The myriad of startups and solutions at SxSW Sydney

Midway through the conference, it's that exciting time when startups and innovative businesses from various industries converge to showcase their ideas.

In today's writeup, I want to highlight some of the businesses and concepts that have caught my attention.

UTS Dream Machine and Brain-Computer Interface

Recently, someone mentioned the use of fMRI scans to visualise human thoughts, and today I witnessed an incredible demo by UTS.

They're using non-invasive EEG techniques to create images of people's thoughts and dreams. What's remarkable is their use of AI models, specifically not generative, to maximise their expertise in neuroscience and interpreting the brain signals of thought.

I then thought it would be fascinating to see how Generative AI could then be applied afterwards to interpret these images into higher fidelity potential representations… and then they pointed to the screen.

Various Alternative Protein Technologies

There were a smorgasbord of alternative protein foods to sample at the NSW House, but Proform Food's chicken pie stood out for me. If you handed me this pie without any context, I would have just said, "Wow, that's a good pie!"

A key takeaway from the Food Tech panel is that we should embrace the differences in alternative proteins without directly comparing them to traditional meat-based options.

Something said by the panel gave me a lightbulb moment… that we are trained other thousands of years of what real meat like chicken is. Even if you could replicate it 100%, it would just lead to entering a commodity industry where differentiation would be to drive cost efficiencies with newer manufacturing techniques. Not an easy business to sustain.

Australian Army Electric Bushmaster

I couldn't not check out the truck on display in the middle of the expo floor. Defense technology isn't a familiar domain, but what intrigued me was the choice of going electric for military tactical advantages, not necessarily for the environment. Quieter, lower heat signature… ninja?

THDR AR fashion label

Moving on to AR for bespoke fashion tailoring, this technology isn't entirely new, but after a recent encounter with manual tailoring for my wedding, it reinforced the potential efficiencies AR can bring to the supply chain.

THDR's vertical integration approach means they can leverage this data across different parts of the value chain.

Conversation with AI. With AI Art project Truth Machine

Combining art and the interaction between humans and machines, is a concept that I am wildly interested in and aligns with what we do at DSG. I spent about two minutes engaging in a conversation with an AI box, discussing my day in the hopes of receiving some native Australian plant seeds.

Talking with the artist, I learned they had to carefully consider the AI's personality and appropriate responses. What struck me was how quickly the interaction felt natural. Virtual companionship is real.

Lots of HR solutions

On the expo floor, there was quite a lot of HR SaaS companies from talent discovery to administration, training, and employee experience. Not sure why but there must be lots of opportunity in taking a bite at the HR pie.

There weren’t as many pure AI startups than expected

Curiously, there weren't many pure AI startups, despite the media hype around companies like OpenAI and Anthropic. Except for Leonardo, an image generation company.

This may actually be positive, with a focus on using AI to provide holistic solutions to specific business problems rather than being solely tech-focused.

Alternatively, it might be that many AI startups are still in the prototype phase and haven't made their way to SXSW.

Perhaps, we'll see a significant change in the landscape next year.