by TINTSWALO BALOYI
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – ORGANISERS have unveiled a full programme of 40 global speakers for the upcoming Singularity Summit South Africa.
The experts will explore how artificial intelligence (AI) and exponential technologies are reshaping industries, business models and the global economy, while organisations face a growing challenge in deciding where the real opportunities lie and how quickly to act on them.
The final programme adds Felix Cheung, who is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Bairong Group in China, Kim Hulett, biotech entrepreneur and founder of Next Biosciences, Shayne Mann, co-CEO of Singularity South Africa and CEO of Mann Made, Ran Neuner, founder of Crypto Banter, Hywel George, global investor and former chief investment officer, Marko Stavrou, creator economy specialist, and Rajesh Pasungili, founder and CEO of Resolute Education.
This adds to an extensive line-up of global and African innovators, entrepreneurs, business leaders and technology specialists.
They will join previously announced speakers, including AI specialists Amanda Manna and Dario Fanucchi, robotics pioneer Tilly Lockey, enterprise AI leader Barak Kaufman, digital transformation expert Valter Adão, and South African inventor Fana Shabane.
AI will be one of the major themes of the two-day programme – October 21 and 22 – with speakers examining its rapid evolution, the challenge of moving enterprise AI from experimentation to implementation, and what the next generation of AI could mean for organisations and their people.
The conversation will extend into digital transformation, leadership, entrepreneurship, investment, robotics, the future of cities and the changing skills required to navigate an increasingly technology-driven economy.
“The conversation around technology has shifted significantly,” Mic Mann, co-CEO of Singularity South Africa, said.
He noted business leaders were no longer asking whether AI and other exponential technologies would affect their organisations, but where to invest, how to implement them effectively and how to prepare their people for the changes ahead.
Shayne Mann, co-CEO, said the summit creates an opportunity to step outside the day-to-day demands of running an organisation and engage with the bigger shifts taking place.
“The aim is for delegates to leave better informed, better connected and with a clearer sense of where the opportunities lie,” he added.
Celiwe Ross, Group Chief Human Capital and Corporate Affairs Officer at Old Mutual, said as AI and other exponential technologies accelerated the pace of disruption, leaders had an opportunity to think differently about how technology could unlock human potential, create new opportunities and shape more inclusive growth.
“The organisations that thrive will be those that prepare their people and their cultures for change, rather than simply preparing for the next technology,” she said.
The summit in Johannesburg is presented in collaboration with Old Mutual, event sponsors Google Cloud and Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), and metaverse partner UBU.
– CAJ News