The Sparknify Podcast

What happens when a baseball team leaves a city, but its fans refuse to let go of the memories?

In this episode of Silicon Valley Spotlight, Sparknify host Kelby Whitehead sits down with filmmaker Sean Havey to discuss We Still Love Here, a moving short documentary capturing the Oakland A’s final home game through the eyes of devoted fans.

More than a story about baseball, We Still Love Here explores the deep emotional connection between a city, its team, and generations of fans. Through intimate moments at the Oakland Coliseum, the documentary captures the heartbreak, nostalgia, and enduring community spirit surrounding the end of an era in Oakland sports history.

Sean shares the inspiration behind the documentary, his filmmaking experience, and why preserving the voices and emotions of Oakland A’s fans matters far beyond the baseball diamond.

🎬 2026 Sparknify Human vs. AI Film Festival Official Selection

We Still Love Here was selected as an Official Selection of the 2026 Sparknify Human vs. AI Film Festival, an international film competition exploring the evolving boundaries between human creativity and artificial intelligence.

The 2026 festival attracted more than 3,000 film submissions from around the world, with 32 films selected to compete across eight emotional categories. The festival celebrates the power of storytelling and examines whether audiences can distinguish human creativity from AI generated filmmaking through emotional impact.

Learn more about the festival:
https://www.sparknify.com/human-vs-ai-film-festival

About Silicon Valley Spotlight

Silicon Valley Spotlight (SV Spotlight) shines a light on creative and innovative performers who push the boundaries of sound, visual, vocal, and other forms of creative expression. From artists mastering exotic musical instruments to performers inventing entirely new ways to merge technology and art, each episode celebrates originality, experimentation, and the human spirit of creativity that thrives in the heart of Silicon Valley.

About Sparknify

Sparknify brings together innovators, entrepreneurs, artists, and creative minds to explore the intersection of technology, innovation, and human creativity.

Visit https://www.sparknify.com to discover more.

Hashtags

#WeStillLoveHere #OaklandAs #OaklandAthletics #OaklandForever #OaklandColiseum #SeanHavey #KelbyWhitehead #SiliconValleySpotlight #Sparknify #HumanVsAIFilmFestival #FilmFestival2026 #OfficialSelection #DocumentaryFilm #IndependentFilm #Oakland #BayArea #Filmmaking

In this episode of Silicon Valley Unplugged, Sparknify Host Kelby Whitehead interviews David Rodriguez, Co Founder of Robot.com, about what happens when robots move beyond demos and start doing real work in the physical world.Robot.com, formerly known as Kiwibot, is building autonomous robots for delivery, logistics, advertising and humanoid labor. But as robotics and AI advance rapidly, a much bigger question is emerging: What happens when robots become capable enough, cheap enough and reliable enough to work alongside us at scale?Kelby and David discuss the rise of Physical AI, humanoid robots, automation, the economics of deploying robots in the real world, whether robots will replace human workers, and how geopolitical tensions and the global robotics supply chain could reshape the industry.Are we still years away from the robot revolution, or has it already begun?About Silicon Valley Unplugged⁠Silicon Valley Unplugged⁠, also known as SV Up, is Sparknify’s flagship technology discussion series. Each episode brings together founders, investors, academics, technologists, and thought leaders for candid conversations about the ideas and technologies shaping our lives and the future of innovation.Filmed in Silicon Valley, the program is broadcast across Comcast community channels and distributed through digital platforms.⁠Visit https://sparknify.com/live-show⁠ for upcoming episodes, featured speakers, and information about attending future recordings.Like, subscribe, and turn on notifications to stay connected with future episodes of Silicon Valley Unplugged, where Silicon Valley speaks, unplugged.#Robotics #PhysicalAI #HumanoidRobots #ArtificialIntelligence #Automation #RobotDotCom #FutureOfWork #TechStartups #SiliconValley #SiliconValleyUnplugged #Sparknify

At Taiwan Tech Day: From Lab to Market, Jonathan Gortat’s keynote brought the audience into one of the most important but least understood parts of the innovation economy: the licensing deal. Jonathan is the Director for Licensing and Strategic Alliances at Stanford University’s Office of Technology Licensing.

