What if you could experience the future before it happens? That's the premise of RUNWITHIT Synthetics, an augmented intelligence company that is finding opportunities around the world to equip leaders with the ability to visualize the implications of their decisions.
As co-founder and CEO Myrna Bittner tells Episode 45 of Bloom, RUNWITHIT started as a way to help people who are running digital systems deal with growing complexity.
"We thought, 'This isn't a problem that's going away. It's one that's getting more and more complicated, and even some of the most sophisticated engineers and engineering teams and software developers are experiencing it,'" she said. "So surely, there's got to be a way that we can use the best of RPA (robotic process automation) and automation AI and develop a way that their systems can experience all of the intricacies of realistic activity before they get there."
RUNWITHIT started creating what it calls "synthetic futures," building a sandbox in which various scenarios could be run to see what unintended consequences and unexpected outcomes might occur. That turned out to be something that people who make decisions in real-world environments wanted, too, which led RUNWITHIT to build synthetic cities.
That pivot has brought the company lots of opportunities and awards. In 2023, Bittner is looking forward to an appearance at South by Southwest (SXSW), participation in the SoCal Cleantech Express, and a chance to imagine the future of space colonization.
Learn more in the Jan. 19 episode of Taproot's podcast about innovation in Edmonton, which is co-hosted by Lazina Mckenzie, the manager of ThresholdImpact Venture Mentoring Service, a program based at the University of Alberta that recently opened its doors to entrepreneurs who don't have a connection to the school but would benefit from group mentorship.