The recently concluded two-day ‘SingularityU India Summit 2017’ in Mumbai, hosted in association with INK and in collaboration with Deloitte, brought together top thinkers, global business leaders, and organisations. During the Summit, thought leaders and professionals shared their insights on the big trends and technologies that are reshaping industries, governance, health, and society. The second day of the event also saw attendees participating in deep-dive sessions that focused on artificial intelligence, biotechnology, exponential finance, and design thinking.
Speaking at the event Rob Nail, CEO and Associate Founder of Singularity University said, “There is a seismic shift in the way technology is turning into an enabler in our times. It is entrenching itself deeply into every aspect of our lives. India, with its diverse human capital and affinity for innovation, presents a unique opportunity to explore solutions that will fuel social innovation and impact.”
Technology and its instruments change at a fast pace. We need to understand this pace and that is what SU does – to bring awareness around technology so that the world can think of it long term, he added.
Talking about Corporate Innovation, Larry Keeley, Innovation Guru, President, Co-founder at Doblin Group observed, “Modern innovation is more about elegant integration of known things than invention.” “Bring your humility but also recognize we humans can do a lot together to get innovation to succeed. Sometimes things change… It’s not the companies in Silicon Valley which matter, but human beings who learn to collaborate in those companies,” he further added.
Addressing the topic Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Neil Jacobstein, Chair, Artificial Intelligence & Robotics, Singularity University opined that AI is more than just game changing, it is disrupting the entire field the game is being played on.
Brock Pierce, Managing Partner, Blockchain Capital and Chair, Bitcoin Foundation said, “If you want a predictive data point, watch what the developers are doing.
Salim Ismail, Best-selling author of ‘Exponential Organizations’ advised the gathering to learn and adapt if they find disruptive start-ups in their respective traditional industries.
According to Ismail, 80 per cent of today’s technology is going to create game changing impact in 2 years and 100 per cent change in next five years.
Earlier, speaking about the Summit, Lakshmi Pratury, Founder and CEO of INK and Director of the SingularityU India Summit, said, "The ability to amalgamate technology and people to build on existing innovations is the core of exponential innovation. We are delighted to be associated with the SingularityU Summit for the second consecutive year. Exponential technology innovations are rapidly moving across boundaries and India stands to make a critical contribution to this transformation. INK is proud to have been able to bring Singularity University’s thinking and speakers to India to start this conversation.”
Raymond McCauley, Chair, Biotechnology and BioInformatics, Singularity University; Joe Paradiso, Director, Responsive Environments Group, MIT Media Lab; Bill Briggs, US and Global Chief Technology Officer, Deloitte Consulting LLP; Divya Chander, Faculty- Medicine, Singularity University, Aaron Maniam, Director, Industry Division, Ministry of Trade & Industry, Singapore; Nicholas Haan, Vice President of Impact and Chair, Global Grand Challenges, Singularity University; Matthieu Riou, CTO and Founder of BlockCypher, George Kembel, Founder, Stanford d.school & d.global.org; Sanjay Swamy, Cofounder and Managing Partner, Prime were among others who spoke at the two-day event.
Singularity University is a global learning and innovation community using technologies to tackle the world’s biggest challenges while INK acts as a platform for the exchange of cutting-edge ideas.
BW Reporters
The author is associate editor at BW Businessworld
