C Spire MVMT: Coders, Kitchens and Cyber Security

The inaugural MVMT 2018 (“movement”) event took place this month at the Jackson Convention Center. The day-long conference presented by C Spire was really two different events—one was a serious cyber security conference for technology professionals and the other was technology fair for students, teachers and the general public.

Mississippi Coding Academies was out in force for the event, with some coders participating in Sue’s Tech Kitchen (presented by Randi Zuckerberg) a touring science demonstration offering an array of STEM-related projects to “play” with in the kitchen.

Other coders from the Academies presented at the Mississippi Coding Academies booth, showing the public some of the code they’ve created in the Jackson and Golden Triangle cohorts—and what that code is capable of when it’s executed!

Innovate Mississippi sponsored Innovate Alley at MVMT 2018, a series of booth presentations from some of the companies that Innovate Mississippi has helped grow. Participants included Glo, well-known for their liquid-activated cubes; CampusKnot, a company looking to create more engaging college classroom experiences; WisprSystems, which uses drones to find the optimum placement for wireless broadband Internet antennas; CollegiateTutoring, which seeks to create a peer-to-peer network for tutors and students; Momentum Dryer, a better dryer for beauty shops, and the MSU Center for Entrepreneurship and Research.

Keynote speakers for MVMT 2018 included Randi Zuckerberg (sister to the founder of Facebook and a serial enterpreneur in her own right), Sarah Bond, general manager of business development for Microsoft and Howard Wright, vice president of Global Business Development for the Intel Sports Group.

“MVMT 2018 is part of a broader C Spire Tech Movement initiative designed to leverage the company’s technology leadership and investments to help transform its service areas,” according to C Spire’s announcement of the event. “Other elements of the program include creation of a state-of-the-art digital customer care platform for customers and team members, massive deployment of broadband internet for homes and businesses and other leadership initiatives to drive innovation and development of a 21st century technology workforce.”