SXSW 2016 panel submission: 3D printed food: Spam or pate? You decide.

Because collaboration is important in sharing ideas and making the internet a better place, SXSW opens their programming for the Interactive festival to the community for input. On August 10 community voting for SXSW 2016 will commence. I'd like to tell you about my panel—and get your vote when the time comes!

I've submitted an idea to SXSW the past three years and hope to continue the conversation this year. For my topic, I'll be pairing up with Phair Tsai of XYZPrinting and Michael Petch of Black Dog Consulting to talk about 3D printed food: 3D printed food: Spam or pâté? You decide. 

3D printed food? What?

This panel will give me the opportunity to learn a lot about a topic I am interested in. (For some basic information about 3D printed food and why I care about it, check out this article on 3D printed food and this summary of my SwitchPoint Designing for the Fringe workshop.)

I'm enamored with 3D printed food because, 

1. I think it is bad ass cool. 
2. I think it is going to impact all of our lives in ways we can't even begin to imagine. 
3. There are real, useful reasons for it to exist and become commonplace—NOW. 

I want to help shape the conversation about why we should ALL be excited about 3D printed food and I found two super smart people in the 3D Printed Food industry who want to have that conversation with me. 

Michael Petch is the founder of the international business advisory firm, Black Dog Consulting and the best-selling author of several books on 3D Printing. His books include “3D Printing Rise of the Third Industrial Revolution” and the most recent is about 3D printing and food (Future Food: How Cutting-Edge Technology & 3D Printing Will Change the Way You Eat). Michael’s background is in the field of economics and finance where he has worked for 15 years, including 4 years as an analyst for a major investment bank in London. He currently divides his time between consultancy services for companies involved in new tech industries such as crypto currency, blockchain protocol, sustainable energy and agriculture, 3D Printing and writing non-fiction. Michael is also the founder of a Spanish-language website focused on 3D printing and related technology. 

Phair Tsai is breaking the steel ceiling in Chinese society as a female Taiwanese professional. For XYZ Printing, Phair leads marketing communications strategy for the 3D printer manufacturer, and is responsible for  advertising, social media management, customer service, event planning and coordination, marketing collateral development, corporate communications, search engine optimization and media relations. She manages XYZ's the market strategies for various emerging technology products including 3D printer & scanner, wearable device, robotics, LED hydroponic box.

You guys have been with me on this 3+ year journey so I would love to hear your thoughts. Here's the information about the panel. 

3D printed food: Spam or pâté? You decide.

• Audience: People who want to know more about 3D food printing and its applications; fans of technology, food and health.
• Format: Panel
• Level: Intermediate
• Theme: Food and Experiential Dining
• Tags: 3d printing, 3d printing food, future of food

Description

We’ve heard about 3D printed food but we have questions. Is it real? Is it practical? Will I have a printer in my kitchen anytime soon? Why would I 3D print something I can grow—or buy it at the store?

We want to try it but we’re not sure it’s a viable option (ahem, Astronaut Ice Cream).

We’re here to report from the front lines. 3D printed food is real. It’s cool. It’s delicious. It solves real problems—for chefs, bakers, the military, space, hospitals & institutions and people with food allergies and texture issues.

It’s everything we want in a burgeoning industry.

Join the conversation about 3D printed food. It could be the answer to our growing food crisis. If you ask nicely, we might even let you have a taste.

Questions

1. But what about the texture? Is 3D printed food like microwaved food? Airplane food? Hospital food?
2. I don’t even want GMOs in my food, is 3D printed food safe?
3. Can 3D printed food feed the forecasted increase in population by 2050? Can it solve problems inherent in current food institutions?

Many Thanks

Everyone I spoke with in the 3D Printed Food industry was really helpful as I assembled this team. I plan to highlight each of the companies I spoke with on this blog and, if the panel is accepted, talk about their contributions to the industry on the panel. In addition to Phair and Michael, many thanks to Lynette Kucsma of Natural Machines, Kjeld van Bommel of TNO, Carrie Kommers of Table One Marketing and Sandy Villetti of 3D Systems for exchanging emails with me over the past week.