Tag: Leaders of the Future Summit

Hristo Hristov is the CEO of NetInfo and Official Representative and Chairman of IAB. He joined Webit.Festival Europe 2018 to share some insights on the future of Blockchain in digital media and advertising.

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The crypto market exploded over the last three years. A lot of industries started looking at blockchain as a technology, as to whether it can solve some of their biggest challenges.

Let's look at blockchain:

Blockchain as a technology is still at its infancy. We're still at the hype cycle and blockchain is sitting right next to autonomous vehicles which I don't see happening in the next two or three years and Event-triggered marketing. So as a technology, blockchain might grow into something big like the internet or even bigger, but it might also fade away into some narrow use cases.

How can Blockchain improve the Digital Media and advertising landscape?

There are some use cases which are rather obvious:  * Fraud detection and prevention  * User Identity  * Buying and selling inventory, etc

Centralization vs. Decentralization

Trust a third party or to use a decentralized approach?

Decentralization PROs

* Durability, reliability and longevity - Due to the decentralized networks, blockchain does not have a central point of failure and is better able to withstand malicious attacks. * Process integrity - Users can trust that transactions will be executed exactly as the protocol commands removing the need for a trusted third party. * High quality data - Blockchain data is complete, consistent, timely, accurate and widely available. * Transparency and immutability - Changes to public blockchain are publicly viewable by all parties creating transparency. All transactions are immutable, which means they cannot be altered or deleted.

Decentralization CONs

* Trusted 3rd parties - it's not Central vs Decentralized. The advertising ecosystem is based on trusted third parties. These 3rd parties are innovation drivers. * It's too slow - Digital advertising is real-time. RTB standard requires service response in 100ms.

There are several examples which already use blockchain in addressing some of digital advertising's biggest challenges.

adChain tries to create a token curated registry of publishers in order to verify and simplify the buying. And papyrus is a decentralized programmatic value management platform aimed to radically improve programmatic advertising stack. All of these solutions are in the making, they are not really ready but they are evolving pretty fast. Several years ago we were talking about mobile apps, then AI, now blockchain. The hype cycles of few years ago were longer and we used to have more time to adapt to them. But now they are becoming shorter and they’re starting to overlap. It wasn’t long long ago that we were talking about programmatic buying. Now it is programmatic buying on a decentralized exchange powered by blockchain.

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Missed the 2018 edition of Webit.Festival Europe? Don’t miss the 2019! Get your super early bird 2in1 tickets – 2 for the price of 1 here!

"The future is very important, because we will kind of spend the rest of our lives there. So we better make it really good. :)"

Martin Wezowski is the Chief Designer & Futurist at SAP. He joined Webit to put some perspective on “what is work and what is human in a superhuman future”.

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Martin, being a fan of the Beatles, started with playing a tune that resembles the style of the iconic band. But later he revealed that the song was created by AI that mimics the Beatles.

"It listens to everything that The Beatles have ever done and makes new songs. It does it so successfully that it has over 2M views on Youtube. That should really raise deep and profound questions."

The main question is WTF - What’s the future?

One example of that is the healthcare.

"It takes 7-10 years to make a doctor, which gives us a severe shortage of doctors."

With the soon-future-AI, medical help will be in infinite amount everywhere, all the time for everyone. That should also change our minds about what is human work. Nowadays AI can diagnose heart diseases or lung diseases more accurately than humans. Funny enough, humans and AI combined are almost 100% correct. In the 90s we decoded the human genome. It took billions of dollars. Now there is a DNA sequencer for 1000$. What does this mean for research? What does it mean for animal testing?

The NOW has never been so temporary as it is today.

Maybe we should start imagining the futures that we want and start creating them, rather than react to what we where we are today because thus we are too late. That might be a little scary because we see jobs disappearing. A hundred years ago almost everybody worked at farming, fishing, forestry. Now it's only about 2%. What did they do? What would they think if you'd tell them: "Most of you will not be in agriculture." What would hey imagine that they will do, accounting? Web development? We are in the same situation today. And it doesn't matter because we will imagine new jobs as they emerge. We can't plan for it. And the real question is this:

What to teach kids to become relevant in 30 years from now?