When people talk about breakthrough technology, they often focus on the discovery. A new material. A new medical platform. A new AI model. A new sensor. A new semiconductor process. The story usually begins with the lab and then jumps quickly to the market, as if the path from invention to product is a straight line.

Read more...

Visit ⁠⁠https://sparknify.com/live-show⁠⁠ for information on upcoming episodes, guest speakers, and how to attend future shows in person.

🔔 Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and hit the bell icon to stay plugged in to future episodes of SV Up where Silicon Valley speaks, unplugged.

Johannes Rott’s opening remarks at 2026 Taiwan Tech Day highlight a central challenge in innovation: great technology does not become impact on its own. It needs an ecosystem of founders, investors, corporate partners, research institutions, and global collaborators to help move breakthrough ideas from the lab into real world markets.

Watch here: ⁠Johannes Rott of Plug and Play: Why Innovation Needs an Ecosystem⁠

Visit ⁠https://sparknify.com/live-show⁠ for information on upcoming episodes, guest speakers, and how to attend future shows in person.

🔔 Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and hit the bell icon to stay plugged in to future episodes of SV Up where Silicon Valley speaks, unplugged.

What happens when a startup develops technology that could become essential to national security?

In this episode of Silicon Valley Unplugged, we sit down with Katie Gray, Senior Partner at In-Q-Tel, for an inside look at one of the most unusual and influential organizations connecting Silicon Valley innovation with the United States national security community.

In-Q-Tel is not a traditional venture capital firm. Its mission is to identify promising commercial technologies, invest in the companies building them, and help adapt those technologies to address real government and national security needs.

Katie explains how In-Q-Tel evaluates startups, why cybersecurity remains a critical investment priority, and what founders should understand before entering the government market. The conversation also explores how artificial intelligence is changing cyber offense and defense, why speed matters in national security innovation, and how commercial startups have become increasingly important to America’s technological leadership.

• What In-Q-Tel is and how its investment model works
• How In-Q-Tel differs from a traditional venture capital firm
• What makes a startup relevant to national security
• How commercial technologies are adapted for government missions
• Why cybersecurity has become a strategic investment priority
• How artificial intelligence is transforming cyber threats and defenses
• What founders should know about working with government agencies
• Why dual use technology can create both commercial and national impact
• How investors evaluate founders working in sensitive technology sectors
• Katie Gray’s career, perspective, and advice for the next generation of innovators

As competition over artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, space, semiconductors, biotechnology, and other critical technologies intensifies, the relationship between startups and national security is becoming increasingly important.

This conversation reveals how ideas developed inside young technology companies can move from a startup pitch to a national mission.

About Silicon Valley Unplugged

Silicon Valley Unplugged, also known as SV Up, is Sparknify’s flagship technology discussion series. Each episode brings together founders, investors, academics, technologists, and thought leaders for candid conversations about the ideas and technologies shaping our lives and the future of innovation.

Filmed in Silicon Valley, the program is broadcast across Comcast community channels and distributed through digital platforms.

Visit Sparknify.com/live-show for upcoming episodes, featured speakers, and information about attending future recordings.

Like, subscribe, and turn on notifications to stay connected with future episodes of Silicon Valley Unplugged, where Silicon Valley speaks, unplugged.

#SiliconValleyUnplugged #InQT #KatieGray #NationalSecurity #Cybersecurity #ArtificialIntelligence #VentureCapital #DefenseTech #DualUseTechnology #Startups #GovernmentTechnology #EmergingTechnology #SiliconValley #Innovation #Sparknify

In this episode of Silicon Valley Unplugged, YouTube co-founder Steve Chen shares his perspective on Taiwan’s startup potential, its world-class engineering talent and the bridge it can build with Silicon Valley.

