Innovation Unwrapped: Q3 2026 Update | Inside the iMasons Innovation Committee

Q3 is a wrap for the iMasons Innovation Committee — and there's a lot to unpack. Romain Tranchant, Global Director of Innovation at iMasons, walks through everything the community has built since Q2 and previews what's coming through the end of the year (plus a first look at 2027), joined by two guest speakers. 🎤 Featuring: • Ashley Dirou (Grundfos) — on running Grundfos' first-ever data center hackathon challenge with students at SMU • Angela Bee Chan (Hackatons International) — on the "Elephant Voices" Hackathon with National Geographic and Open Compute Project (OCP) In this episode: 🔌 AI-to-Grid paper — a first-of-its-kind look at how AI data center operators actually connect into grid infrastructure, built with contributors across the US, EMEA, and APAC. Releasing soon. 🎓 Inside the first iMasons Hackathon series — Ashley Dirou joins to share how SMU students tackled a real rainwater-harvesting challenge for a large pump manufacturer, and Angela breaks down "Elephant Voices," a partnership with National Geographic and OCP where 200+ students across 27 universities used AI to help researchers decode elephant vocalizations in the wild. 📅 What's next Hackathons at NYU (Oct 2–4) and Texas A&M (Nov 7–8), Pitch competitions at Yotta and DCD Dubai, and a 2027 calendar spanning NYU, SMU, UC Berkeley, and Texas A&M. 🚀 Startup Accelerator update — new startups onboarded around cost visibility, offshore/at-sea data centers, and stranded power utilization. 🌍 EMEA & APAC programming — regional innovation events including DCD Connect London and DCD Dubai, led by Rudolf Gordon-Seymour. Whether you're in digital infrastructure, sustainability, AI, or just curious how a global industry actually innovates together, this is your quarterly download. How to get involved: 🔗 Events & registration: iMasons.org (events section) 💬 Member community & updates: imasons.mobilize.io (Forge) ✉️ Questions or ideas: innovation@imasons.org