Marco Tempest – Creative Technologist, Thought Leader & Cyber Illusionist.
Marco Tempest is the Extended Reality Lead consultant for Accenture, a Creative Technologist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a Director’s Fellow Alumni at the MIT MediaLab and the Founder and Director of the MagicLab in New York City.
As a regular speaker at TED conferences he is known for his work with digital technologies to create immersive, and often astonishing, experiences. Marco is continually looking for innovative ways to use technology to broadcast information and engage audience attention.
Marco Tempest has a proven record of using digital technologies to communicate with audiences in astonishing ways. ‘We are competing for attention and those with the most captivating messages will win.’
Marco Tempest Lecture Topics
- Good or Evil? How AI is transforming Life, Work and Society
- Inventing the Impossible – The World of Technology & Creativity
- AI & ChatGPT – Extending the boundaries of conventional technology
- The Future is here: Science meets Science Fiction
- Virtual Production & the Metaverse: A future where everyone is invited to play
- Future of Storytelling: Better stories for a better future
- Business & Digital Media: The Power of Magic & Technology
- Learning from the Future: Technology, Innovation & Illusion of the Day After Tomorrow
Born in Zurich, Switzerland, Marco demonstrated a flare for technology and engineering. He combined it with his childhood interest in magic and storytelling and created a new genre of illusion, technomagic. It brought to life Arthur C Clarke’s famous dictum that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
In 1988 Marco wrote a letter to Steve Jobs. Marco was granted sponsorship from NeXT Computers in return for helping launch their revolutionary new computer in Europe. The resulting show, an innovative hybrid of technology and illusion and entitled the NeXT Wave of Magic, brought Marco to the attention of technology firms around the world and led to collaborations that continue to this day.
Financial Times: “Marco Tempest is extending the boundaries of conventional technology.”
Marco Tempest began working with the leading companies of the day finding ways to lend a friendly face and better understanding to complicated technologies and systems. He partnered with Silicon Graphics Computer Systems to launch their high-performance workstation series and the ‘Reality Engine’ at international trade events including the Annual ACM Siggraph Conference and Computer Graphics World. Other collaborations followed (SONY Broadcast, Swiss Postal Service, Swiss Railroad System, Schindler, Phonak, Eurotunnel).
Marco Tempest: Drive the pursuit of excellence.
Marco Tempest moved to New York in 1997 and founded Newmagic Communications, Inc with a remit to help US based Fortune 100 Companies (IBM, Apple, SAP, Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, Walmart) tell their brand stories and launch new products and customer experiences. The demand for executives to make more public appearances led to Marco holding coaching and training sessions within organisations and for large industry events.
A major turning point came in 2006 with the rise in popularity of online video and the acquisition of YouTube by Google. Marco Tempest was invited to become a YouTube Partner and he launched a series of innovative videos in which viewers were invited to question the reality of the illusions he posted. This resulted in 30+ million channel views. Marco Tempest lent his expertise to HBO and other US broadcasters as video became the marketing tool of choice when it came to appealing to the Internet demographic.
World Web Forum: “At NASA, this cyber illusionist tinkers with tomorrow’s technology, today.“
Marco Tempest’s relationship with online technology continued to grow and within 30 minutes of the launch of the original iPhone (2007) Marco released a video of him standing outside the NYC Apple Store making a prediction about the future of technology. That prediction was about the creation of an App Store ecosystem. As news of the device spread the video went viral around the globe with 5+ million views in the first few hours after its release.
As an entrepreneur Marco Tempest produced and distributed his own HD sci-fi reality television series, ‘The Virtual Magician.’ 8 episodes were distributed into 50+ markets worldwide with an estimated footprint of 250+ million views. This expanded his reach into the South East Asia market, co-producing technology entertainment specials with key broadcasters in Japan, China and South Korea (NHK, FUJI Television, SBS). Marco Tempest became a content provider for MSN Video Japan, providing episodic tech & magic branded content. He also created storytelling, advertising and branding experiences for major companies. Lenovo, Panasonic, HP, Toyota, Toshiba, Asus.
Global Shaper Marco Tempest is deeply embedded in the tech industry and has regular interactions with product teams in an advisory capacity or as consultant or developer for prototype consumer technologies.
He lectures and gives key note talks for many international companies including TTI Vanguard (leading membership of world’s top CTO’s), the Milken Institute annual conference, EmTech MIT Technology Review Annual event, Innovators@Google, Airbus Innovation, Audi mobility, BMW electric vehicles and many more.
Collaborate: Work outside of your comfort zone.
He is an Instructor at MAS.S65: “Indistinguishable From… Magic as Interface, Technology, and Tradition” a recurring class at the MIT Media Lab focusing on the exploration of Magic as a prompt to create real world solutions to real world challenges.
Seven times Marco Tempest has been invited to speak at TED. He was a cultural leader at the World Economic Forum in Davos and has worked extensively with the Open Source Community creating and sharing technology for the common good. In 2011 he co-created The Essential Magic Conference, the world’s first online conference for magic and illusion and was awarded a Fellowship from the Academy of Magical Arts in Los Angeles for his work.
Through his extensive network of C-level relationships, Cyber Illusionist Marco Tempest has early access and insights into new products and technologies (access Google ATAP Project Soli Alpha developer, Google Project Glass, Microsoft HoloLens early invites). He collaborates with Google ATAP Product Development team (Secret Project NDA required) and Microsoft Analog – Outside Collaborator (Secret Project NDA required).
In recent years futurist Marco Tempest’s attention has turned to the use of illusion in prototyping future technologies. This involves creating immersive user experiences so users can, in effect, experience tomorrow’s technology today. This gives valuable insights into the way people interact with new and emerging technologies. One constant goal throughout Marco’s career is to inspire. To take difficult topics and find ways to explain them. To communicate a message effectively. To enthuse and astonish. To create and innovate. He believes that good ideas, like good people, are nurtured and with the right amount of care and support nothing is impossible.
Marco Tempest lives in Zurich, Switzerland with his wife, a hedgehog and a robot called EDI.