and wagon

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AUTOMATE

building and maintenance jobs were virtually eliminated and replaced by jobs manufacturing, maintaining and selling automobiles as well as the development and maintenance of the necessary infrastructure to support automobiles. What kind of jobs could replace them? Many jobs will be transformed, in that the humans will need to learn some advanced skills in order to monitor and interact with the robots and be more productive. A CNN video interviewing Detroit autoworkers does a very nice job of explaining how robots have transformed the jobs of some of the interviewees. When I first was watching the video, quite frankly, I expected the interviewees to be negative about the introduction of automation and robots into the automobile industry. Their statements were quite the opposite. There will also be jobs such as robot system development, sales positions, maintenance, etc. In many respects, the types of jobs that will be created are loosely similar to some of the jobs that were created by the development of the automobile industry.

Further, there will be necessary infrastructure that has to be developed and maintained in order for robots to be effective in the daily interactions with their human teammates. This infrastructure will not be roads or sidewalks but will be other types of infrastructure, such as communication networks, power charging stations, etc. What kind of roadblocks could get in the way of expanded human-robot collaboration? Just as FAA regulations tied the hands of those developing unmanned aerial vehicles and continue to hinder the development of advanced technologies for UAVs — such as autonomous flight and flying multiple vehicles simultaneously — over-regulation has the potential to very much influence the manner in which robots are deployed. Other countries have fewer regulations and are leapfrogging over the United States in their development, testing and deployment of these technologies. There are also a number of technical questions that still have to be solved in order for robots to be effective partners. There are domains in

FEATURES

which robots can be effective collaborators today, such as those that have a well-defined environment and do not change rapidly. Other domains, such as first response to natural disasters, continue to be problematic for the technology to adapt to and deploy quickly enough to be useful or to have the robustness to avoid failure to handle such complex environments. There are also ethical and social norms that robots have to be able to understand and adhere [to] or they will not be acceptable collaborative partners. Robots need to be able to perceive situations and understand how to act appropriately within the social and ethical contexts, norms and rules. Robots are making headway in this area, but long-term usage on a daily basis will require significant advances in this area.

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5/11/17 12:30 12:23 PM

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AT HOME

Zachary Watson HoneyCo

get smart

Off-the-shelf technology brings senior care back to the home by stephen elliotT

t’s a familiar dilemma for anyone who has cared for an aging parent. Hire expensive in-home caregivers or move the parent to a nursing facility. Or do neither and worry through the night that the loved one living alone has taken a spill or fallen ill. Each choice is as unappealing as the next. But a Nashville startup is pioneering a way to address such concerns:

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in-home technology that tracks residents in order to inform offsite caregivers (be they professionals or family) of unusual activity. For example, a resident wakes up in the middle of the night, falls on the way to the bathroom and never returns to bed. Technology offered by HoneyCo — including motion sensors and other connected devices — can sense the problem and text alert a caregiver. HoneyCo and its CEO, Zachary Watson, have set up shop in a single-family home in Sylvan Park, with software development handled in the back and technology demonstration in the front. The company raised more than $1 million last year and is currently in the middle of preseries A seed extension. Watson says he first drew inspiration for the home technology from a surprising place — San Quentin State Prison, where he volunteered teaching math courses to inmates while a student seeking an M.B.A. degree at Stanford. “There are social systems in which one can be caught that exacerbate the problem. That system made these people’s lives worse,” he says. After completing business school, he began investing in the senior care industry, and, “it was kind of the same system in place, where once a patient is a part of this cycle, the activ-

ity and the wellness of a resident in an assisted living facility declined more rapidly than those who aren’t in a facility.” The product has moved past the beta stage and Watson says the company will begin marketing more widely this summer. “There’s a dramatic underutilization of technology in elder care,” says Watson, who moved to Nashville from New York last year. HoneyCo’s technology, he adds, “does the worrying about the resident for the user.” It can take a level of stress off the adult child located across the country, or even across town, the company’s CEO says: “If there’s something that comes up in the home that’s concerning, then we’ll push a text message to them. It helps families take care of one another even if they may be remote.” HoneyCo is more like an insurance agency than a tech start-up: The company wants you to purchase the product but never have to use it. “We’re trying to drive our user engagement to zero, whereas everyone else is, for the most part, trying to get you to engage more,” Watson says, “because that means a) everyone is safe, and b) we’re freeing up mental bandwidth for people who are otherwise concerned or checking in or swinging by when they don’t necessarily have to.”

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ADVISE

Jim Jamieson EvidenceCare

Early evidence

Health care decision support software venture off to a quick start by Geert DE Lombaerde

aced with a tricky question and without all the info he wanted to have, Brian Fengler turned to the web for some help and guidance. We’ve all done it. The twist versus our mostly random trivia searches: Fengler, an emergency room doctor, was treating a woman 36 weeks into her pregnancy and dealing with a pulmonary embolism. He spent precious time digging for answers without success. And while the decision he eventually made turned out fine for both mother and fetus, the episode gnawed at him — as both a clinician and an entrepreneur. What if, Fengler thought, ER doctors and nurses could have at their fingertips vetted medical information and treatment recommen-

dations that would guide them to make better decisions specific to the symptoms patients were presenting? It was 2012 and Fengler was managing partner of Physicians Urgent Care. But he saw the potential. When Jim Jamieson was told of the idea, he was equally enthused. “I saw this could be a huge game changer,” says Jamieson, who spent more than a decade in the revenue cycle management space in addition to having international sales experience. “It really could change the quality of care where it matters most.” Fast forward to last summer. After some small-scale testing, EvidenceCare publicly launched its service. Less than a year later, 2,000 providers are using its tools, the EvidenceCare team has closed on another $2 million in funding — pushing its total to $3.6 million — and a scalable enterprise version of its product is almost ready for a summer rollout. All of that growth has come with a full-time team of a dozen people — with a few more nurses coming on board soon — that thrives on efficiency and focus. “We’re not a bunch of college kids with a good idea,” says Jamieson, now the company’s COO. “We’re all experienced and we knew what we needed to do to get off to a good start.”