After returning to Taiwan following two decades in Silicon Valley, Steve saw an ecosystem with extraordinary strengths in semiconductors, hardware manufacturing and AI but also obstacles facing entrepreneurs, investors and international talent. He discusses the shortage of early-stage capital, practical challenges such as banking and relocation, and why Taiwan needs a longer-term strategy for cultivating globally competitive startups.

Steve also explains why promising Taiwanese founders should spend time immersed in Silicon Valley, how programs such as Berkeley SkyDeck can provide a softer landing, and why the exchange should ultimately bring experience, companies and opportunities back to Taiwan.

Could the combination of Silicon Valley capital and ambition with Taiwan’s engineering and manufacturing prowess create the next NVIDIA? Watch the full conversation.

About Sparknify SV Unplugged

Silicon Valley Unplugged (SV Up) is a monthly live studio show with audience produced by Sparknify, broadcast across the Comcast network in Silicon Valley, and distributed across social and digital platforms. Each episode brings together visionary founders, technologists, and creators to discuss bold ideas at the intersection of innovation, humanity, and the future.

Visit https://sparknify.com/live-show for information on upcoming episodes, guest speakers, and how to attend future shows in person.

🔔 Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and hit the bell icon to stay plugged in to future episodes of SV Up where Silicon Valley speaks, unplugged.

FOOTAGE CREDITS

Executive Yuan, R.O.C. (Taiwan), “Talent Taiwan International Talent Service and Recruitment Center Opening,” used under the Open Government Data License–Taiwan 1.0. Edited.

Additional technology footage courtesy of the Department of Industrial Technology, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taiwan.

#SteveChen #Taiwan #SiliconValley #Startups #ArtificialIntelligence #Sparknify

Quei-hua Yang, Director General of Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), opens Taiwan Tech Day: From Lab to Market, a Silicon Valley gathering focused on how breakthrough technologies move from research labs into real-world markets on April 20, 2026.Hosted at the intersection of Taiwan’s deep tech innovation and Silicon Valley’s startup ecosystem, the event brought together leaders from ITRI, Stanford Office of Technology Licensing, Plug and Play Tech Center, investors, entrepreneurs, and technology transfer experts to explore how research, licensing, venture capital, and global collaboration can accelerate commercialization in the AI era.In this opening speech, Quei-hua Yang sets the tone for a conversation about Taiwan’s role in driving next-generation innovation, connecting world-class research with market opportunity, and building stronger bridges between Taiwan and Silicon Valley.Event produced by Sparknify. For event information, please visit https://www.sparknify.com/event-details/lab-to-market

#TaiwanTechDay⁠ ⁠#ITRI⁠ ⁠#Sparknify⁠ ⁠#SiliconValley⁠ ⁠#TechTransfer⁠ ⁠#DeepTech⁠ ⁠#Innovation⁠ ⁠#AI⁠ ⁠#StartupEcosystem⁠ ⁠#TaiwanInnovation⁠

Artificial intelligence is no longer a distant technology trend. It is already changing how companies operate, how teams make decisions, how leaders think about strategy, and how people imagine the future of work. But as AI becomes more powerful, the most important question is not simply what the technology can do. It is how humans choose to lead with it.In this episode of Silicon Valley Unplugged, we sit down with Tonya J. Long, a leadership and AI strategist, venture builder, speaker, and author of AI and the New Oz: Leadership’s Journey to the Future of Work. Tonya’s work focuses on helping leaders, teams, and organizations translate AI ambition into practical strategy, sustainable adoption, and real business value. Her perspective brings together technology, leadership, organizational change, and the human side of innovation.The conversation explores the intersection of AI and humanity: how leaders can move beyond buzzwords, how organizations can adopt AI responsibly, and why human judgment, creativity, trust, and courage still matter in an increasingly automated world. From the boardroom to the breakroom, AI is forcing every organization to rethink not only its tools, but also its culture, leadership, and purpose.For Sparknify, the rise of AI is not just a technology story. It is a human story. It is about founders, executives, creators, workers, students, and communities navigating one of the most profound shifts of our time.The future will not be defined by AI alone. It will be shaped by the people who decide how to use it, challenge it, guide it, and create with it.Watch this conversation with Tonya J. Long on Silicon Valley Unplugged and explore what it means to lead, work, and remain human in the age of AI.About Silicon Valley UnpluggedSilicon Valley Unplugged (SV Up) by Sparknify is a monthly live studio show with audience produced by Sparknify, broadcast across the Comcast PEG Channels in Silicon Valley, and distributed across social and digital platforms. Each episode brings together visionary founders, technologists, and creators to discuss bold ideas at the intersection of innovation, humanity, and the future.Visit https://sparknify.com/live-show for information on upcoming episodes, guest speakers, and how to attend future shows in person.🔔 Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and hit the bell icon to stay plugged in to future episodes of SV Up — where Silicon Valley speaks, unplugged.#SiliconValleyUnplugged⁠ ⁠#Sparknify⁠ ⁠#TonyaJLong⁠ ⁠#AIAndHumanity⁠ ⁠#FutureOfWork⁠ ⁠#AILeadership⁠ ⁠#HumanCenteredAI⁠ ⁠#ResponsibleAI⁠ ⁠#SiliconValley⁠ ⁠#Innovation⁠

