ATTENTION: This session requires advance signup to attend. For Online Schedule: Please utilize the RSVP link below the description to reserve your seat. For SXSW GO App: Use the RSVP 'Find a Timeslot' link. You must have a SXSW Interactive, Gold, or Platinum badge to attend, and, you must have an activated SXsocial account (social.sxsw.com) to reserve a seat. If you have any issues with signing up, please email support@sxsw.com. VERY IMPORTANT: Because of the limited space, we recommend you arrive at least 15 minutes prior to the published start time of this session. If you have not checked in at the room you RSVPed for at least five minutes prior to the session start time, you may lose your seat to an attendee in the waiting list line.

In the fictional TV/movie series Star Trek, Captain Kirk talks to his crew via a communicator, has his medical officers assess conditions through a handheld tricorder, and synthesizes food and physical goods using his replicator. This, of course, is science fiction, however, in some cases it is becoming science reality. Many of the technologies that we saw in Star Trek are actually beginning to materialize. Captain Kirk’s communicator could be seen as inspiration for today’s smartphones, 3D printing could be compared to Star Trek’s replicator, and most recently, the $10M Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE is challenging teams to develop a mobile device capable of giving consumers access to diagnostic tools that deliver meaningful information about their health status.