Title
=
Retail & Silicon Valley Merge at Fall (R)Tech Meeting
FileRef
=
/news/retailcheckout/Lists/Posts/304_.000
Author
=
Caroline Stec (Contact)
Editor
=
Caroline Stec (Contact)
FSObjType
=
0
PermMask
=
0x7fffffffffffffff
ProgId
=
File_x005F_x0020_Type
=
Body
=
<div class="ExternalClass667191AAA75F44E9AA7209BA0D435D96"><p>Last week, the (R)Tech Center for Innovation hosted their fall meeting in Silicon Valley. Twenty innovation executives from the leading retail companies convened to discuss the state of the industry, hear from fellow innovators, and collaborate on innovation opportunities. The meeting was structured around a theme of "ubiquitous and ultra-personal shopping," defined by the (R)Tech Advisory Council as shopping that will be invisible and ubiquitous, embedded into natural gestures and conversation, managed through a connected ecosystem, considering all channels and all customers. <br></p><p style="text-align:center;"><img src="/news/retailcheckout/SiteAssets/default/2017-09-12%2011.40.53.jpg" alt="2017-09-12 11.40.53.jpg" class="ms-rtePosition-4" style="margin:5px;width:400px;height:300px;" /><br></p><p>Attendees experienced the innovative ecosystem first-hand by exploring innovative stores in the surrounding area, learning about their peers' innovation programs, and meeting with key innovators. Meetings were strategically hosted at Westfield San Francisco Centre, Accenture Liquid Studios, Andreessen Horowitz, Pinterest, Tesla, and Walmart's Store No. 8. The agenda was designed to immerse attendees into the Silicon Valley environment and to facilitate partnerships between retailers and the innovation community. </p><p>The three-day meeting kicked-off with a private session of the (R)Tech Advisory Council, which governs the strategic direction for the (R)Tech Center for Innovation. After that, all attendees embarked on a scavenger hunt through the Westfield Centre to experience "ubiquitous and ultra-personal shopping" at stores like Target's Open-House, Microsoft Kinect, Café X, Rent the Runway, and more. </p><p style="text-align:center;"><img src="/news/retailcheckout/SiteAssets/default/2017-09-14%2014.41.57.jpg" alt="2017-09-14 14.41.57.jpg" style="margin:5px;width:400px;height:301px;" /><br></p><p>Day two began at Accenture's Liquid Studios offices, where attendees reviewed tech and retail policy trends under the Trump administration, heard presentations from fellow retailers highlighting elements of their innovation programs, and explored possible tech pilot projects that enable ubiquitous and ultra-personal shopping. The morning was structured for interaction and best practice sharing, including technology demonstrations, allowing attendees to experiment with mixed reality and smart applications, holography, and more.</p><p>After that, attendees visited Andreessen Horowitz, where relevant startups from their portfolio pitched to retailers to address their unique needs. Retailers heard tailored pitches from Anki, Affirm, Gigster, Foursquare, Instacart, Instart Logic, Optimizely, Propel, Soylent, and Tanium.  </p><p style="text-align:center;"><img src="/news/retailcheckout/SiteAssets/tesla.jpg" alt="tesla.jpg" class="ms-rtePosition-4" style="margin:5px;width:400px;height:301px;" /><br></p><p>The day concluded with a group tour of the Tesla Factory in Freemont, CA, giving attendees a firsthand view from an innovative company trying to disrupt an industry. The factory tour was an energetic ending to the day, and explored opportunities for automated trucking, last mile delivery, and energy management in stores.<br></p><p>The final day of meetings ended with two knockout presentations from Pinterest's headquarters and Walmart's Store No. 8 incubation team. At Pinterest, attendees gleaned elements of their culture and values as they dove into Pinterest's current platform and future development roadmap. Walmart's Store No. 8 shared the story of their namesake, Sam Walton, who used the No. 8 store to initially run experiments; and, how they pay homage by being the incubator arm that aims to accelerate innovations for the larger company.   <br></p><p style="text-align:center;"><img src="/news/retailcheckout/SiteAssets/default/Photo%20Sep%2013,%2010%2038%2017%20AM.jpg" alt="Photo Sep 13, 10 38 17 AM.jpg" style="margin:5px;width:400px;height:300px;" /><br></p><p>If you are interested in learning more about RILA's (R)Tech Center for Innovation, please visit <a href="http://www.rtech.org/">www.RTech.org</a> or email Adam Siegel at <a href="mailto:Adam.Siegel@RILA.org">Adam.Siegel@RILA.org</a>. <br></p></div>
File_x005F_x0020_Size
=
PublishingRollupImage
=
Comments
=
ID
=
304
Modified
=
2017-09-22 11:33:40
Created
=
2017-09-21 13:32:54
_Level
=
1
PublishedDate
=
2017-09-21 13:09:00
WebId
=
efbeee77-4209-4a75-a7af-aee9adefaf7f
ListId
=
538abc7d-dcd6-46f2-8316-01bd11cd855b
_x007B_94f89715_x002D_e097_x002D_4e8b_x002D_ba79_x002D_ea02aa8b7adb_x007D_
=
news/retailcheckout/Lists/Posts/304_.000
PubDate
=
Fri, 22 Sep 2017 15:33:40 GMT
FileExtension
=
FileSize
=
DocumentIconImageUrl
=
/_layouts/15/IMAGES/icgen.gif
LinkUrl
=
https://www.rila.org/news/retailcheckout/Lists/Posts/304_.000
Style
=
RetailCheckoutFirstPost
GroupStyle
=
DefaultHeader
__begincolumn
=
True
__begingroup
=
False