Jamieson’s background in the military — he’s a former Marine who specialized in logistics support as a Pentagon contractor during the second Gulf War in the early 2000s — drives the company’s lean-and-mean model. Each week, Fengler, Jamieson, Chief Experience Officer Deb Miller and Chief Technology Officer Howard Bright huddle to make sure they’re still on track and focused on the necessary priorities. The main rule hasn’t changed since the company’s founding. “If it’s not revenue-generating, we’re not going to do it,” Jamieson says. Plenty more revenue sources are out there. Fengler, Jamieson and Miller see huge opportunities for EvidenceCare in health care segments beyond emergency medicine and beyond U.S. borders. With regulators increasingly stressing quality measures — and penalizing errors via lower reimbursement rates — the EvidenceCare team has begun adding protocols to help eliminate hospital-acquired infections. Beyond that, future targets include the obstetrics and gastrointestinal spaces — the latter being of particular interest to board member and lead investor Don Lazas, who runs NueCura Partners and is a partner at Associates in Gastroenterology and Associated Endoscopy on the campus of TriStar Summit Medical Center. EvidenceCare already is global due to word of mouth and individuals using its web-based version. But taking advantage of the global market on a wider scale and partnering with large vendors will take a bigger piggy bank. Until now, EvidenceCare has raised money in smaller chunks — the money raised so far has come in three rounds — mostly from angel investors and physicians using its product. To take the next step, Fengler recently brought on Chicago-based Auctus Group to lead a $5 million raise that is expected to close this fall and provide fuel for the next big steps forward. “We will always be capital-conscious,” Jamieson says. “But we’re going to have to spend some money to do this right.”

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FEATURES

R&D

Cuttingedge cool Local universities deploy technology in far-reaching research efforts by william williams

igher education research is often anything but sexy. When laypeople hear “research,” many visualize nononsense academicians engaged in what might be perceived by the uninitiated as mind-numbingly complex or boring work. But at Nashville-area universities, some advanced — some might even contend “cool” — research is being done, particularly via the use of technology. For example, two Vanderbilt University professors have co-designed an iPad application that will benefit students who have challenging behaviors — by helping them with self-modification — in K–12 school districts in both Nashville and Iowa. Dr. Ted Hasselbring and Dr. Joe Wehby, special education researchers at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College of Education and Human Development, are collaborating with University of Iowa Professor Allison Bruhn to develop what is billed as a first-of-its-kind app, called MoBeGo (Monitoring Behavior on the Go). When complete, the app will collect data to determine a student’s responsiveness to behavioral inter-

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vention and help teachers decide what further interventions would be needed. “We want this program to help teachers decide when to make behavior changes,” says Wehby, associate professor and chair of the VU Department of Special Education. “If a child doesn’t respond well to a program, we want this app to help generate effective solutions for teachers.” The U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences funded the three-year, approximately $1.2 million study. In contrast, much of the research at area universities is neither particularly complicated nor federally funded. It is, however, noteworthy. During the past 12 months or so, Meharry Medical College’s Dr. Wansoo Im spearheaded several community mapping projects using data geolocation technology that was developed under the “interoperability principle,” enabling it to be used without heavy investment in technical knowledge. The first project took place in September 2016 as part of a “safe routes to school” effort at Metro’s Eakin and J.E Moss elementary schools. Students, parents and volunteers mapped the conditions of sidewalks and crosswalks using a smartphone app.

In March 2017, students from Creswell Middle School used the smartphone app to identify and eradicate mosquito breeding sites to control the potential spread of the Zika virus in North Nashville. “Community mapping, by nature, is about educating, engaging and empowering community members by using location-based mobile mapping technology,” says Im, who oversees Meharry’s National Community Mapping Institute (which operates via MMC’s Health Disparities Research Center). “So far, the institute has been maintaining various geographic information systems databases and mobile data collection technology to enable this,” he says. Meharry is fully involved in technology research elements that go beyond monitoring mosquitos. Amy M. Andrade, Meharry senior advisor to the president on technology and innovation and assistant vice president of research, says the MMC Data Science Center has completed the first phase of ingesting clinical electronic health records information, both dental and medical, along with medical billing and scheduling information, with a second phase nearing completion.

provided by vanderbilt university

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R&D

“Data science is the key to unlocking data from its ‘silos’ and allowing the data to tell its story,” Andrade says. “By allowing the data to tell its story, associations from within the different data sets will provide the basis by which new, never- thought-of-before questions will be asked and answered.” Andrade says the DSC is “an institutional asset” that will provide a platform for Meharry to lead in big data analysis, precision health, computation health sciences and population health with the long-term aim of addressing health equity. “The goal of the data ecosystem is to find the valuable, actionable insights from the raw data,” she says. “The focus is to think prescriptively using data science along with predictive analytics to be able to make predictions about future events.”

ent, Porter replies, “Our conventional idea of invention as a ‘eureka’ or ‘ah-ha’ moment is not inaccurate: The moments when the inventor first conceives the idea and [then] constructs a working prototype or perfects a new process are quite real.” However, he adds, the incidence of invention is not always marked by the landing of a patent. Invention is more often manifest as a better and novel way of doing something or making something — rather than developing a new process or thing, he says. “These improvements are most often shared with the sponsor of the research, a private firm or a federal agency, as the expected outcome of a research project,” Porter says. “And through the sponsor, [the improvements] find their way into real-world application.”

