Leading Government and private industry thought leaders descend on Washington, DC to "Tap the Collective"

Washington DC — Leading thinkers and technologists will meet Wednesday evening in Washington, DC to discuss how collective intelligence initiatives (CI) can be used to overcome organizational barriers in government. Sponsored by Inkling (inklingmarkets.com) and Transcapitalist.com, the panel features speakers from the CIA, World Bank, George Mason University, Palantir Technologies, Oak Ridge National Laboratories, and NASA.

"Washington DC is full of organizations where knowledge and know-how is trapped within agencies, teams, and hierarchies," says Melody Hildebrandt, founder of Transcapitalist. "We believe collective intelligence solutions are particularly adept at enabling decision-makers to efficiently gather actionable information without the political overhead that typically harms government initiatives."

The panelists will offer examples of successful CI initiatives – such as prediction markets, community-based knowledge forums, and collaborative information analysis platforms – in the intelligence community, Department of Defense, and World Bank, and will discuss themes such as:

Moving from a reliance on experts to a recognition of the latent knowledge held by employees, overcoming cognitive bias through collaboration and competition, and how open and participatory platforms enable the integration of relevant perspectives from employees, partners, and citizens regardless of age, rank, or status.

"Over the last 1 to 2 years we have begun to see large organizations in private industry successfully implement these initiatives to great benefit," says Adam Siegel, co-founder and CEO of Inkling. "We wanted to raise awareness of the progress that's already been made in the public sector around CI solutions and contribute to the dialogue of what is possible for the future."

About the Speakers:
Don Burke (Intellipedia, Central Intelligence Agency): Don Burke is a leading proponent of the Enterprise 2.0 ethos within the Intelligence Community and is currently the "Intellipedia Doyen", which is a role he has held since the spring of 2006.

Ryan Hahn (World Bank): Ryan Hahn is a consultant for the Financial and Private Sector Development Vice Presidency of the World Bank Group. He manages a number of initiatives that fall under the umbrella of "Development 2.0" - the application of Web2.0 technologies to the field of international development.

Robin Hanson (George Mason University, Chief Scientist of Consensus Point): Robin Hanson is an associate professor of economics at George Mason University, a research associate at the Future of Humanity Institute of Oxford University, and chief scientist at Consensus Point. Robin has pioneered prediction markets, also known as information markets or idea futures, since 1988.

Shyam Sankar (Palantir Technologies): Shyam Sankar is the director of business development at Palantir Technologies. Shyam has a keen interest in developmental economics and in the theory and practice of life extension.

David Resseguie (Sensorpedia, Oak Ridge National Laboratory): David Resseguie is a member of the Computational Sciences and Engineering Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Mr. Resseguie's current focus is on Sensorpedia, applying Web 2.0 and social networking principles to sensor data sharing.

Emma Antunes (Spacebook, NASA): Emma Kolstad Antunes is an IT Specialist for NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Office of the Chief Information Officer. An early adopter, she has been the Center's Web Manager since 1995, and also serves as the lead for NASA's Web Managers group.

More Event Information:

Adam Siegel, Inkling Incorporated
Phone: 312-376-8129
Email: adam@inklingmarkets.com

Melody Hildebrandt, Transcapitalist.com
Phone: 202-577-7829
Email: melody@transcapitalist.com