How can we adapt to the change? What new values do we need? The stability of planning is a little bit of fake. The opposite to stability is not instability, it's emergence. It's risk, it's rock'n'roll. To transform, to challenge and take risks. Innovation is sort of rock'n'roll in business and we need more of that.

One thing we rely on is the thinking of the 3 horizons.

1. Continuous innovation - Ready to consume: Traditional KPIs (key performance indicators) of predictable outcomes and repeatable results and scalable efficiency.
2. Adjacent innovation - Ready to Co-innovate: Forecasting your intelligence and resources to the near future, the next, the adjacent innovation where you co-innovate with your partners and/or customers.
3. Transformative Innovation - Ready to Inspire: Thinking away from what you can do today and the tools you have. Your vision and thought leadership leads to ideas that you must articulate very clearly so you can have a decent discussion on executive and board level about these ideas.

 

Help the world run better and improve people's lives.

These two things go to the two sides of the spectrum with 4 dimensions:

1. The self running company

For example: Counting logotypes in commercials for example is not a human work anymore. Machines do that now. And it changes the whole business model for the industry. Now they pay for what they get.

2. Self organizing Business Ecosystems

They are built on the philosophy that the current power is a like money - the more you hold, the more powerful you are. The more relevant you make yourself in the distribution of that power - the more powerful you will be.

3. Augmented humans

The Super Human - that we all carry inside. By removing the constraints of the human bias and knowledge we can be beyond that and be super human or human at last. That answers the question: What is the smartest app? Well that's the one that makes YOU smarter.

4. Purpose Led New Market & Business Models

Why are you relevant 10 years from now? It doesn't have to be to save the planet, you have dreams and focus and markets, you would like to create. Something that excites you to the moon. Articulate that very well - why are you relevant 10 years from now - because if you don't, you might not be.

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“Everything from the beginning is an open end and it's up yo us to actually sit down and actually use this methods and look across all the 3 horizons, articulate futures that are desirable where we can play a significant positive role. That's our purpose. And if we do that I actually think we can design futures that we all want to live in. And we should remember to have some fun as well. :)”

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Missed the 2018 edition of Webit.Festival Europe? Don’t miss the 2019! Get your super early bird 2in1 tickets – 2 for the price of 1 here!  

Edna Conway currently serves as Cisco’s Chief Security Officer, Global Value Chain, creating clear strategies to deliver secure operating models for the digital economy. She has built new organizations delivering cyber security, compliance, risk management, sustainability and value chain transformation. She drives a comprehensive security architecture across Cisco’s third-party ecosystem.

Digitization is driving each of us across all industries to make dramatic changes to how we approach customers, products, services, and the always-on, real-time information rich marketplace. This digital economy is gender agnostic. And, it is highly dependent on a connected global ecosystem. The message is clear—no one person, enterprise, industry, government or region can stand alone any longer.

Here you can see a full list of the confirmed speakers at Webit.Festival Europe 2018, while here you can get all the information you need about the tickets for the event. Managing supply chain risk requires a comprehensive approach over the complete product or process life cycle, and Cisco is looking at the potential impact of new technologies such as blockchain and the “internet of things” as part of its solution.

“We define the value chain as the end-to-end life cycle for any solution. In order to build trust, you need to understand the risks you are taking, and those risks need to be measured in the language of business.” says Conway

Prior to Cisco, Conway was a partner in an international private legal practice and served as Assistant Attorney General for the State of New Hampshire.

My path to security was built on a foundation of protecting intellectual property; enhanced by a legal background and rich engineering and operational leadership roles afforded to me by Cisco. Each of these opportunities, including leaving a successful legal practice to join Cisco, required faith. Faith in my own ability to learn an entirely new discipline and trust that my colleagues would support me in that effort.