‘ V U M C researchers see techn o l o g y as a nuts - an d - b o lts p art o f the p r o cess .’ Dr. Chris Harris, VU Center for Technology Transfer a n d C o m m e r c i a l i z at i o n

Jeff Porter, director of the Middle Tennessee State University Office of Research, says faculty members at the university are “researching across most fields of cutting-edge technology” and in the creation and application of these technologies as well. “MTSU faculty typically carry out 200 research projects each year, all seeking monetary support from private and public sponsors to help solve specific problems,” Porter says. “Some research projects last several months; other, five or more years. More than half of our sponsored research projects each year involve improvement of or discovery of technology.” Porter says some cutting-edge efforts MTSU faculty recently finished or are working on currently and will soon conclude include optical sensors for the detection of select biomolecules; a wheel-mounted electric motor (a so-called switched-reluctance motor) for automobiles; and a computer code for data encryption. “These are just a few, and diverse, topics and projects that can, or are in the process of, leading to a new product,” he notes. When asked how often MTSU researchers invent things that could, in theory, result in a pat-

Porter says most of the MTSU research conducted is considered conventional — that is, research intended to answer fundamental questions about man-made or natural systems or materials rather than to devise a single technological solution to a problem. “Yet, we do have a number of patents on items and processes, and at MTSU we created an environment that is supportive of such innovation and creativity,” he says. As to tech-oriented research MTSU faculty are working on currently but have a ways to go before being fully realized, Porter lists the following: • A computer code to model and visualize complex molecular behavior in HIV; • Genetic engineering for increased food fish production; • Machine learning algorithms for precision agriculture; and • Disease-fighting compounds derived from plants. Dr. Chris Harris, director of licensing for the Vanderbilt University Center for Technology Transfer and Commercialization, says it would be a challenge to quantify how much Vanderbilt University Medical Center research involves technology.

“As one may guess, a substantial percentage of VUMC’s research funding is related to clinical trials investigations, which we would not usually categorize as involving technology (specifically, testing new devices, diagnostics and other types of therapeutics are generally technologies developed by third parties),” he says. “However, through internal resources and federal and non-federal grants and contracts, VUMC deploys close to $200 million each year in support of highly technology-based research,” Harris adds. Harris says the VU Center for Technology Transfer and Commercialization receives about 180 new invention disclosures each year from Vanderbilt University and VUMC employees. Of those, close to 40 percent originate from VUMC, he says. “So it is fair to say that in any given year about 60 to 80 new inventions are disclosed from VUMC,” he says. “Because there is a substantial level of collaboration with Vanderbilt University colleagues, many inventions have a mix of inventors from both institutions. And these are often some of the most powerful technical advances we see.” Harris says VUMC is engaged in several pioneering technology efforts. For example, Dr. Susan Eagle in the VUMC Department of Anesthesiology has developed a method for assessing patient blood volume status related to patient hydration and detect congestive heart failure. The technology recently was licensed and is being developed into a medical product that could be on the market in a few years. Also, Eagle and her collaborators are developing a non-invasive alternative for more consumer-based markets. In addition, Harris says, Dr. James Crowe and the Vanderbilt Vaccine Center are developing novel human antibodies for use in the detection, treatment and vaccination against emerging infectious diseases like Zika, chikungunya and Ebola. Also, Dr. Eric Skaar, director of the VUMC Division of Molecular Pathogenes, is working on various ways to screen and treat microbial infections, specifically antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Harris says different researchers may have different motivations related to their use of technology. However — and as with those doing similar work at Nashville’s institutions of higher learning — all thrive upon the endeavor. “Generally, VUMC researchers see technology as a nuts-and-bolts part of the process,” Harris says, “with new invention creation a somewhat serendipitous occurrence resulting from their research.”

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FEATURES

PASSION

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PASSION

Passion Play

Entrepreneur Shannon Terry believes entertainment news seekers will embrace PopCulture.com by DaviD boclair

t is right there in the middle of all the algorithms, the venture capital and the IPOs. It is the one thing that Shannon Terry is convinced lies at the heart of every successful internet enterprise. “Passion,” he says. It is not complicated. In an age when people can learn about anything with just a few keystrokes on their personal computers or a voice command spoken into their personal phones, Terry is banking on the notion that they really want to find out all there is to know regarding those things about which they care most. Not only that but people want to hear from others who share that devotion and that there is no limit to the amount of information they are willing or able to consume. With that as his guiding philosophy, Terry already has made hundreds of millions of dollars from Rivals. com and 247Sports, while creating enduring partnerships. Now he has gone back to that same notion as the foundation for what he is convinced will be his most successful venture to date. Get ready for PopCulture.com, a website modeled after some of the local entrepreneur’s greatest successes, refined by the evolution of some of his other offerings and poised to take advantage of the most sizable internet audience that exists in this country. “There are 248 million Americans that consume content digitally over the Internet in a given month,” Terry says. “The largest category is entertainment, [with] 240 million, which is nearly 97 percent of those users. So there’s a huge, huge opportunity in entertainment. “We think we have a great opportunity in this category, and we think we have an ‘in’ in how to differentiate ourselves from the rest of the market,” he adds. To say that Terry already has a foot in the door is an understatement.

