On May 22nd, the afternoon session of day 2 of the ICT Spring 2019 AI/Digital Summit was opened by Master of Ceremonies Frank Roessig, Fintech Leader, Proximus, who argued that AI will change the way we work, not replace it before handing over to the first speaker.

The post-digital era is upon us

The personal anecdote of Tom Ghelen (Associate Director, Accentue Technology) took the audience back to the first working day of his life in September 1999 when he drove in to Brussels from the country and navigated his way to his place of work using a physical Michelin street map. Today it would be very different! He emphasized the significance of this point by underlining that AI is not going to change the world … it already has! Everything and everybody is already digital.

So the debate now needs to turn to the post-digital era.  Mr Ghelen identified several trends which he believes will become important:

1. DARQ Power – (distributed ledger technology (DLT), artificial intelligence (AI), extended reality (XR) and quantum computing.). These emerging technologies will transform organisations individually, but collectively, the DARQ technologies will also power the innovation and opportunity uniquely associated with the coming post-digital era. As the business landscape transitions into a combination of digital natives and businesses well into their digital transformations, DARQ is the key that will open unimagined new pathways into the future.

2. Get to know me – AI will continue to drive the “market of one” ever further into our every day lives

3. Human+ Worker – companies need different kinds of worker. Every digital job is generating 4 other jobs, and increasingly HR departments are using technology to select the right people, not only in tracking our digital footprints, but also by testing in augmented reality, and monitoring and ensuring continuity of skills.

4. MYMARKETS – the idea that companies can hook in to what is currently trending and meet the consumers’ demand for it at the speed of now. An example is that Adidas are now able to 3D print shoes in store to a customer’s unique requirements.

 

Is your Business ready for Gen-Z?

Anshul Gupta (Founder & CEO, RazrCorp) is interested in millennials. He points out that they are the largest generation ever … over 2 billion strong, and asks, “How do businesses get ready for millennials?”

This is a crucial question. Millennials are completely changing the way that we work, shop, market, customer service, bank, entertain and commute, with most of the industries that touch our every day lives already disrupted by their new demands and expectations. Publishing, music, video, retail, travel have all seen incredible change in a very short space of time, change led by emerging technologies and their widespread adoption by the millennial generation. The way we think will change radically says Mr. Gupta, who cites the case of Uber, who he claims are targeting young teens to get them used to the idea of shared usage instead of ownership and quotes American economist and social theorist Jeremy Rifkin who last year claimed that “25 years from now car sharing will be the norm and car ownership the anomaly”.

Mr. Gupta warned also that Gen-Z consumers will change the way companies can function in demanding 24-hour service and a frictionless data experience with little traditional product loyalty thus driving an evolving and growing direct to consumer model, and promoting partnerships as with VW and Lyft, or Toyota and Uber.

 

Smart & Secure Mobile Connectivity for Enterprise Applications and Internet of Everything

Artem Kirillov (COO & co-founder, MTX Connect) is concerned that although more or less everyone accepts that we are in a heavily connected world, the so called IoE (Internet of Everything) where connected devices outnumber humanity by three to one, we often do not stop to consider what we are using to connect. He challenges the traditional model of a SIM connected to a traditional MNO which has to be changed from territory to territory for operational or billing reasons and promotes the idea of a carrier free B2B connectivity which will co-exist with the local MNO in territories across the globe.

 

Designing Smart Object

Simone Tertoolen (Designer and founder, MINOIS) is a UI designer who started the User Experience Lab at TomTom which, apart from their pioneering work in GPS devices also did a lot of ergonomics work in rethinking the car user interface. She is currently advising the freight forwarding company Shypple in building a user experience team that will transform the way that this traditional company will interact with its customers in the post-digital age. As her passion is in designing things for users moving from A to B, she has developed some ideas of what are the key things: to consider in designing a UI, and breaks them down into three main areas:

1) Half an Eye – while travelling, the user will often not be able to focus full attention on the device, so the interaction must be clear and easy to read.

2) Only one hand to control the UI – again, a travelling user often does not have the luxury of two free hands, so devices and interfaces need to be designed accordingly

3) No focused attention – the traveler will often be concentrating on other things, so the interface and the results must be intuitive and easy to understand

 

Tech Trends in Fashion

When she was studying fashion design, Ishwari Thopte (FashTech and Investment Program Manager) loved designing, but did not love the bit about actually making what she had designed, and dreamed of the day when such unique, one-off production could be outsourced quickly and cheaply. Later while working at Centre for Fashion Enterprise, London’s pioneering fashion and fashtech incubator, she started to get involved from the ground up with technology and companies that would do exactly that, and a whole lot more. The CFE is a non-profit organization f match-funded by University of the Arts London and the European Regional Development Fund, that acts as an incubator and provides business support for new fashion and design talent in London, which includes wearable technology, textile innovations, augmented reality as well as geo-location and billing solutions. As in other market sectors, a budding entrepreneur may have a brilliant idea, but if they don’t also have the technical, infrastructural or administrative and marketing skills necessary, then, like most startups, there is a high chance that they will fail within the first two years.