Wednesday 9th SeptemberWednesday, 9 September 2020

With large numbers of us staying in doors and looking for new ways to be entertained, the esports and gaming industry has boomed. How is Min-Liang Tan evolving business models and strategy to thrive in a pandemic world? How can you pivot with the disruption to maximise opportunities and growth? And as you look to the future, how can you find the next evolution of market needs and be positioned for continued success?

As global markets adjust to the new reality, what innovation is essential in well-established enterprises to continue to protect business and thrive? Hayaatun Sillem from the Royal Academy of Engineering interviews Alex Mahon on how she is striking a new path through the disruption and leveraging tech, partnerships and talent to transform Channel 4. How has tech been an enabler and democratizer of business and creativity? How can diversity and inclusion be front and centre of your business transformation journey?

We all know that highly engaged customers buy more, promote more and demonstrate more loyalty. In a time when winning and retaining customers may be challenging, how have business leaders reimaged engagement strategies to win and retain customers? How far should you challenge norms and evolve brand experiences? How does partnering enable you to respond to the changing needs of customers at speed?

The Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS) is a pioneering project of collaborative innovation led by marine research organization Promare with IBM as lead technology partner. The goal is to build a Mayflower for the 21st Century, capable of traversing oceans autonomously and collecting data that will help protect the future of the world's most important resource. The new Mayflower will have no captain or crew; instead it will use advanced technologies to sense, think and make decisions at sea. As one of the first self-navigating, full-sized vessels, MAS and other similar projects in development, will open the door on a new era of autonomous ships and oceanographic research.

MAS is designed to self-navigate with no human intervention - even in the middle of the ocean with no connectivity. To do this it must be highly resilient to failure. It will therefore rely to a large extent on data-driven decision-making, localized compute power, and fail-safe back-up systems.

MAS will feature an AI Captain which Promare's engineers have developed by fusing IBM’s AI, edge, cloud and IoT technologies. While they have never been applied previously to an autonomous ship, they have been relied on by industry to increase the resiliency of machines and pieces of industrial equipment. For example, a factory which produces cars uses a similar set of computer vision, internet of things, machine learning and edge technologies to visually monitor the production line and ensure that as soon as any defects occur, measures are taken to mitigate the problem. Or an acoustic sensor in an elevator can monitor for the tell-tale sounds of an ailing part and alert engineers before the failure actually occurs.

In this fire-side interview, IBM CTO Andy Stanford-Clark explores the implications and applications of the innovative techniques being used on the MAS for businesses as they continue to rapidly transform in response to the recovery from, and new business opportunities generated by, COVID-19.

Small businesses are the hearts and souls of our communities, making up the majority of businesses in the UK and accounting for over 30% of annual turnover in the private sector. A new survey by Facebook in partnership with the OECD and World Bank shows how this sector of our economy has been the hardest hit. More than half of small businesses globally report a decline in sales relative to the same period last year, and 1 in 4 businesses that closed due to Covid-19 cite cash flow issues as the main reason. To understand more about what small businesses are going through, Nicola Mendelsohn, VP of Facebook for EMEA, talks with two British entrepreneurs about their experience of Covid-19 and how has tech helped them to adapt in surprising ways. How can tech drive the recovery of the economy and our highstreets and what more should tech leaders do to help?

At what point should strategy, innovation and sustainability become one? Sustainability is moving away from becoming a long-term ‘nice to have’ siloed within corporate sustainability departments, to becoming an essential action plan across product and brand strategies. Hear a case study example of how you can practically drive purpose driven transformation that is authentic to your business? How can you manage business priorities and balance profit with purpose? How can partnering with scaleups fuel impactful evolution of your business?

Facts are the foundation of our ecosystem and civil structures. With social media becoming the new gate keepers to our world, how do you know what is true? Hear from inspirational leader Maria Ressa how disinformation flooded the market in the Philippines and how Maria and her startup Rappler is fighting back the flaws of the tech ecosystem. With US elections on the horizon, what needs to be learnt by the global tech ecosystem and beyond to limit disinformation? Most recently Maria has been convicted of cyber libel and faces up to 6-years in prison - how far would you go to fight for the truth and the responsible use of data?

