Following 8 months of preparation and planning, the Schreyer Honors College will present its Shaping the Future Summit for the first time ever on April 1, 2014.

Schreyer is bringing industry leader and author Peter Diamandis to State College to speak with Penn State students about the nature of innovation.

The project, being spearheaded by Christian Brady, the Dean of the Honors College, is meant to bring motivated members of our community together to talk about important issues that face the globe and its people.

“The ‘Shaping the Future Summit’ goal is to bring senior, globally-known leaders to campus each year who will challenge our students to begin thinking now about the problems they will be facing as they enter positions of leadership in 10-20 years,” Dean Brady said. “Each year the Summit will have a particular theme and events across the university throughout the year that will build to our pinnacle speaker. This year’s theme, ‘The Impact of Innovation,’ explores our ability to affect the world around us.”

Peter Diamandis, the keynote speaker for the summit, truly embodies the spirit of this project. As the founder of the X Prize Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to fueling inventive minds and technological advances, Diamandis has also written the New York Times Bestseller Abundance and founded the Silicon Valley company Singularity University.

While the culminating event takes place  in April, there are dozens of auxiliary activities taking place that lead up to the main attraction, all of which are meant to focus on different aspects of innovation in society today. The four main focuses of the summit are Technology, Medicine, Entrepreneurship, and Energy Sustainability, all of which have key note speakers and a variety of events meant to expand people’s understanding of the topics being addressed.

One proposed enterprise is a trip down to the Navy docking yard in Philadelphia, where students and other members of the summit could explore the innovative fusion of green technology with their marine equipment.

No matter where your interests lay, the Shaping the Future Summit will provide you with a unique opportunity to learn about the way our world is being changed by technology and innovation. More information will come out regarding the various events as time goes on, and you can check their website for additional details here.