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FEaTUrES

Through the creation and development during the last three or four years of two other properties, ComicBook.com and Womanista.com, Terry and his staff already have mined this area, albeit somewhat accidentally based on the narrow focus of those properties. It simply took a little time for the big picture to become clear. ComicBook.com launched to take advantage of the growing trend of movie and television franchises based on characters created by Marvel Comics, D.C. Comics and the like. Those productions came with built-in audiences and expanded those existing fan bases. The site quickly became what Terry calls “the largest and a very lucrative player” in the market. Before long, Pop Culture Now was developed and added to take the site beyond its superhero base — but was not overwhelmingly embraced by the core users. Womanista was launched as a lifestyle brand meant to engage and encourage women. Over time, celebrity news items were easily the most popular on the site, and the approach was altered to satisfy that user desire. Eventually 95 percent of its content was focused on that area. PopCulture.com is a rebranding, a combining of Pop Culture Now and Womanista into a single entity that takes advantage of the overwhelming interest in celebrity/entertainment news minus the demographic limitations that existed with the previous sites. ComicBook.com will be the anchor tenant for the site. “We’re not really doing anything different. We’re just formalizing the brand,” Terry says. “We just knew we needed a broader, general entertainment brand. “We have 20 years of publishing experience. So we’re not going at this half-baked. We’re going to go higher, build and develop display and video content at this ultra-professional level. That’s what we’ve been doing for the past three years.” Terry and his team have been building an audience. He estimates that PopCulture.com will launch with more than 15 million users, courtesy of ComicBook.com and Womanista. Roughly seven million, nearly all of them women (a coveted audience), come from the latter. For perspective, consider that Terry launched 247Sports in August 2010 and sold it for an undisclosed sum to CBS Sports a little more than five years later in a transaction that was immediately beneficial to both sides. CBSSports.com rose to its highest point in comScore digital rankings for sports (third) a month after that deal closed. Terry, of course, made a lot of money in that deal, just as he did when he sold his first sports creation, Rivals.com, to Yahoo for nearly $100 million in July 2007, roughly seven years after its launch. PopCulture.com will start with roughly the same number of users that 247Sports has at present and will benefit from the engagement of 24 million users of social platforms. Given that number represents about

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8.3 percent of those 240 million who consume entertainment news digitally, the growth potential is — to say the least — significant. “We want to own the phrase. We’re going to own the term. And we’re going to own ‘pop culture,’” Terry said. “That’s where that passion lies and we want to attack that passion at a franchise level.”

A workable approach It is important to note that — initially, at least — Terry will have no part in the day-to-day operations of PopCulture.com. Under terms of the 247Sports sale, he is still an employee of CBS Sports and is limited as to what he can do with other properties. He makes clear that he has been up front with CBS about his work with

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writers do with the college and professional teams that inspire such loyalty. However, there are two main differences — when compared to sports — that work in their favor. First, while sports franchises are constants, entertainment trends come and go. This website can — and will — adjust to whatever franchises rise and fall from year to year or decade to decade in movies, television, music, etc. The estimate is that it will focus on 30, give or take a dozen, “franchises, characters, celebrities” that appeal to millennials at any given moment. “The coverage scope lines up similar to sports,” Terry says. “There’s all kinds of coverage opportunities that can drive a business 365 days a year. People that are going to debate how the “Game of Thrones” or what-

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PopCulture.com and how it came about. All parties, he says, are comfortable with how things will proceed until he has satisfied his contractual obligations. Terry, therefore, will serve as an advisor while his business partner, Sam Savage, will be the CEO. The pair dismisses such particulars as all but inconsequential. Their confidence rests on factors beyond any individual’s vision or decision-making, which they say minimize the chances that this effort will be anything other than an astounding success. For example, the recent disruption in the ad market has created a shift away from the model created when social and search sites were the driving forces. Terry and Savage estimate that, for the next decade at least, advertisers will focus on premium publishers. “Advertisers are starting to get smarter with their money,” Savage says. “They’re starting to migrate those ad buys to premium brands and quit divvying out money to the arbitrage or fake news sites. All of those sites are falling to the wayside.” Then there is the fact that they have an approach that they know works. PopCulture.com will operate in much the same way that Rivals and 247Sports did — and still do. That is to say, it will feed fans’ passion for their favorite franchises. It will do so with coverage of “The Walking Dead,” “The Fast and the Furious,” “Game of Thrones” and the like with the same depth and expertise that sports

ever [show] season should have ended — that’s the people we target. Not the people who may or may not watch an episode or two. “It’s the people who are going to sit over in an office somewhere and just rip this new movie to shreds because it didn’t live up to the three previous franchise versions of whatever it is. We want those type of people.” A second, and perhaps more important, difference is the possibility — in fact the likelihood — of crossover appeal for multiple entertainment franchises. It goes back to the estimated 240 million Americans each month who look for entertainment news online. Just less than half that number consumes sports content, and the passion of those users is divided among the teams in any particular professional sports league or college athletics conference. “The difference is, if I’m a Dallas Cowboys fan I’m not a Philadelphia Eagles fan,” Terry says. “If I’m a “Fast and Furious” fan I may also watch “The Walking Dead.” “Whatever the entertainment lexicon of the day is, we’re going to cover it and we’re going to cover it at the franchise, celebrity and character level,” he adds. “We want to target that 16-to-45-year-old millennial cord cutter that is equally passionate about his or her franchises as we were about our sports teams when we grew up.” Add to all of that a bit of good luck and the optimism surrounding this offering is easy to understand.

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PASSION

Terry and Savage did not have to negotiate with anyone to purchase the domain name PopCulture.com. It was available the moment they looked into it and conveyed their mission in a clear, concise fashion, particularly for today’s younger generation. They only wish they had thought of it sooner. “It was so simple that we almost bought something else,” Terry says. “We just never felt good about the other one. We walked in one day and we were like, ‘What in the heck were we about to do? This is the one.’ “We got some bad advice from some key people,” he adds. “But when we cleared the noise, what a home run.”

Offering an escape with negated risk The fact that this is a rebranding rather than a start-up limits some of the initial risk and negates a lot of the growing pains that typically accompany such undertakings. PopCulture.com starts with a staff of 54 fulltime employees and another 22 part-timers, nearly all of them based in Brentwood. The ex-

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pectation is that the size of the staff could double within two years. “It’s an escape,” Terry says. “Some people want to escape from the reality of their day. They escape through social media, through entertainment, through sports. They escape through their passions. There are more people, statistically, passionate about entertainment than about sports teams.” As it turns out, that notion of passion in these pursuits cuts both ways. Not all of Terry’s ventures have been as successful as 247Sports or ComicBook.com. Some of that is because market factors limited the opportunities. Some of it is because he was not the right person to lead the charge in a particular area. A recent conversation with one of his lead investors made that clear to him. “I think I’ve steered in a couple directions where I was fringing on things that I cared about and then I wasn’t giving the full me,” Terry says. “I’m incredibly passionate about this and I’m incredibly passionate about our operational model.

