Siggraph, now in its 51st year, celebrates the 50th anniversary of its inaugural 1974 conference at the University of Colorado in Boulder. A highlight this year is a fireside chat between keynote speakers Jensen Huang of Nvidia and Mark Zuckerberg of Meta. Other notable presenters include Dr. Dava Newman (MIT Media Lab), Dr. Mark Sagar (Soul Machines), and Manu Prakash (Stanford University). They will discuss creating a technologically advanced future across various scales. Nvidia has been instrumental in energizing the conference, establishing an Innovation Zone and supporting numerous partners, papers, and training courses.
Siggraph, now in its 51st year, is also celebrating its 50th anniversary of its first annual conference in 1974, when it was held at the University of Colorado in Boulder.
One of the big tent events of the conference this year will be the showdown between two superstars, keynote speaker Jensen Huang of Nvidia and Mark Zuckerberg of Meta.
Those two tech giants, who have helped shape the world we live in, will have a fireside chat on their visions of research in AI and virtual worlds. If you want to know what you’ll be doing or writing about in five years, this is a must-attend session (Monday, July 29, 4:00 pm MT).
Other notable presenters at Siggraph 2024 include Dr. Dava Newman from MIT Media Lab, Dr. Mark Sagar of Soul Machines, and Manu Prakash from Stanford University. They will share insights on creating an optimal technological future across various scales, from the microscopic to the cosmic, including unmeasurable concepts like imagination. These keynote speakers aim to advance computer graphics and interactive techniques into the next half-century.
Denver is a hub for climate research, with NCAR and NOAA both in nearby Boulder, for instance. Can the conference expand beyond its recent center, which has been heavily VFX- and M&E-focused, to better address other markets? We think so and hope to help drive that. And Nvidia, with its PR reach, is going to raise the conference’s visibility and potentially impact attendance.
Nvidia has been a big presence at Siggraph for quite some time now, choosing to launch and announce innovative, and sometimes truly amazing, new CG tech there. Can we ever forget seeing real-time ray tracing at Siggraph 2018 in Vancouver?
Nvidia has been a visible and loyal supporter of Siggraph for several decades. That’s because the company believes (and we agree) that the industry as a whole is better off with a healthy and growing Siggraph than it is without. Towards that end, Nvidia has engaged with ACM Siggraph and the executive leaders with an offer to act more like partners than Nvidia as just a vendor. That offer has been welcomed and has resulted in some important activities and initiatives.
One example of the company’s participation this year is Huang’s keynote fireside chat, with Wired magazine senior writer Lauren Goode as moderator (Monday, July 29, 2:30 pm MT).
Nvidia has also taken first place in papers, with 23 papers accepted by Siggraph, two of which have been named Best Paper. Getting a paper accepted at Siggraph is a real resume builder for a computer scientist or engineer.
Anyone who has been to a few Siggraph conferences can’t help but notice that although the conference has maintained its luster, with researchers proud to have papers accepted and enthusiastically sharing leading-edge work with their peers, the exhibit area has become notably smaller and less of a must-see in comparison to years past.
To help energize the conference, Nvidia worked with Siggraph to create an Innovation Zone, and the company has brought in 18 top start-ups to show new technologies in climate visualization, robotics, digital humans, health care, manufacturing, spatial computing, autonomous vehicles, and more—some topics that haven’t had much coverage at Siggraph in the past, and yet all of which use computer graphics. This is exactly what Siggraph needs to do and demonstrate a bigger footprint beyond just VFX.
In addition, Nvidia has populated and is supporting 50-plus partners at the show in exhibits, talks, and sessions, so the company’s commitment is pretty darn visible throughout the conference. Nvidia is also bringing its training courses to Siggraph, including a new course co-developed with Siggraph.
And the company is co-sponsoring with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Wigraph (ACM community group for women in computer graphics research) and Women of Siggraph events at the conference, as well as participating in the Real-Time Live competition (Tuesday, July 30, 6:00 pm MT).
Nvidia is certainly not the only enthusiastic supporter of Siggraph. AMD, Adobe, Intel, and many other companies have been stalwart advocates of the conference over the years, and we applaud, appreciate, and admire them all.
So, we’ll see you in Denver; you’re going to have a great (and groovy) time.
If you’re going to Siggraph Denver, be sure to wear some pixels in your hair.
Dr. Jon Peddie is a recognized pioneer in the graphics industry, president of Jon Peddie Research, and named one of the world’s most influential analysts. Jon is an ACM Distinguished Speaker and is an IEEE Distinguished Visitor, and named an IEEE Computer Society Distinguished Contributor and Charter member. He lectures at numerous conferences and universities on topics about graphics technology and the emerging trends in digital media technology.
