A rising tide lifts all boats.

The phrase commonly spoke by President John F. Kennedy is the guiding mantra for the Rising Tide Initiative, which hopes to showcase the technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship going on throughout Tarrant County. The goal is to shatter the siloed walls of the past in favor of working together, said co-founder Nathan Ryall.

“In a collaborative environment, you’re using everyone’s best skills, you have access to more people and ideas,” said Ryall, director of professional services for Fort Worth-based Agile Management Enterprises. “We’ve been working on this initiative with a lot of the companies in Fort Worth to realize we have a lot of talent.”

Ryall created the initiative along with his fellow AME business colleagues Kevin Grace, Mike Field, James Fair, and Dustin Dvorak. The group also worked with Bob Mitchell, executive recruiter at Fort Worth-based WhitneySmith Company and Bill Thornton, president and CEO of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce.

On Friday, Rising Tide will hold its first public event at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History to discuss how technology can be integrated at museums and celebrate its official launch.

“In a collaborative environment, you’re using everyone’s best skills, you have access to more people and ideas.” 

Nathan Ryall

From robots that cite Shakespeare to deploying new technology in museums, the free event at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History will focus on the benefits of collaboration and coworking in the modern world.

“We want to highlight what the future is, what technology they’re going to deploy at the museum,” Ryall said.

The panel, “Emerging Technologies: Meeting our Future,” will feature:

Julienne Greer: A theater arts professor at the University of Texas at Austin who works with the UTARI lab on social robotics and performance. She will demonstrate NAO, a robot that reads Shakespeare with real emotion.

Doug Roberts: The chief technology officer for the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, who will talk about the use of technology in museums.

Kevin Grace: An investor with Catalyst Partners that funds startups involved in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and software. He’s also founded several companies in the past and serves as a co-founder of the Rising Tide Initiative. 

Nov. 16 roundtable presentation from Kevin Grace. Click the image to view the Slideshare presentation. [ Screenshot: Rising Tide Initiative presentation ]

On Saturday, Rising Tide also has invited several North Texas companies ranging from startups to global software engineering firms for a reverse pitch discussion. The request for ideas will center on how technology could improve the user experience.

In particular, they’ll be focused on the back end of the app interface and museum’s website. It’s not about one of the companies winning a bid, it’s more about sharing ideas, Ryall said.

“We’re bringing in companies to talk about what the best practices are in technology today and what we can deploy at the museum,” Ryall said.

IF YOU GO

Emerging Technologies: Meeting our Future

When: 6-8 p.m. Friday

Where: Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, 1600 Gendy St., Fort Worth

More info: Visit the event page

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