Les Karpas is a product-focused strategist and 🏷️#technologist with expertise in computer vision, spatial computing, digital manufacturing, and robotics. Karpas currently serves as Developer Global Account Manager (DevGAM) at 📝NVIDIA, managing strategic relationships with 📝Autodesk and Hexagon and driving integration of NVIDIA libraries into partner products to accelerate 📝Go-To-Market (GTM). Previously, he was Inception Partner Manager for robotics, automotive, and manufacturing startups at NVIDIA; VP of Product at Cogniac Corporation; and an architect, manufacturing engineer, startup CEO, venture studio executive, and corporate venture capitalist. He has advised FLX Solutions and Sovereign Systems, and collaborated with organizations including 📝Cirque du Soleil, Stanley Black & Decker, Intellectual Ventures, Herman Miller, iRobot, Singularity University, and artist Anish Kapoor. Karpas served as an advisor to HILOS, which won Best in Show at the 📝SXSW Innovation Awards in 2022, and is listed as lead inventor on five issued patents. His work emphasizes moving 📝Artificial Intelligence (AI), spatial computing, and digital manufacturing solutions from inception to market through high-touch ecosystem building, field deployment, and enterprise integrations across manufacturing and creative industries.
I met Les through friends in the 📝Burning Man community around the same time I met 📝Raj Singh back in 2016. Les always struck me as one of those rare hybrids who speaks both the language of engineers and artists fluently. Conversations with him always jump beautifully between topics—like his mind is this bridge between industrial application and immersive play.