By 2020, Australia’s digital economy is expected to comprise one third of GDP – roughly A$655 billion dollars – emphasising the growing trend towards advanced technologies.
To prepare for this incredible growth, two female CEOs, Christina Gerakiteys and Lisa Andrews, have joined forces to bring the vision of SingularityU to Australia.
Spanning 127 countries, SingularityU is a global community focused on driving positive change in the areas of health, education, environment, energy, food and prosperity.
“We ran a series of high-level conversations in Sydney, Melbourne and Newcastle, inviting businesses, universities and government representatives to discuss a vision for Australia 2030,” explains Christina, CEO of SingularityU Australia Summit.
“The main issues that came up were Education, Health, Energy, Environment and Agriculture. When we realised these issues were threads throughout our conversations, we decided to adopt them as key themes for the SingularityU Australia Summit.”
On 22–23 October, around 1,800 delegates will attend the SingularityU Australia Summit to explore the latest in exponential technologies and discover how these technologies are being used to disrupt industries and positively impact the world.
Christina believes in using exponential technologies such as robotics, AI, augmented and virtual reality, sensors and autonomous vehicles to help scale solutions globally. She also believes in exploring what is possible, rather than what is acceptable or restrictive.
“There are amazing advancements being made in each area with the convergence of technologies. Initially the domain of gamers, AR and VR are now being used to assist those with quadriplegia and paraplegia to move again,” Christina enthuses.
“The push for space travel is not only about exploring new frontiers, it’s also about taking carbon emissions outside of the earth’s atmosphere.
“Companies like Google and Virgin are working on global continuous connection of the internet. Imagine the impact this will have to increase capacity for education in third world countries, medical consultations in remote regions, drones carrying medicine and diagnostic tests to those same regions – it’s truly inspirational.”
SingularityU’s mission is to solve 12 Global Grand Challenges, which closely align with the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
“The collective good we access when we converge minds and technologies makes all things possible. This is what we aim to achieve with SingularityU,” she shares.
“We are working hard to ensure close connections are made during the summit and ongoing conversations and actions result. We aim to shift thinking from the plenary stage and create activations through our satellite workshops, breakfasts and meetings.
“In bringing together curious minds, thought leaders and those with a passion to create and innovate, we build an atmosphere where real change can occur and possibilities are limitless.”
SingularityU will focus on tackling the following five universal issues in Australia:
- Learning – demonetisation of electronic devices in order to give everyone access to information
- Health – exoskeleton suits are playing a pivotal role in assisting paraplegics to walk again
- Environment and Food – food originally grown on farms could be grown in vertical constructs in the city
- Prosperity – use land to produce energy from solar and wind
- Energy – harness technology to use natural resources to create sustainable energy