She is recognized domestically (US Presidential Commissions) and globally (NATO) as the developer of architectures delivering value chain security, sustainability and resiliency. Her insight is featured in a range of publications, analyst reports, and case studies, including Forbes, Fortune, Bloomberg, CIO Magazine and the Wall Street Journal. Conway is constantly using her expertise to leverage new tools in an ever-expanding digital arsenal. She has turned her attention to the security potential in blockchain. With the ability to track data through networks, blockchain becomes a highly effective digital ledger, or “passport for the data” according to her.

“A chain of custody of your data and your actions across the full spectrum of a life cycle adds a degree of integrity we’ve never had the ability to do easily before”

Recognition of her industry leadership includes membership in the Fortune Most Powerful Women community, and awards including: a Fed 100 Award, Stevie “Maverick of the Year Award,” a Connected World Magazine “Machine to Machine and IOT Trailblazer” Award, an SC Media Reboot Leadership Award, a New Hampshire Tech Professional of the Year 2018 Award, and CSO of the Year Award at RSA.

Stamen Popov, the Novartis Oncology Business Unit Head for Bulgaria & Macedonia was a keynote speaker at Webit.Festival 2017. His keynote covered the topics about the “from cost to value ” conversion in healthcare and treatment.

Healthcare spending is increasing faster than than the current economic climate’s capabilities

Many countries are concerned that higher spending doesn’t lead to proportionally better outcomes. Healthcare systems waste a significant amount of resources that limits the fiscal space and hinders performance. The largest percent of wasted resources goes to over-hospitalization, over-examinations and over-prescription of pills. Waste is also created by inefficient or flawed rules, overly bureaucratic procedures and poor execution or lack of best practices, e.g. effective preventive care or patient safety, low volume for specific treatments per hospital, etc. Mr Popov made a point that the most expensive pill appears to be the one which hasn’t delivered any positive effects to the patient. The pricing in the industry has to start evolving with accordance to the fast paced changes in technology and the development of new ways of treatment. Companies should to be paid for a result delivered, not for a specific pill. A shift needs to be made in pricing, away from what has been a transactional approach to a value-based approach. That should mean focusing on the outcomes and really communicating the value of the medicines and pricing them accordingly. Care routed in outdated habits, ignoring scientific findings and motivated by something other than optimal care shouldn’t be the care of today.

Focusing on value-based care, reducing waste and directing investments to the point where greater value can be produced is critical for sustainability.

Universal health care aspirations will be hard to materialize if we don’t shift to value-based care and change policies to support this shift. This change requires collaboration with every member of the healthcare ecosystem and better public-private partnership. Healthcare systems should stimulate more effective treatment results with the help of all parties involved in the process - patients, medics, researchers, healthcare providers and pharma companies.   If you want to stay up-to-date check the Webit.Festival website for upcoming speakers and our ticket options.

Advertising may win quarters, innovation wins decades

He is a new breed trendwatcher, energetic professional communicator, serial entrepreneur, award-winning marketing strategist and this will be his 4th Webit event - three times in Sofia and once in Istanbul, Igor Beuker has lots to share about his Webit experience.

“ Amazing conference, very well-organized, fantastic setting and backstage program, great speaker line-up, and very important to me as a professional public speaker and human being: the connection with the audience (at the event and on social media) is rare and heartwarming. “

Igor is among those speakers who have a special connection with their audience. Here is what he says about the audience in Sofia, and to his fans, in particular:

“ The connection with the audience in Sofia, is really one of a kind. I can’t explain the feeling.It’s one of the reasons why - out of 150 international talks each year - Webit is one of the highlights I really look forward to ”

We cannot deny that the difference between Sofia and Istanbul is enormous. Here is what Igor says about his experience:

“ Istanbul is a huge international city and the conference is a bit more business focused and formal than in Sofia, was my experience. I love the culture and the passion of the people in Turkey, and some of the attendees became business partners and friends.”

