Taking centre stage at the PATW global final, Padmanabhan couldn’t have imagined where he’d be presenting his innovation just a few months later.
For Padmanabhan, the goal was to design a device that can help the hearing impaired interact with the world more easily.
Little did he know, presenting at PATW would give him a global platform to inspire the world and lead to invaluable connections that would kickstart his career.
Following his top-prize win at our PATW competition, Padmanabhan was invited to attend IET Past President Dr Peter Bonfield’s President’s Address and Dinner, where he met former Microsoft data scientist, Anirudh Koul.
The chance to network with an influential figure in the world of AI-centric accessibility solutions provided Padmanabhan scope to take his innovative project to the next level, technologically and within the marketplace.
Armed with advice and industry knowledge from Mr Koul, Padmanabhan was put in touch with Re-Work, organisers of a leading deep learning and AI applications summit held every year in San Francisco, CA.
“We shared our progress and ambitions regarding Helen with Re-Work and were honoured when we received an invitation from them to speak at this year’s conference at the end of January 2020,” says Padmanabhan.
“Presenting our work at Re-Work in the presence of industry leaders from OpenAI and Microsoft, and researchers from MIT and UC Berkeley, is not something we could have ever envisioned a few months ago.”
Competing at PATW (and winning) has not only provided the foundation for Padmanabhan to build his own industry network of contacts and expand his knowledge to new heights; it has also offered direction for his career.
Speaking at a renowned AI summit in the heart of North America’s technological hub forms another level of exposure for his project and broadens opportunities for future events, as well as contributing to his professional development by adding an impressive line of experience to his CV.