Accelerating ASIC Operations with Agentic AI & Automated WorkflowsIn this talk, Mohamed Kassem, CEO of Native Chips (http://nativechips.ai), explores how the next generation of custom silicon is being built—and how AI is fundamentally reshaping the way ASICs move from concept to production.As demand for specialized chips continues to surge across AI, edge computing, and high-performance systems, traditional ASIC development cycles are being pushed to their limits. Mohamed shares how agentic AI systems and automated workflows are unlocking a new paradigm—streamlining design, reducing iteration cycles, and enabling faster, more scalable silicon delivery.From rethinking design operations to orchestrating complex toolchains with intelligent agents, this session dives into what it takes to build custom silicon at the speed of modern innovation.Whether you’re a semiconductor engineer, founder, or investor, this talk offers a forward-looking perspective on how AI-native infrastructure will define the future of chip development.Topics covered: • The evolution of ASIC design and delivery • Agentic AI in semiconductor workflows • Automating complex design and verification pipelines • Reducing time-to-silicon in an AI-driven world • The future of custom silicon platforms⸻📍 Filmed in Silicon Valley🎥 Produced by SparknifyVisit https://sparknify.com/live-show for information on upcoming episodes, guest speakers, and how to attend future shows in person.

What if the next great Silicon Valley moonshot is not software, chips, or AI — but human longevity?

In this episode of Silicon Valley Unplugged, we sit down with Sergey Jakimov, Managing Partner of LongeVC, a venture capital fund backing early-stage biotech and longevity-focused founders working to change the future of human health.

Sergey is not just an investor. He is a serial entrepreneur, co-founder of multiple deep-tech ventures, co-founder of Longenesis, and co-founder of the Longevity Science Foundation. His work sits at the intersection of biotech, venture capital, medical innovation, and one of humanity’s oldest dreams: living longer, healthier lives.

In this conversation, we explore why longevity is becoming one of the most important frontiers in technology, how investors separate real science from hype, what kinds of biotech startups may define the future of healthspan, and whether Silicon Valley’s next great revolution could be biological.

From cancer and neurodegenerative disease to biomedical data, clinical trials, and the future of venture capital, this episode goes deep into the science, business, and philosophy behind the longevity movement.

Is longevity just another tech trend — or the beginning of a new era for humanity?

Watch the full episode of Silicon Valley Unplugged and join the conversation.

About Silicon Valley Unplugged

Silicon Valley Unplugged (SV Up) by Sparknify is a monthly live studio show with audience produced by Sparknify, broadcast across the Comcast PEG Channels in Silicon Valley, and distributed across social and digital platforms. Each episode brings together visionary founders, technologists, and creators to discuss bold ideas at the intersection of innovation, humanity, and the future.

Visit https://sparknify.com/live-show for information on upcoming episodes, guest speakers, and how to attend future shows in person.

🔔 Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and hit the bell icon to stay plugged in to future episodes of SV Up — where Silicon Valley speaks, unplugged.