2026 Summer Solstice

As artificial intelligence accelerates beyond the pace of policy, markets, and diplomacy, the world faces a defining inflection point. This year’s Innovate@UCLA Summer Solstice brings together industry thought leaders, technologists, economists, geopolitical strategists, and innovators to confront the most consequential questions of our era: Who controls AI? and who gets left behind?

From algorithmic warfare and autonomous weapons systems to AI-driven economic disruption and the race for technological supremacy, the forces reshaping global power are moving faster than any single institution can govern.

This event examines the collision of three tectonic forces:

• The rise of generative AI and autonomous systems
• The fracturing of the global economic order
• Intensifying competition between nation-states for technological and informational dominance.

Attendees will engage with real-world scenarios at the intersection of Silicon Valley and the geopolitical stage: How do technologies born in defense and space programs migrate into the commercial enterprise? When information itself becomes a weapon, deployed on battlefields and in corporate boardrooms with equal precision, what does that mean for the organizations and leaders in this room? And as autonomous systems move from concept to operational reality, what are the implications for every industry that depends on infrastructure, data, and trust?

Through the keynotes, curated panel discussions, and networking sessions, attendees will grapple with these stakes firsthand — and be challenged to think beyond the algorithm toward the human, economic, and ethical consequences of the choices being made right now.

8:00 AM – Breakfast and Networking

8:30 AM – Program Begins

Opening Keynote – “AI-Accelerated Cyber-Enabled Economic Warfare – The New Frontier of Global Power"

• Snehal Antani, CEO & Co-founder,  Horizon3.ai

Fireside Chat – “War, AI and the Future Power”

• Phillippe Kassouf, Founder & CTO, Trip Robotics
• In conversation with Ghalib Kassam, EVP, Chief Information & Security Officer, Los Angeles Times

Panel Discussion – “The Double-Edged Sword"

• Moderator: Greg Moore, Vice President, CIO, KB Home
• Panelists:
• Jason Fritch, VP of WW Enterprise Sales, Starlink, a SpaceX Company
• Shivani Desai, Principal Director in our Information Systems and Cyber Division, The Aerospace Corporation
• Christopher Elliot, SVP Cyber Threat Management, SOFI

Student Innovation Hub

• Live demonstration of the UCLA Student Innovation Hub platform and student-led innovation initiative, led by Lucy Avetisyan, Associate Vice Chancellor & CIO, UCLA, and UCLA student innovators
• America Montanez, Ashita Singh, Samantha Leung

Structured Networking Sessions

• Facilitated by Theresa Miller,Innovate@UCLA Women in Technology (WIT) Chair, and members of the WIT Committee
• Facilitated interactive networking experience featuring guided questions, audience participation, and real-time engagement activities

Panel Discussion – “TBD"

• Moderator: Deepika Manglani, VP, Product & Program Management, Los Angeles Times
• Panelists:
• Jagjit Dhaliwal (JD),Head of Partnerships, GenAI ISVs, Amazon Web Services TBD

Closing Keynote – “TBD"

• Professor Andrea L. Bertozzi,Distinguished Professor of Mathematics and Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, UCLA

1:00 PM – Lunch & Networking Reception

2:00 PM – End of Event

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

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