There were stops in New York, Washington DC, and Boston, and the theme was the different intersections between digital, physical and biological systems. One issue that kept reappearing was how to handle the enormous and growing amount of research data. Issues such as research and innovation as well business and the nature of work were also at the forefront.

Visits to New York and Washington DC

In less than a day in New York, we visited IBM, Google, JP Morgan, Nasdaq and the New York Academy of Sciences, celebrating their bicentennial in their new location at Ground Zero.  During the two days we were in DC, we went to Capitol Hill where we had lunch and listened to presentations from the foremost think tanks. We also managed to fit in NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, the National Institutes of Health, Janelia Research Campus, and the start-up hub 1776. We had two days in Boston, with visits to Harvard and MIT, among many, many other activities.

On the diplomatic side, we visited the Swedish Consulate in New York and the House of Sweden in DC where the ambassador lives and listened to interesting presentations on current political issues. Talk about a packed schedule!

We saw so many impressive people, projects and ideas that it will take a while to digest everything after we return to Stockholm.