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“It’s just good that I like this type of content in this genre.” Even if he is right and PopCulture.com turns out to be his most successful venture to date, Terry is clear that he does not intend to drop the mic, so to speak, and walk off stage. There are still going to be 248 million Americans a month getting online trying to feed their passions and Shannon Terry wants to help them do it. He sees opportunity at the intersection of their passions and his — and the challenge of staking his claim at those spots holds as much appeal to him as it ever has. “I am drawn to competition,” Terry says. “So for me, personally, this is an incredibly difficult thing. It’s a long-shot to launch a media business and get it to the point where it’s a business and making money and has a chance to be a household brand. That is an enormous undertaking. “I know this: I’m not going to lose. And I know this is going to be a success and we’re going to do what we have to do to make it one. So at the end of the day, we’ll count those chips.”

5/11/17 12:39 12:31 PM

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Driving the future of manufacturing Knoxville is poised to play a key role in next-generation vehicle production by Peter Chawaga

ar from Silicon Valley’s hotbed of digital disruption, an East Tennessee city has become the seemingly unlikely home for technological firsts in auto manufacturing. Specifically, Phoenix-based motor vehicle manufacturing company Local Motors has chosen Knoxville as a site for a “microfactory” that will help create vehicles that utilize innovative technology, from self-driving capabilities to 3Dprinted components. Founded in 2007, the company has introduced an unconventional production model that enables the vehicles to be made in a highly targeted way — and it views Knoxville as a suitable market for its efforts. “Local Motors’ goal is to change the way vehicles are manufactured and sold,” says company spokesperson Jacqueline Keidel. “Small batches of locally produced vehicles allow us to customize vehicles to best suit the needs of a specific market.” The automaker makes niche vehicles designed by a “co-creation community” of far-flung contributors and builds them across a network of microfactory sites that includes — in addition to Phoenix and Knoxville — Berlin, Las Vegas and National Harbor, Maryland. This year, Local Motors’ Knoxville microfactory will produce the Olli, a self-driving, electric, eight-person shuttle that can be scheduled for pick-up and drop-off through a smart phone.

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Previously, the site manufactured a component of Local Motors’ Strati, the world’s first 3D-printed car, though that project has been put on hold by the automaker. “Local Motors hopes to revolutionize transportation by integrating the most advanced vehicle technologies into our products,” Keidel says. “From self-driving to cognitive to sustainable, we will offer a wide portfolio of vehicles that best suit the needs of the markets where they are manufactured, making transportation smarter, safer and more enjoyable.” Knoxville’s microfactory is outfitted with the 3D-printing capabilities necessary to produce small-batch components without traditional machinery. It also has materials-testing technology and direct digital manufacturing software, two forward-thinking components that are part of Local Motors’ distinctive process. “Vehicles are designed and tested using advanced manufacturing software,” Keidel says. “We can find problems and solutions using the software, rather than needing physical prototypes to do so.” Though Knoxville does not have a long history as a center for non-traditional technology — the city is perhaps best known for a top-notch zoo, the

high-profile University of Tennessee Volunteers football program and quick access to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park — its place in the future of manufacturing was recently secured. When then-President Barack Obama visited the city in early 2015, he laid out a vision for the region to become a leader in technological production as part of the federal Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI). Through the program, which is headquartered in Knoxville, the area has established a composites institute at the University of Tennessee and a national laboratory in Oak Ridge. The goals for IACMI include lowered material costs, lessened environmental impact and increased domestic production capacity. “Companies such as Local Motors and Leisure Pools, and a composites supply chain in close proximity to industry and research, enable faster innovation and shared learning,” says Bryan Dods, CEO of IACMI. The area’s manufacturing progress makes it appealing to Local Motors, as does its automobile-specific potential. As Tennessee’s third-largest city (with an estimated population of about 870,000), Knoxville also carries some political clout statewide.

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“Knoxville shows a lot of promise for vehicle demand,” Keidel says. “The location gives us access to well-educated individuals due to the presence of the university, and [the city] is an up-and-coming hub for technology.” By attracting companies like Local Motors, IACMI takes credit for more than $140 million in capital investment and 442 new manufacturing jobs enjoyed by Tennessee in 2016, per its annual report. “Local Motors’ East Tennessee microfactory is an excellent example of innovation enabled through the IACMI partnership and its 150-plus members,” Dods says. “Local Motors is participating in several IACMI projects with IACMI members in the composites supply chain.” For instance, IACMI and Local Motors have partnered to investigate how large-scale 3D printing and composite materials can be applied to vehicle production to reduce the design-to-manufacturing cycle time by 50 percent. It’s a project that could keep Knoxville on the cutting edge and help Local Motors discover manufacturing benefits that traditional companies cannot match. “3D printing vehicles offers the world a way to reduce waste by using materials that are reusable and recyclable,” Keidel said. “This also

‘[Knoxville provides] access to w e l l- e d u c at e d i n d i v i d u a l s d u e t o … t h e u n i v e r s i t y, a n d [ t h e c i t y ] i s a n u p - a n d - c o m i n g h u b f o r t e c h n o l o g y .’

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offers more customization options without investing heavy amounts of capital to retool an entire factory. 3D printing as a manufacturing technique eliminates the need for an assembly line and long vehicle development times.” While vehicle design offers a captivating case study in the potential of 3D printing on a large scale, the fact that this technology and these partnerships are being established in Knoxville could make the region a manufacturing leader well into the future and across any number of industries. As the production landscape evolves more quickly than ever, it’s a good position for the city to be in.

