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V O L . X X I I N O. X I I I J U N E 1 3 , 2 0 1 6 16 But the Massachusetts Institute of Technology doctoral student and founder of submersible drone com- pany Hydroswarm in Boston plans to do more than talk at the event. While she's here, Bhattacharyya wants to talk to possible collaborators in Maine to help test her prototype product. She says Hydroswarm needs to test its prototype underwater droid, called EVE for ellipsoidal vehicle for exploration, and Maine has the neces- sary expansive open lakes and waters, an outdoors culture and is near to Boston, she says. Plus, there are a lot of research communities in Maine. "It's important to leverage the strength of a place, like hiking and tourism and nature in Maine. An industry startup oriented toward that sort of thing will do well," she says. Her keynote will focus broadly on artificial intelligence. She adds, "At MSCW, I'll talk about robotics as a whole and the opportunity when thinking in the long term, such as the application of robotics in the ocean and how that could help create new economic opportunities." Among them: monitoring fish populations so they can be protected and not overfished, and using distributed sensor networks to study the ocean. at's just the type of story Jess Knox, founder of Maine Startup and Create Week, also known as MSCW, wants to hear. e event runs June 20-24. "e keynotes are meant to drive broader conversations about innova- tion," Knox says. And that includes getting Maine's innovation strengths more widely exposed. To underscore his point, Knox located the kickoff party for MSCW at Verrill Dana's Boston office on June 8 to spread the word to that entrepre- neurial hotbed. "We have to be intentional to tell stories about Maine in other areas," Knox says. He hopes to attract half of confer- ence attendees from out of state. He's also pushing a new grassroots effort at MSCW called #Mainecorps to help give people who like Maine the tools to live and work in the state. Outside of the regular panels, ses- sions and events during MSCW, Knox notes that on June 20 attendees can meet remote workers who live in Maine but work for companies in other states. On June 22 they can join the Maine Technology Institute's Tech Walk and meet the founders of cutting-edge Maine companies. And on June 23 programmers and developers can attend the MixPro recruitment event. connectivity point design & installation / ME-NH-MA / 866-782-0200 / connectivitypoint.com network cabling / audio visual / security / wireless / telephone Connectivity Point specializes in computer cabling which is the foundation of your IT network; audio/visual equipment like fl at-screen TVs; sound masking systems to improve your offi ce acoustics; and security systems to keep your assets safe. We're like IT guys. With tools. FREE ESTIMATES at connectivitypoint.com connectivity is everything. P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y O F H Y D RO S WA R M F O C U S Sampriti Bhattacharyya, keynote speaker for Maine Startup and Create Week, is working on a doctorate in mechanical engineering at MIT. She founded a company that makes underwater drones like the one she's holding. B y L o r i V a l i g r a Startup and Create Will the annual entrepreneurial soiree spark an 'innovator invasion'? Maine Week obots. To be exact, underwater drones that could find faults in nuclear reactors, be used for defense or security and teach us more about the world's oceans. ey're Sampriti Bhattacharyya's favorite sub- ject, and she's psyched about sharing her inventions with other entrepreneurs during her keynote at the upcoming Maine Startup and Create Week. R

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