[slideshow]Clemons discussing Chen and Abouzied's latest work. Photo by Sjur Hamre/The Gazelle;David Bradley, owner of Atlantic Media delivering his opening remarks. Photo by Sjur Hamre/The Gazelle;Mohamed Al-Otaiba, Editor-in-chief of the National interviewing CEO of Boeing Jim McNerney. Photo by Sjur Hamre/The Gazelle;Brad Hargreaves, Co-Founder of General Assembly introducing his start-up to the audience. Photo by Sjur Hamre/The Gazelle;[/slideshow]

On Nov. 5, students and industry representatives convened for a day-long conference on innovation, titled What’s Next? Navigating Global Challenges with the Innovation Generation. The conference was Atlantic Live’s first event outside of the United States, and featured on-stage interviews with a range of industry experts, including Boeing CEO James McNerney, Aramex founder Fadi Ghandour, and Geeks on a Plane creator Dave McClure.

NYU Abu Dhabi faculty Azza Abouzied and Jay Chen spoke about their latest work at the Design Technology Lab at NYU Abu Dhabi in the session titled Fresh From the Lab: Next Generation Design. Abouzied, whose research focuses on designing data querying tools, urged companies to shift their focus away from big data, and rather embrace small data, extracting meaningful information from what companies collect on their users. She said her current research was primarily funded by grants from NYU Abu Dhabi and the U.S. National Science Foundation,and that she hoped the private sector would commit to investing in regional universities to promote a stronger research and innovation culture.

Chen spoke about one of the Lab’s latest brainchilds: a bluetooth-enabled bracelet that could be deployed at conferences to match people with similar interests without exposing their private information. The session, which also featured Philippe Forestier from Dassault Systèmes, was moderated by the editor of Atlantic Live, Steve Clemons.

The conference also included several workshops tailored to the more than 100 students in attendance, along with discussions on how innovation could be taught, how the UAE could create a more conducive environment for startups and the potential dangers of allowing unlimited innovation.