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FEATURES

A perfect fit Mbody prepped to disrupt the bra-making industry by Linda Bryant

ounders of early-stage tech startups often face undefined territory, largely characterized by the need for money, validation and effective relationships with strategic partners. Folks involved in such young businesses hope the technology behind the solutions or services being addressed is at the vanguard and capable of transforming concepts into reality. Nashville-based entrepreneur Mollie Decktor, CEO and creator of Mbody (the company stylizes as “mbody”), is smack dab in the middle of this startup scenario. Decktor and Mbody co-founder Mark Adkins are unquestionably hustling to raise the money to create Mbody’s first prototype. One thing’s for sure: the company’s proposed product — a customized T-shirt bra with an underwire made with the aid of cutting-edge body scanning technology and 3-D knitting machines — is an attention grabber.

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Here’s Mbody’s central premise: The company will create personalized bras to fit the sizes and shapes of buyers, eliminating their need to search through a sea of conventional — and often ill-fitting — standard-sized brassieres. Furthermore, the bras will be produced with high-tech 3-D knitting machines, which don’t require the traditional cutting, sewing and assembling techniques used in traditional bra manufacturing. In other words, standard bra sizes, which Decktor argues are insufficient, will no longer be needed. Stressing her lifelong struggles with finding a comfortable bra, Decktor says ill-fitting bras are a close-to-universal problem for women — one that has gone without comfortable solutions throughout the history of brassieres (noteworthy, considering they are depicted as dating to 1,400 B.C. in the Minoan civilization). “This is a very complex problem once you start digging into it,” Decktor says. “The more I talk to people, the more I realize that there are [very few women] who fit the proportions that bras are based upon. Everyone else — even if they are just a little bit off the mark — has issues.” Decktor and Adkins, who met while they were both pursing M.B.A. degrees at the Vanderbilt University Owen Graduate School of Management, are banking on cutting-edge technology to make mbody bras a reality. “3-D knitting machine technology has [gotten] to the point where you can use computeraided design to create downloadable files and then (have the 3-D knitting machine) make the garments,” Adkins says. “The biggest challenge for us is that the technology is still in an early stage,” he adds. “People

aren’t using this technology dynamically or ‘on the fly’ for whole garment knitting. But that’s where we’re going.” Decktor and Adkins are working with textile engineers to advance the capacity of 3-D knitting machines. Likewise, they are consulting with experts in the scanning machine industry and connecting with several other business mentors to aid in their entrepreneurial journey. Their mentors include Nashville-based Lynn Lesher, a pattern maker and seamstress who has worked with Decktor since she first pitched the idea as a graduate student; Vanderbilt professor David Owens, who is considered a thought leader in product development and innovation; and Nashville Fashion Alliance CEO Van Tucker. Another strong advocate is Kristina Montague, managing partner at The JumpFund, a Chattanooga-based venture fund that invests in female-led ventures. Decktor, 33, met Montague while participating in Chattanooga’s Gig Tank Accelerator program last year. At this point, Montague is watching mbody’s development as a supporter rather than as an investor. “Mbody is a pre-MVP (minimum viable product), so it’s too early for us to invest,” she says. “But we’re watching her, for sure. “Mollie is tackling a challenging problem,” Montague adds. “She stands out as someone who can run a business as well as attack a unique market space that’s ready for disruption. Montague has some experience working with technology-driven startups in the garment sector. The JumpFund was an early investor in Feetz, customizable footwear that also uses 3-D technology. Arguably one of Chattanooga’s most successful startups, Feetz grew fast and in 2016 relocated to Silicon Valley because of investor demand and talent recruitment challenges. Can Mbody mimic Feetz’s quick rise? Perhaps. In fact, mbody reached a key milestone in mid-April by raising almost $16,000 using the Nashville-based iFundWomen crowd-sourcing platform. The money will be used to produce and perfect the first mbody prototype. “Just about any woman you’d approach with this problem would likely say, ‘Sign me up immediately.’ ” Montague says. “It’s just great that Mollie has no problem talking about this difficult issue that so many women face. Just being able to talk about the subject is probably her first hurdle [already overcome].”

summer 2017 | NASHVILLEPOST.COM

5/11/17 12:33 PM

FeatUreS

The future of health is made possible by great partners.

3D Double vision Cheekwood partners with NovaCopy on restoration plans

by Geert De LombaerDe

he promise of 3D printing is being realized on a large scale in prominent sectors such as manufacturing and health care in the form of specialized auto parts and precisely customized prosthetics. But one big Nashville name is looking to put the technology to use in a rather different environment. When the Cheekwood Mansion reopens in June after extensive renovations, it will showcase numerous pieces of furniture and other items in their historic places, aided by photographs taken in the

1930s shortly after the house was completed. One of those items is an elaborately carved terra cotta urn relocated to its original spot on a permanently affixed pedestal in the mansion’s loggia rather than its porte-cochere. However, the urn used to have a partner that was lost at some point over the past eight decades. Early this year, as the urn underwent an extensive conservation treatment, Cheekwood staffers partnered with local office equipment and 3D printing company NovaCopy to record numerous virtual, 3D images of the urn. The goal is to replicate the existing item and complete the mansion’s loggia 1930s lineup. When the time and opportunity comes along — Cheekwood’s leaders in April unveiled they have raised more than $20 million and have their sights set on another $10 million — the set of scans will be ready for NovaCopy and others in the Nashville tech community to lay the foundation for the longlost urn and fill another piece of the Cheekwood puzzle.

