South by South West weekend highlights: Obama on innovation, startup awards

Tech in government: Obama spoke about how the government is using technology to enhance services.

The 30th edition of the annual South by South West Interactive Festival opened on March 11 in Austin Texas, bringing together members of the music, film, and interactive media industries from around the world.

Tens of thousands of people are expected to take part in the festival that runs until March 20. Here's brief look at some of the highlights so far.

President Barack Obama:

US president Barack Obama kicked off the festival with a keynote talk with editor-in chief of The Texas Tribune. Obama discussed the role of technology and the need for the tech industry to help solve the nation's problems by working with the government.

"It's not enough to focus on the cool, next big thing. It's harnessing the cool, next big thing to help people in this country," he said. Obama also discussed how the government is using technology to enhance services, such as applying for student loans or social security. To view the complete keynote, go here.

SXSW Accelerator Awards:

For the last eight years, South by South West has hosted the SXSW Accelerator pitch competition to honor startups making advances in technology. For the event, startups go before live audiences and a panel of judges to present their innovative ideas and products. On Sunday the winners were announced.

They include Parknav, which is a device that provides real-time parking availability to automotive, fleet, real-estate and internet companies. Another featured item came from Rorus.

This is a filter pack that allows users to instantly purify drinking water, removing biological and chemical contaminants.

Finally, the startup "Splash" developed the technology to allow users to capture 360° videos onto their mobile phones in seconds to share it to any social network and view it in Virtual Reality.

Smart City Challenge:

Also over the weekend at SXSW, the US Department of Transportation announced the finalists in the Smart City Challenge.

This competition has been organised to encourage cities in the US to rethink their urban transportation planning models using technology such as connected vehicles and automated vehicles.

The winning city will receive US$50mil (RM206.8mil). The finalists are Austin, Texas; Columbus, Ohio; Denver, Colorado; Kansas City, Missouri; Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; Portland, Oregon; and San Francisco, California. The winner will be announced in June.

SXSW film: Nichols' & Linklater's latest

The South by South West Film Festival, a programme of 139 features and 114 short films, started on Saturday, kicking off with Everybody Wants Some! by Texas native Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused, Slacker).

Other weekend highlights included Saturday's North American premiere of sci-fi thriller Midnight Special from writer-director Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter, Mud) and the world premiere of Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru by Joe Berlinger. One of the film festival's most anticipated screenings is Pee-wee's Big Holiday which will make its world premiere at SXSW on March 17.

The South By South West Festival is also of course dedicated to music. Featuring an enormous lineup of over 2,200 artists covering all genres of music with a focus on up-and-coming bands, the SXSW music festival kicks off on March 15 and runs until March 20. In addition, every year South by South West includes surprise performances. —  AFP Relaxnews