Austin Community College District (ACC) will welcome prominent figures across government, the tech sector, and academia as it opens SXSW 2022 at the downtown Rio Grande Campus. The two-day event begins on Friday, March 11 with a focus on information technology, agile software development, and venture capitalism. On Saturday, March 12, ACC will host five official SXSW panel discussions to highlight the college’s growing partnership with the Army Futures Command Software Factory and its work with top tech companies like VMware, Tesla, and Apple. Click here to view the full schedule.
Hosting its first official series of SXSW panel discussions, ACC will partner with VMware to bring together an impressive cross-section of Austin’s innovation ecosystem. Events will focus on harnessing the power of collaboration across academia, industry, and defense. The panels feature prominent entities from across the Department of Defense to include the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), the National Security Innovation Network (NSIN), and the National Security Innovation Capital (NSIC). Participation from the Army Software Factory, a subsidiary of Army Futures Command (headquartered in Austin) is also expected throughout the weekend as it is co-located at ACC’s Rio Grande Campus.
ACC Chancellor Dr. Richard Rhodes will join one of these SXSW discussions on ‘Forging the Future of Public-Private Partnerships.’ Together with fellow panelists from Google and Army Futures Command, the Chancellor will address how ACC and AFC are working together to help modernize the U.S. Army and write code for a tactical edge to transform national security. The partnership aims to change both the Department of Defense and the world’s best tech companies.
Other panel topics include a chief information officer discussion on digital transformation in large organizations, how service members can learn software engineering, and harnessing the innovation ecosystem of Austin.
ACC and the U.S. Army are partners in the Army Futures Command Software Factory. The state-of-the-art factory concept works to change the way real-life technology problems are solved in the future. Together, ACC and Army Futures Command are demonstrating the power of unique public partnerships as they develop a first-of-its-kind program to offer specialized training for new technologies through leadership, software development, and problem-solving. The Army Software Factory opened at ACC’s Rio Grande Campus in Spring 2021.
For more information about AFC, visit army.mil/futures.
For more information about ACC, visit austincc.edu.