From Lab to Market: 35 Years of Closing the AI Gap

About this event

Why AI Pilot Projects Fail: What to Do Before You Start One For more than three decades, AI practitioners have faced the same fundamental challenge: bridging the gap between what works in the lab and what delivers reliable value in the real world. In this talk, the speaker draws on 35 years of experience spanning early neural network research, genomics AI startups, consulting, and enterprise transformation projects to explore why that gap persists and what organizations can do about it. The session introduces a practical framework for evaluating AI readiness across leadership, strategy, data infrastructure, platforms, and skills before launching major initiatives. It also examines the most common reasons AI projects fail, including poor problem selection, underestimated data challenges, lack of operational accountability, and ignored organizational impacts. Rather than offering hype or fear, this talk provides a grounded, experience-based perspective on where AI and large language models are genuinely useful today and where they still require structured systems, governance, and human oversight. Attendees will gain practical frameworks and guidance for making AI a sustainable organizational capability. About Evan Steeg Evan Steeg is an AI researcher, biotech entrepreneur, and innovation strategist specializing in ethical AI, synthetic biology, and commercialization, with degrees from Cornell and a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Toronto, where he studied under Nobel winner Dr. Geoffrey Hinton.