With the power of tech being brought to the forefront – and whether big tech in particular holds too much power – what responsibility should the industry carry in building a better world? Should tech be obligated to share data to improve society? How far should data remain private? When should tech intervene in free speech and hate speech? Who decides? And as US Congress debates the freeze on ‘killer acquisitions’ and the call for regulation, should there be intervention to allow small companies to thrive in markets dominated by big tech? What does good look like?

What if the ability to track, trace and communicate risk of covid-19 infections was integrated through transport networks, restaurants and research institutions? What if deliveries were coordinated and linked, reducing congestion, improving air quality and shortening commute times? The social impact through the sharing and collective use of data across public and private spheres is limitless. Jasmine Whitebread, CEO, London Frist will begin the session by introducing the London Data Commission on how public sectors and businesses can work together to improve the lives of Londoners through data, followed by a wider debate and discussion. How can the tech ecosystem harness data to drive positive change through partnerships? What principles and governance need to be in place to facilitate open innovation and ensure transparency and accountability on the big issues such as privacy, ethics and trust?

The speed of our digital response over the last few months in transitioning to home networks and setting up online services has unearthed a host of security vulnerabilities. How should you be looking further ahead to anticipate the next normal for your workforce, supply chains and partners and embed security by design? How can the ecosystem democratise cybersecurity for the good of the whole tech community and build better resilience? What principles need to be in place to ensure trust and the protection of data particularly when collaborating with partners?

We’ve seen this year just how much we rely on the rapid response of the technology and scientific communities. With the number of people on our planet rising on an exponential curve, the number of challenges will surely increase. Is embracing moonshot thinking and innovating at 10x rather than 10% the answer to keeping pace with these challenges? How can large enterprises and scaleups apply moonshot thinking and create a culture ripe for innovation at 10x? What are the practical benefits for both business and wider society?

Technology has a major role to play in building a more resilient economy and driving a more purposeful society. As we continue to navigate economic and social challenges, using technology to build better connected, more inclusive and innovative cultures has become vital to deliver progress and to effect positive change. This session will bring together leaders from Dell Technologies and Vodafone to share their perspectives on the responsibility of major organisations to redefine business strategies to use technology to deliver more than the bottom line.

As the pandemic reshapes economies, businesses and society, hear from decision makers on how they are looking beyond immediate crisis management to harness the opportunity to rethink talent management, office norms and culture. With swathes of the global workforce looking for opportunities, how can you rethink talent acquisition and development to harness previously overlooked or untapped workforces? What new skills and mindsets will be needed for the future? With no sign of turning back from remote or hybrid ways of working in some shape or form, what future ways of work need to be embedded to facilitate collaboration, productivity and an inclusive culture ripe for innovation? How can you ensure diversity and the power of diversity and neurodiversity in your workforce is recognised?

Ismail Amla, Chief Growth Officer of Capita discusses the practical learnings from the startup world to super charge growth in legacy enterprises with Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia, former CEO of Salesforce UK & Ireland and Virgin Money and now founder of fintech startup Snoop. How is the startup world different to the corporate environment and what are the practical learnings that can be applied to reap the benefits of the best of both worlds? How can large organisations stay agile at scale? How can you successfully marry the adaptability of hypergrowth startups with the massive benefits of scale, such as data, brand legacy and resilience? How can scaleups and enterprises work better together to accelerate innovation?

With the last pandemic in 2009, was COVID-19 really such a surprise and could we have been better prepared? We all tend to focus on immediate threats, rather than those we consider high risk and low probability but, now, the business continuity planning rule book is being rewritten. Our new all-digital, work-from-anywhere world is requiring organisations to rethink their strategies if they wish to survive and build resilience in facing future Black Swan events. What are the lessons for businesses to learn this year around digital transformation and being able to move confidently and securely forwards? How do you balance short-term agility with the rapidly accelerated requirement for long-term cohesion? How do you consider all your stakeholders including the environment as a key part of any recovery plan?

Emily Jenkins, Girl Guiding Advocate & Student interviews Baroness Helena Morrissey on the leadership lessons from this year and beyond; the importance of diversity and advise for future leaders. Join us for an inspirational closing session!