Kodak today announced that renowned author, inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil will keynote its Global Directions 2013 conference—an annual technology and educational event sponsored by the company’s document capture and enterprise software business unit. The conference, scheduled for September 22-25 at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in Washington, D.C., will explore "Intelligent Information Management" and how its deployment provides businesses with a competitive advantage. This year’s theme includes topics on the importance of collaboration platforms for enterprise-wide information management, managing social media as a vital information stream, and the next generation of software that not only manipulates and stores vast amounts of data but can also intelligently process the valuable information contained within it.

Kurzweil is uniquely qualified to discuss new approaches to information management. He was recently named Director of Engineering at Google and is widely regarded as one of the greatest inventors of our time. He was the principal developer of the first omni-front optical character recognition (OCR), the first print-to-speech reading machine for the blind, and the first CCD flat-bed scanner. PBS honored Kurzweil as one of "16 Revolutionaries Who Made America," Forbes magazine has referred to him as "the ultimate thinking machine” and Inc. magazine described him as “the rightful heir to Thomas Edison.”

“Ray Kurzweil is a pioneer of our industry,” said Dolores Kruchten, President, Document Imaging and Vice President, Eastman Kodak Company. “Without his contributions, we might not be having this conference. Ray is the perfect headliner for a blockbuster lineup of speakers and exhibitors.”

Business leaders attend Global Directions (http://www.globaldirections2013.com/) to examine solutions to critical issues affecting their organizations. The conference agenda features cutting-edge case studies, end user presentations and technology demonstrations. Notable attendees include some of the most renowned thought leaders, analysts and journalists in the information management industry. The event is designed to advance education, knowledge and actionable business strategies in the application of information management to meet the future needs of the global business community. Topics range from extracting business content from scanned paper documents, to document processing workflows for enterprise platforms such as Microsoft SharePoint, to high performance software that can understand, classify, extract and automate data flows from a variety of input sources such as documents, voice mail and social media.

To learn more about the Global Directions 2013 conference agenda and registration, please visit www.globaldirections2013.com. Also, please join the conversation on Twitter by following @KodakDI (hash tag #gd13).

About Kodak's Document Imaging Business

Kodak's Document Imaging business enables customers to capture and manage valuable information from electronic and paper documents. Our solutions include award-winning scanners and capture software, information workflow software, an expanding range of professional services, and industry-leading service and support. From small offices to global operations, Kodak has the solutions to automate your business processes and intelligently deliver the information your enterprise needs.

For more information, please visit kodak.com/go/docimaging. Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/kodakdi.

(Kodak is a trademark of Eastman Kodak Company.)