Category Archives: Speaking

My speech from the ASCA Smart Communities Summit

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2014-concept-1-gif_0Last week I gave the opening ‘catalyst’ address for the Australian Smart Communities Association’s inaugural Smart Communities Summit in Caloundra. A Few people have since asked for the speech and the notes it includes on what defines a smart community, so I am Catalyst speech.

The event itself was both well attended and well constructed, with presentations from leading thinkers and practitioners involved in creating smart communities in Australia and around the world.

We have already begun planning for the follow-up event in 2017 – hope to see you there!

Australian Smart Communities Summit starts next week

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2014-concept-1-gif_0On Wednesday next week I’ll be taking the reigns as MC of the inaugural Australian Smart Communities Summit, happening in Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast.

While it might be too late to get yourself along, if you have an interest in smart communities/smart cities activity then please take a moment to fill out this survey, created by the ASCA and Tech Research Asia.

We are hoping this will be the start of an ongoing research program into the development of smart cities and communities in Australia.

Back to the Future reminds us to be careful what we wish for

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BTTFWhen it comes to embracing new technologies, sometimes what seems like a great idea can have unintended negative consequences. Just ask all of the small business owners that used to make money from processing your rolls of holiday snaps on 35mm film …

Last weekend I had the pleasure of delivering a presentation on change and technology to a group of tyre dealers, on behalf of local Cooper Tires distributor Exclusive Tyres (yes, I never realised there was two different spellings either). As the presentation took place in the week of Back to the Future Day (when Marty and Doc travelled to 21 October 2015) , it seemed fitting to use the film as a starting point for the presentation, to point out the dangers of trying to predict the future.

One of the most memorable predictions that the film made was that skateboards would hover. The idea of a hoverboard captured popular imagination, and even led local hiphop artist Seth Sentry to ask ‘where’s my hoverboard?’ in his song ‘Dear Science‘. He definitely wasn’t alone in asking that question – most of the people in the audience conceded they’d buy one if they were on the market.

But great innovations like hover technology can have unintended consequences. If you can make a skateboard hover, then why not a car? And what don’t hoverboards have that skateboards have? Wheels.

So if you can make a hoverboard without wheels, it stands to reason that you can make a hovercar without wheels.

That’s not so good for anyone who sells tyres for a living.

Its anyone’s guess as to when we will see commercial hoverboards, but this Canadian inventor is one of many working hard to bring that dream to reality. It is a vision that perhaps should give tyre sellers cause to pause and think about their future.

Notes from the Broadband for the Bush Forum 2014 #bushbroadband

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Track_to_Bellrock_Range1-980x360A couple of weeks ago I had the honour of being asked to speak at the third Broadband for the Bush forum, organised by the Broadband for the Bush Alliance, Desert Knowledge Australia and associated groups, and held in Alice Springs. For me it was an opportunity to immerse myself in topics that are of great personal interest to me – namely digital capability building and social inclusion in the digital age. It’s rare that I get a chance to spend two days with so many smart, passionate and motivated people, all coming together to solve problems for the common good.

I saw my job as being two-fold. In an after-dinner speech on the first night I spoke of the need to widen the discussion beyond telecommunications service providers, governments and the community to also include over-the-top service providers – commercial as well as government services – as they are a vital part of the overall digital service community. Hence I was happy to be able to welcome Freelancer.com’s general manager Nikki Parker to the event – services such as Freelancer are what help drive access to income and productivity growth once the digital pipes are laid.

In my speech the following morning I tried to instil a sense of urgency into the discussion by talking about the dangers of letting the digital divide widen, while highlighting the great strides that other nations are taking in terms of accelerating their uptake of digital tools as a means of raising overall standards of living. I also talked about the need to raise the digital skills of all parts of Australian society in order to raise our overall competitiveness.

I’ve been meaning to write up a summary from the event since returning, but a recent bout of the common cold has battered my productivity. Hence I was happy to see Grant Young from the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence do an excellent job already – you can read his notes by clicking here.

You can also read the official communique from the event by clicking here.

I’d urge anyone who’s interested in the topics of social inclusion and capability building to consider coming to next year’s event.