Last June, SXSW announced they would no longer allow military and defense companies as sponsors. This sparked strong reactions from Austin's defense tech community, with one of those reactions leading to the creation of Austin4America. I'm joined by Luke Fischer, one of the summit's creators, to discuss why this matters and how it fits into Austin's broader innovation story. Episode Highlights SXSW's Military Sponsor Ban and Austin's Response Modern Defense Tech Beyond Weapons SkyFi: Building an Earth Intelligence Platform Why Austin Leads Defense Innovation Austin4America: From X/Twitter to Reality Innovation & Defense Tech Agenda Convergence of Veterans, Health, and National Security What’s Next Austin? “A gravitation of some of the best companies in the world coming to Austin, where we see across all the industries, bio, defense, healthcare, manufacturing.” Austin4America Luke Fischer: X/Twitter , LinkedIn , SkyFi ------------------- Austin Next Links: Website , X/Twitter , YouTube , LinkedIn Ecosystem Metacognition Substack