Bulgaria and Sofia are aiming at becoming a digital hub for CEE and the attitude and approach towards this is a bit more casual. In the same time, however, we coordinate with the government and local authorities, and as from last year, we were incredibly proud to announce that Webit is the flagship event of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The EU Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society Mariya Gabriel is chairing Webit's Plenary Sessions and is a patron of Webit.Festival along with The Government of Bulgaria and the Mayor of Sofia.” Last year I shared the stage and the dining table with the president of Bulgaria and the Mayor of Sofia, which is a great opportunity to share ideas.”

“Burning Man meet TED” and “Math Man in a world of Mad Men”...

...are just a couple of the new terms that were invented by the Bulgarian audience. At this year’s Webit.Festival Europe edition in Sofia, Igor will further develop his Mad Men vs. Math Men theory.

"Can I stretch my Mad Men vs. Math Men theory and framework even further? The Webit audience will give me the answer with their reviews and social feedback. My team and me value what they say and I even reinvent my speeches and one-liners for my talks, based upon what they highlight. That legacy brands and incumbents need to get out of their comfort zones, because that’s where the magic really happens. My bold style and personality I can’t change at 47, but the audience feels I know my why and I keep walking towards my purpose. Next-level change and reinvention is needed. Big is only good when big is smart: Advertising may win quarters, innovation wins decades.”

Igor is loved by the companies, adored by his fans and audience everywhere he goes and also by the media.

He gave a very special, exclusive, interview for a Bulgarian media. You can watch his interviews here, where he elaborates his Mad Men vs. Math Men theory in a more simple way. Igor’s answer to “how would you describe the atmosphere at Webit, he says: “Hard to describe, but when I look at the audience tweetback on my site, I get a huge smile on my face and I can’t wait to be back!”

We can’t wait to welcome you again, Igor! You have a very special place in our city and our hearts.

“ Experiencing the last three years, I expect Webit 2018 to be even bigger and better than the previous editions. If that is even possible.”

Sure it is! You don’t believe us? Take a look at the amazing speakers line here and the one of the kind networking opportunities here. You wish to attend? Book your ticket here.

With the boom of mobile communications and the spread of the Internet of Things (IoT) and wearables, there is increased demand by employers for skilled IT professionals in web and app design. The Future of Digital Education and Free Online Courses is a hot topic of the blue track at the Global Webit Congress. According to the European Commission (EC), there will be 900 000 unfilled information communication technology (ICT) jobs in the EU in 2020? To battle this widening gap the EC thinks that open online education is the solution. Education is related to employment and good education will foster the skills of the participants and increase their chances for employment. Free online courses like the ones offered by Coursera in web and app design, Android and iOS will allow IT professionals to learn new skills and fulfill the huge demand by employers for qualified IT professionals. What are the future trends in education and employment? Can online courses substitute university education? Can traditional university credentials be acquired online? What are the future trends in Digital Education and Online Courses? The future of Digital Education and Health is a hot topic at the blue track of the Global Webit Congress.

Tech leaders, influential Founders, CTOs, CIOs of the world’s most innovative companies, disruptive start ups, top talents, and over 400 investors and 300 accredited media will be at the Global Webit Conference.

You can also join in the discussion by applying for an early bird ticket now!

We are proud to present the Webit Internet of Things (IoT) Hackathon 2014. The hot future trend of Internet of Things (IoT) presents numerous opportunities for business, startups and developers in Healthcare, Finance, Retail, and Public Sector with Smart Cities and Smart Campuses. Are you ready to take part, unleash your powers and show off your skills? The Webit Internet of Things Hackathon is for developers who are interested in building relationships to technology platforms, gaining knowledge on a number of topics, from operating systems and APIs, to app stores and monetization or designing software for devices and consumer electronics. This year's Webit Internet of Things Hackathon is part of the blue track, Leaders of the Future Tech Summit, giving one time experience and opportunities to the partners, the speakers and attendees to dive into a fusion of technology with local and global companies from Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia. The  Internet of Things Hackathon 2014 is organized together with our partners at Concirrus, home of the Internet of Things. Concirrus provides a platform for customers to organize the Internet of Things to improve, disrupt and create businesses and business processes. Staged at the perfect location of Istanbul makes the Internet of Things Hackathon of the Global Webit Congress an easy hub for people from three continents to join and brainstorm their creativity. Co-located with the IoT Stream of the two-day agenda, the Hackathon gives a perfect opportunity for developer, app builders and tech giants to collaborate. Great minds think alike... Will you join them? You can take part in Internet of Things (IoT) Hackathon 2014 by applying here.

