What a day! Our wind booth was filled with kids left and right, wondering how the wind can be converted into electricity. To my surprise, many of them entered our booth saying, “Hey, I’ve seen those before!� I would always ask where, and their responses ranged from California, the Southwest, to Pennsylvania and New York…a true testament that wind is growing all over – and its growing fast!

The highlight, however, was when I turned around after talking to some students, and saw Sir Richard Branson talking to Jim Lyons, Chief Engineer at GE’s Global Research Center in Niskayuna, NY. Jim is one of the most passionate wind people I know. Would you believe he did his PhD thesis on wind energy in the early 80’s?!?!?

Anyway, Sir Richard’s wind inquiry was quite timely —- he recently pledged 3 billion dollars to fight global warming.

I hope many other companies follow suit…

I met a guy this afternoon in the “Healthcare” section of the show who had a customized prosthetic leg that uses bluetooth technology to “learn” his leg movements. It learns his walking movements and adjusts accordingly; operating much more like a real leg then anything he’s had before. He has much more mobility then he has ever had and can even play basketball with his kids.

“I haven’t been able to walk down a flight of stairs in 20 years,” he said.

On another note, I swung by the thermal imaging technology display and got my thermal photo display. Turns out that white by my nose is a sign that I’m a bit overstressed—go figure!

After several technology shows, I thought I knew what I was in store for with today’s NextFest activities. However, I am not sure anything could prepare you for the wave of some 19,000 knowledge hungry students that attended NextFest today. After talking with what seemed to be most of the students, I can tell you our future looks very bright. I was thoroughly impressed with the quality of the questions and the perspective they have for anything new and exciting. The questions ranged from: “what impact will the Hybrid locomotive have on our environment?” to “what is the chemical make-up of the batteries?” and everything in between.

Most knew about hybrid technology, but their eyes widened when we talked about the scale of the hybrid locomotive and the impact that it can have on the environment. We were fortunate to be across the aisle from a couple of GM’s hybrid offerings and it really reinforced the size of the hybrid locomotive when we could say that the locomotive weighs about as much as 200 of the hybrid cars or has the power of over 40 of the hybrid cars. As much as their eyes wided on the scale, they widened even more when we talked about the impact a hybid locomotive can have on the environment. It is nice to know that the next generation of scientists and leaders understand the importance of our environment.

The press is next this afternoon and they will have to come with some challenging questions to keep up with the kids we talked with today.

With the 19,000 registered students from NYC area schools, the GE Water & Process Technologies booth was happening. We had many science students interested in learning more about water treatment solutions …..specifically desalination. One high schooler came by to ask detailed (and I mean really detailed) questions about how desalination works. He was so impressed that one of our desalination plants provides 53 million gallons of drinking water a day from seawater. He’s going to be attending Harvard in coming years and we hope that he will help develop the Next technologies for water sustainability……Discovery channel also visited while I was explaining how membrane treatments worked. Look for the show in March ‘07 on Discovery to learn more. Stop by to check out the water game and see if you can build a wastewater treatment plant and be the one to separate pure water from contaminants the fastest!

Sir Richard Branson, trips to the moon, students who are interested in science and technology. That sums up this first morning of NextFest in NYC.

While I haven’t made it past the GE booths at the show and not too much farther than my Aviation booth, the show has made quite an impression on me.

Today’s student and media day. So I’ve talked with kids from the fourth grade through tenth. The kids love to play the interactive games we have developed. My Aviation game and the Healthcare games have seen crowds of kids around them all morning.

The students are asking a lot of questions about the engines and our composite fan blades from the GE90. And many of them are already very knowledgeable about engines. A teacher here said some of students participated in a special summer class — so our future engineers in New York may already be in the making.

I also did a video segment for the Discovery Channel who was taking a dozen students from a technology school in New Jersey for a walk through the exhibit. The students had a great handle on our composite technology and the benefits that the lightweight, durable material have for our customers.

Sir Richard Branson had a formal speech this morning before the show opened to the public as he touted his new Virgin ventures into space. Then he toured some booths, including the Energy’s Wind booth. Nothing like seeing a “rock star” at the show — who has an interested in innovation.

Having experienced NextFest, the past three years, I’m extremely excited and jazzed to be part of it again! The first year in San Francisco was amazing to me since I had no pre-conceived notion or expectations. I was not only blown away at the show by the cool technologies, but more impressed by the engagement of that community. The Bay area is known for its high technology, so it was little surprise that that show had a hip audience with folks that were really excited to be a part of all the emerging technologies.

With so many things to do in New York, I wasn’t completely sure the folks in this town would be as interested or would even turn out to see emerging technology when they could be doing a multitude of other activities. After the evening gala and today’s opening to the school kids, I am extremely happy to report that New Yorkers are as jazzed about technology as the high, tech west coast! At the gala event last night, not only GE’s very important customers and friends turned out, but a very hip, tech savvy crowd turned out that you might expect to find at the cocktail lounges of Nobu or Air. Instead these young professionals were mingling, meeting and oh by the way checking out the cool technologies.

The school kids today mobbed the Javitz center and were swarming the majority of the exhibits. Unlike the hipsters from the evening before who were a bit hesitant to try the experiential games and demos, the kids are jumping all over the interactivity strewn floor. More than anything, I’m impressed to see that such a diverse array of kids are all over the technologies. I’m extremely happy to be a part and look forward to sharing my thoughts the next few days.

So, here I am at WIRED NextFest in NYC… and it confirms what I already know — I’ve got one of the best communications gigs in the world. I work at GE Global Research with 2,000+ awesome technologists from around the world. These folks are changing the world through their technology and are also about the coolest people you’ll ever meet. So, we’ve brought down a crew of them for this event.

We have “Edison’s Desk” where five of our folks are demonstrating cool technologies they are developing, ranging from nanotechnology to surgical fluorescents. I don’t know who is more excited — the guests who are enjoying the demonstrations or our scientists who are playing around with each other’s demos.

It’s a great time — and I encourage people in the NYC area to come out for the event this Friday and Saturday to catch some of the action. Whether you are a scientist or a gal with a degree in journalism (go Ohio U!), you’ll be amazed! To get a sneak peek, visit www.grcblog.com.

Last night there was a VIP reception to officially kick off NEXTFEST. Mark Little who runs our Research Labs gave a great talk about innovation—and developing technology to create a better tomorrow. He was standing at “Edison’s Desk,” where a bunch of scientists from our labs are manning some exhibits. They are also writing posts for GE’s technology blog, “From Edison’s Desk.”.

There is lots going on here outside the GE space. Looking forward to taking a long walk across the whole show. More reports to come!

Tonight we got a sneak preview of some of the NextFest exhibits…If you’re coming to NYC for the show plan on lots of exploring. Not only are there a wide variety of exhibits, but nearly all of them are interactive! One must-see is the “brain-ball.� Check out this concentration game, you need to relax to win so be thinking about your latest vacation before you even step up to the plate.

Check out GE’s imagination pavilion to catch up with old friends and meet some new ones that are working on GE’s latest and greatest from plastics to energy to healthcare.