The Shannon Luminary Lecture Series at Nokia Bell Labs is named in honor of Claude Shannon – the father of information theory and arguably of all communications and networked systems. The series continues the tradition of the renowned Bell Labs General Research Colloquia of the past, but looks firmly towards the future. This lecture series is comprised of speakers who are luminaries in a wide diversity of fields and who will share their perspective on the most important technologies, science, engineering, mathematics – and even more aesthetic matters – that will transform human existence in the next decades.
Each visionary speaker receives the Shannon Luminary Award and an honorarium of $5,000 to be donated to a cause of their choosing.
The Lectures
Miguel Nicolelis "The future of human augmentation"
Miguel Nicolelis, MD, PhD, is the Duke School of Medicine Distinguished Professor of Neuroscience; a Duke University Professor of Neurobiology, Biomedical Engineering and Psychology and Neuroscience; and founder of Duke's Center for Neuroengineering.
Watch VideoAlain Aspect "The future of quantum technologies: the second quantum revolution"
Physicist Alain Aspect is a distinguished scientist and professor at Ecole Polytechnique and Laboratoire Charles Fabry, with a career of sustained accomplishment in fundamental physics.
Watch VideoRodney Brooks "The Future of Innovation in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics"
Rodney Brooks is a computer scientist, roboticist, entrepreneur, founder and former Chief Technical Officer of iRobot (makers of the Roomba vacuum) and co-Founder of Rethink Robotics.
Watch VideoAlex "Sandy" Pentland "The future of AI and human society: HumanAI"
Alex "Sandy" Pentland directs the MIT Connection Science and Human Dynamics labs and previously helped create and direct the MIT Media Lab.
Watch VideoBen Ebert "The future of cancer prevention"
Ben Ebert is a physician and scientist focusing on the biology of leukemia and genetic mutations that cause cancers.
Watch VideoVint Cerf "The Future of the Internet of Things: Desirable properties of an IoT ecosystem"
Vint Cerf is widely known as a “Father of the Internet” and is the highly celebrated co-designer of TCP/IP protocols and Internet architectures. In his lecture, “The Future of the Internet of Things: Desirable properties of an IoT ecosystem”, Cerf discussed the benefits and the potential pitfalls of a massively automated world.
Watch VideoBrian Collins "The future of design: What we desire"
Brian Collins, a visionary leader in designdelivered his lecture, “The Future of Design: What We Desire”, describing the role of design as a way to bring human benefit to a rapidly changing world.
Read MoreStephen Fry "The future of humanity and technology"
The incomparable Stephen Fry, actor, comedian, journalist, author, tech enthusiast and polymath presented a Shannon Luminary Lecture on "The future of humanity and technology".
Watch VideoStephen Friend "The future of human agency"
Stephen Friend is a scientist, physician, entrepreneur, Chairman of Sage Bionetworks and member of the Apple Health team.
Watch VideoYann LeCun "Predictive Learning: The Next Frontier in AI"
Yann LeCun is director of Artificial Intelligence Research at Facebook and Silver Professor of Data Science, Computer Science, Neural Science and Electrical Engineering at New York University. His lecture explored the next steps in deep learning, enabling machines to teach themselves.
Watch Video