Wearable devices are all around and wearable technology is changing our life styles by allowing us to track and interact with the surrounding world in new ways. They are changing the perception of the ways we see, hear and interact with the world around us. According to ABI Research, about 90 million wearable devices will be sold in 2014 and demand will be higher in 2015. Most wearables are related to health and fitness but the future will see them in other fields. What are wearable devices? According to Wikipedia “wearable technology“, “wearable devices“, and “wearables” all refer to electronic technologies or computers that are incorporated into items of clothing and accessories which can comfortably be worn on the body. Wearable devices, similar to mobile phones and laptop computers can perform the same computing tasks in some cases outperforming them. They have embedded sensors and can transmit information. Wearable technology tends to be more sophisticated than mobile devices providing sensory and scanning features not typically seen in mobile and laptop devices, such as biofeedback and tracking of physiological functions. Why do we use them? They are all around us watches, glasses, contact lenses, e-textiles and smart fabrics, headbands, jewelry such as rings, bracelets, and earrings. Most wearables on the market today are fitness and healthcare monitors. Worn on our head like the Google Glass and Oculus Rift, on our wrist like the Pebble steel, Fitbit Flex or Nike + Fuelband, Moto 360, on our chest like the Uber Armour Chest strap or Polar Wearlink and Transmitter, on our ankle like the Adidas F50 Aadizero TRX Cleats. They are being intercorporated in our clothes. They can be attached to a baby like the Sproutling Baby monitor that senses, learns and predicts a baby's sleep habits. What are the future trends for wearable devices? Wearables still are a technology for early adopters. They are not perfect and there are still lots of questions to be resolved. Privacy, safety, design and customer adoption, just to mention a few. However, the future of wearable devices looks promising. Juniper research predicted the market to jump from its current $2 billion value to $19 billion by 2018. An in the world of IoT giants like Google, Microsoft, Apple, Intel, IBM are working on new and improved solutions to help wearables. Apple is set to release its new and exciting iWatch expected to be a game changer. Intel is working on standards of interoperability.  We are seeing better integration and new applications developed for the wearable devices. The startup community is also working on new devices and solutions. Join us at the blue track of the Global Webit Congress to learn more on these promising new technologies. Get your early bird ticket now.

Everyone is online, even dogs and cats have their online profiles in Facebook and Twitter. Are these online identities real? Are they protected and safe? No seriously with the boom of the Internet and the mobile connected devices we are using online identities either real or fake to log in, share data, communicate, buy stuff and make payments.We cannot do without them. No way. It seems that the online identity is becoming our new passport to the world, the digital world. When we interact with someone online is he real? How can we be sure of that? The implications of establishing a real online identity are many fold. Now our mobile devices store the online identity. We use the mobile phone in new ways safe log in to social networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+. We use them for e-commerce and payments. We use mobile apps to purchase and pay for products and services. We use them at the bank, at the retailers. Even the money we have is stored in our e-wallet both online and on the smartphone. We use our funds with an online identity. When someone makes a payment online, the online profile is authenticated and verified. Are personal details safe online? How secure is this? Can someone hack our online identity? How can we protect against fraud? What are the future trends? Online Identity, Security and Fraud are hot topics at the blue track of the Webit Global Congress. Tech leaders, influential Founders, CTOs, CIOs of the world’s most innovative companies, disruptive start ups, top talents, and over 400 investors and 300 accredited media will participate. Hurry up now is the time to book your place for the Global Webit Congress at an early bird price.