Keynote Speaker GREG GLASSMAN Founder & Chairman CrossFit

HEALTH:FURTHER FESTIVAL AUG 22 - AUG 25 2017 NASHVILLE, TN HEALTHFURTHER.COM

PROVIDED BY CHEEKWOOD

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READING CORNER

THE notable race for blockchain standards by Pete Harris

n the worlds of information technology and financial services, standards are a fundamental consideration in the creation of practically every new product. Choosing the industry-accepted standards to adhere to — and sometimes setting new standards — can have a profound impact on whether a new offering will be widely accepted. It also can determine how fast and inexpensively such a product can be built and delivered. For those purchasing technology, adherence to standards can also have significant influence in making choices. Prevailing wisdom suggests that products built to standards can be more readily integrated with other systems, can be easier to manage and operate, and can be replaced with an alternative more easily. Potential replacement with an alternative is a key factor for many because it provides leverage with the vendors of products. If a vendor offers poor service, or hikes its prices, then swapping one vendor for another is easier when competing products adhere to standards. Vendor lock-in, as it’s termed, is minimized. Despite the benefits inherent in standards, there are some downside considerations for standards on both sides of the equation: users and vendors. Vendors need to stay competitive to enjoy customer loyalty, but standards-based technology is often developed as a general-purpose solution to several

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requirements. That means that performance can be lacking in products that are molded by standards, compared to innovative proprietary solutions that break the mold. Standards that are developed through an industry consensus can take a long time to solidify, which leads to interim quasi-standard offerings being developed, which are often proprietary, in order to provide at least a workable solution. These are sometimes not compatible with the final version, requiring frequent updates that can annoy or alienate users. Complying with standards can be a painful experience as those standards are being developed, even if the benefits are significant in the end. Conversely, a standard that is set by a major vendor or a consortium — so-called “de facto standards” — might provide a good solution at the outset, but there is no guarantee that it will gain widespread acceptance. And interoperability with other standards might not be straightforward. Such a route still might represent a practical path forward, especially if the vendor makes its standards specifications public and licenses them for free or on generally agreeable terms.

Runners in the race • Chain — Founded in 2014, the San Franciscobased vendor transformed over several years from being an early Bitcoin API developer to launching a full blockchain platform focused on financial services applications. Along the way, it has picked up some high-profile customers and partners — including Citi, First Data, Nasdaq, State Street and Visa — and has created its Chain Core platform, which is available as an open source developer edition.

Chain Core is based on the chain protocol, which has been designed for financial assets, featuring security, privacy and scalability. In the chain protocol, every transaction is a smart contract built with standard syntax and operators. It also specifies the unspent transaction output (UTXO) data model and a simplified byzantine fault-tolerant consensus model. Selective disclosure of data is supported and all nodes participate in block validation. The pitch for Chain Core is that with a group of financial services heavyweights backing it, potentially building applications for their own customers to use, the platform stands a decent chance of becoming a widely used de facto standard. • Hyperledger Project — Hosted by the Linux Foundation, the Hyperledger Project’s opensource focus provides strong credentials for it to be considered as a standards-setting offering. It has adopted an “umbrella” approach — a term used by the project’s executive director, Brian Behlendorf — to work on a number of developments, including its Fabric, to which IBM and Digital Asset Holdings have been major early contributors; Sawtooth Lake, originally developed by Intel; and R3’s Corda platform. Further developments under the umbrella are expected, including the contribution of Axoni’s AxCore development. Says Behlendorf: “The most valuable role the Hyperledger Project can play is to serve as a trusted source of innovative, quality-driven, opensource software for the development community, creating modular, open-source components and platforms, all focused on distributed ledger and smart-contract technologies.” While Hyperledger is not a standard, per se, it would like to see its project produce code sets for inclusion in many products, or act as a widelydeployed platform for applications, much like the Linux operating system has become. Observers point to the heavy influence of IBM on the project. Big Blue made an initial contribution of 44,000 lines of code, and it has multiple members on the project’s governing board and technical steering committee. Anecdotal evidence also points to IBM customer presentations being heavily focused on Hyperledger, leaving the impression that Hyperledger developments are IBM products that enjoy widespread industry support from the circa 110 current project members. Meanwhile, Digital Asset has announced plans to open-source its digital asset modeling language for smart contracts, though it has not yet given any details on whether this will be done via the Hyperledger Project.

summer 2017 | NASHVILLEPOST.COM

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READING CORNER

• The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers — The IEEE is a large, global organization well known for its 802.x standards creation around data transmission and security in distributed networks such as Ethernet. Like other standards bodies, it is not yet very active in the blockchain space, though it is clearly watching developments and engaging its membership through publications and events. It’s not unreasonable to suggest that some of the major networking vendors might look to work with the IEEE to standardize any blockchain-related work they are undertaking. • International Organization for Standardization — Another established standards body, the ISO consists of member standards-setting bodies from 161 countries. It creates standards across many industries. In financial services, its standards for country and currency codes are relevant, while in computing, its seven-layer open systems interconnection model is a widely-adopted communications standard. In a recent move, the ISO appointed Standards Australia to lead a new blockchain technology committee comprising representatives from 35 countries, including Canada, Estonia, France, Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States. While Australia has indeed seen significant blockchain development focus, with the Australian Securities Exchange planning to use the technology for its new clearing system, the ISO standards process is a long and formal one. Hence, the ISO’s impact on the blockchain space is unlikely to be seen for several years. • International Securities Association for Institutional Trade Communication — Recognizing an important early application for blockchain, the European chapter of this organization, which focuses on post-trade operations in the securities markets, has recently taken an interest in the technology. Earlier this year, the group published information on 10 blockchain benchmarks: resilience, scalability, security (trust, identification, authentication), latency, data (structure, audit, privacy, general data protection regulation), governance, legal (jurisdiction, dispute resolution), regulatory, software (version control, code, external interfaces, development, bug fixes) and network. The ISITC Blockchain Working Group co-chair, Gary Wright, has said, “Introduction of measurable standards based on both technology and operational requirements will help in bringing transparency to this emerging technology.” • JPMorgan Chase/Quorum Project — While standards setting is not a known goal of this project, announced publicly by JPMorgan Chase at last

