Phila. to host Forbes 30 under 30 summit

Last week, Philadelphia was chosen for the second time as the host city of the annual summit for young people who "move the world."

Philadelphia will host the 2015 30 Under 30 Summit, an annual forum that brings together influential people in different fields who are under the age of 30 to share ideas on cutting edge issues of human society. The invitees range from Hollywood film stars to NBA players to venture capitalists.

The inaugural summit was held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia last October, attracting more than 2,000 "young entrepreneurs and game changers," as stated in a Jan. 5 press release.

Mayor Michael Nutter welcomed this decision. "In its inaugural year, Forbes crafted an agenda that capitalized on Philly’s great assets and connected Millennials with local schools, our thriving innovative entrepreneur scene and highlighted various aspects of our City. In its second year, I am looking forward to the Summit’s growth and expansion. We are proud to that Forbes has found a home in Philadelphia," he said in the press release.

Contrary to Philly.com's claims that Philadelphia was chosen as the permanent home for the summit from now on, the press release only stated that the summit will be held in Philadelphia for 2015 and did not discuss the location of the conference in future years.

The press release also mentioned that the 2015 summit will expand another full day to have 100 summit participants speak at public schools. Some other invitees will tour local non-profits and talk about innovations in healthcare and technology.

In previous years, Penn people have appeared on the 30 Under 30 list. According to Forbes, Penn is the fifth most common alma mater for people on the list. 

Some Penn 30 Under 30 names listed in 2015 include:

David Fajgenbaum (M '13 WG '15), Co-Founder and Executive Director of Castleman Disease Collaborative Network, also adjunct assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania (Healthcare)

"Fajgenbaum developed multicentric Castleman Disease, a rare disorder of the lymph nodes, during medical school. ... He survived, returned to med school, and published research that changed the way doctors think of the biology of the disease."

Lisa Gretebeck (V '15) and Dr. Nikki Wright (V '14) Cofounders, Pou Sante: Amar Haiti (Healthcare)

"Gretebeck and Wright started Amar Haiti to vaccinate animals and train families. If a family can raise five goats a year, they can afford to send a child to school."

Florian Hagenbuch (C '10 W '10), Co-founder, Printi (Manufacturing)

"Products like business cards and catalogues can be customized and saved with web tools, while algorithms aggregate orders, allowing Printi to buy products in bulk from factories and cut costs."

Jess Gartner (C '09), Founder, Allovue (Education)

"This former Baltimore teacher's flagship app, Balance, offers simple financial data visualization and analysis to help K-12 administrators connect education spending to student outcomes."

Stephanie Shyu (L '14) and Lydia Fayal (L '14), Cofounders, AdmitSee (Education)

"AdmitSee, a social media e-commerce hybrid that taps a community of verified undergrad and grad students who want to pay it forward (and get paid) by sharing their college application materials, including personal statements, test scores and high school resumes"

Elizabeth Beattie (ENG '13 GR '19), Ph.D. Candidate, University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (Science) 

"Imagine an exoskeleton that gave the wearer an extra forty pounds of bicep strength. That’s what the Titan Arm, which Elizabeth Beattie designed, can do."

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