Launched yesterday at the Technology, Entertainment and Design conference in Long Beach, Singularity University is going to be an institution with a difference. Its chancellor will be futurist Ray Kurzweil, whose 2005 book gave the place its name.
It will be housed at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, and Google has donated $1 million to help fund it, while other big companies have also given money. But the tuition for the nine-week course will be a very hefty $25,000.
The course will be split into three parts. For the first three weeks, students will study in 10 different fields, including artificial intelligence and computing. For the second stretch of three weeks they’ll do more work in one of the fields, while the final three weeks will be spent on a special project. Those who complete the course will receive a certificate. The university is taking applications from graduate and postgrad students.
For the first year there will be just 30 students, but the plans are to expand that to 120 students. University co-founder Peter Diamandis said:
"We are reaching out across the globe to gather the smartest and most passionate future leaders, and arm them with the tools and network they need to wrestle with the grand challenges of our day."
Between the longer summer courses, Diamandis said, Singularity U “offer a unique 3-day and 10-day program for CEOs and executives that will give them the forward looking radar they need to determine how these key technologies might transform their companies and industries in the next 5-10 years ahead.”