year’s Sibos banking conference, it could become a factor in the blockchain standards discussion. Quorum is a modified form of Ethereum that supports both public and private blockchains, the latter including selective publishing of data to only nodes that have agreed access to it, while having all nodes participate in block verification. JPMorgan recently open-sourced Quorum, a move that could prove popular among potential value-added vendors and other financial institutions. The bank has some history in kick-starting successful open-source projects. It was the prime mover in 2003 in the development of the advanced message queuing protocol, which has since been adopted and supported by a number of major vendors, and in 2014 became an ISO standard. • R3 — R3 is a technology developer and investor, headed by David Rutter, with a focus in crypto technologies and financial trading applications. Rutter worked at the brokerage firm ICAP, and he no doubt put that experience to good use when creating a digital-ledger focused consortium that currently has about 80 banks and other financial institutions in its ranks. One activity that R3 is engaged in is the development of Corda, a distributed ledger that has been designed for the financial markets, drawing on requirements input from its consortium members. A key requirement is that privacy of data is accessible only by authorized nodes. Notably, despite applying for a patent on the overall Corda design, R3 recently submitted the codebase to the open source Hyperledger Project. The company also kicked off a partner program to create Corda-based financial applications. Trade processing vendor Calypso Technology was the first to join. While consortium members are not obligated to deploy Corda, R3 hopes that they will in order to reap the benefits of their design input. Meanwhile, the partner program should deliver readymade applications for market participants that want to buy rather than build. • World Wide Web Consortium — The international standards body for web development covers website technologies, application-to-application web services and XML data processing. Recently, it has shown an interest in web-based payments encryption key management and identity, holding workshops with key blockchain vendors to discuss where standards could be useful.

In the starting blocks A number of other vendors have also built and released blockchain platforms, though they have yet to suggest that they are looking to position them as de facto standards or submit

them to industry standards bodies. Vendors include AlphaPoint, Axoni, Coin Sciences, Gem, Guardtime, Manifold Technology, Paxos, SETL and Symbiont. Related to the development of blockchain standards are a number of other financial industry initiatives that are exploring how blockchain-based systems might fit in with their own standards endeavors. The FIX Trading Community, which controls the widely-used FIX protocol for trade execution, is looking at how its messaging capabilities might be used to support blockchain interoperability. Meanwhile, the Enterprise Data Management Council is studying blockchain’s impact on its financial industry business ontology data modeling framework. Expect the FIX and EDM Council to make some formal statements on blockchain and standards in the future. Also expect to see action from SWIFT — the bank-owned messaging network for post-trade securities processing and payments. For SWIFT, blockchain technology represents both enormous opportunities and threats, and the organization is already involved in making sure it is well-positioned for a blockchain future. Setting some standards would be a good way for it to stay in a central role in the financial services space as it decentralizes. This article originally appeared in Distributed, the first publication dedicated to blockchain technology. The magazine is a property of Nashvillebased BTC Media. For more information, visit Distributed.com. Pete Harris is a principal at Austin, Texas-based Lighthouse Partners, a business and technology consulting firm providing business acceleration services related to transformative enterprise technologies, with specific focuses on go-to-market and growth strategies involving partnerships, thought leadership creation and events. Harris’s current primary focus is on blockchain, distributed ledger and smart contract technology.

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OPEN

THE BIG QUESTION

Can we add one more priority to our tech to-do list? he narrative around Middle Tennessee’s technology community has long concentrated on the same few issues. Can the region that birthed HCA build an IT community not so focused on health care? Will growing companies find the workers they need here? And even then, is there an investor base that will fund those ventures before they are asked or feel compelled to move away? There are reasons to be encouraged on all of those fronts. Look at the hiring pace at product content software provider Edgenet — our cover subject last year — and the promising traction Built Technologies’ construction lending automation product is getting. Their leaders and a cadre of other smart entrepreneurs with little or no connection to health care are making big strides. The talent needle also seems to be moving in the right direction. The MSA’s tech job growth has been impressive and consistent, helped by Music

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City’s seemingly enduring ability to draw young professionals. And, as our story on the boom in local user groups shows, many of those new arrivals are connecting in very productive ways. The funding picture appears more robust, too. A high-profile case in point is Digital Reasoning Systems, which has secured tens of millions in capital from some of the biggest names in finance (as well as HCA) without compromising its local growth. On top of that, more angel capital pools are coalescing and promising ideas beyond health IT are finding willing investors: Video game content venture GameWisp ($1.3 million) and data visualization play Initial State ($2 million) are among those that have closed funding rounds recently. On top of that, companies such as LPS Integration and Zycron have sold for tidy sums so far in 2017. Maybe, just maybe, we’ll soon see that long-wished-for scenario that has founders (not in health care) con-

sistently reinvesting exit proceeds into the next round of local startups (not in health care). So the job isn’t quite done but it’s fair to say there’s solid progress. Which brings us back to health tech. A Brookings Institution report published last year placed Nashville’s health IT sector in a group with Boston, Atlanta and Dallas — not bad company, right? — that draws its strength not from a single segment such as software or clinical expertise. Yet players in all of those local subspecialties, from transaction processing to systems integration to electronic health records, would be well served by focusing some of their energy on another ecosystem growing roots here. By any measure, it’s early days for blockchain, the distributed ledger technology that promises to overhaul swaths of finance, health care and a number of other key sectors. But keep an eye on fast-growing locals Hashed Health and BTC Media, which are emerging as key hubs of expertise and bringing money and thought leadership to Nashville. As a region, we’ve proven over the past decade and change that we can diversify — and it’s been unequivocally positive for our economy. With blockchain’s emergence, it sure looks like it’s time to do it again.

summer 2017 | NASHVILLEPOST.COM

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