Invited by Lucia and the team at SlovakiaTech to keynote this year's festival, for an audience ranging from government ministers to local business people.
Matthew GriffinFounder, President and Futurist, 311 Institute
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17codexes
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Lucia and the team invited Matthew to keynote this year's SlovakiaTech festival, where robots from ABB Robotics were creating and selling art for local charities and students from the local university were showing off their breakthroughs in brain machine interface technologies.
In a keynote titled Mastering the Exponential Future, Matthew took an audience of everyone from government ministers to local businessmen and women on a journey into the future. He started with the accelerating pace of change and how to understand and predict it, ran through the science fiction technologies that are now science fact, and then explained how today's breakthroughs will disrupt and accelerate cultural, industrial and societal change.
"It's often not the enthusiasm to build a better future that's the problem, it's connecting people to the right communities and resources so we can help them realise their full potential."Matthew Griffin, Slovakia, November 2019
As at many of the events he attends in Eastern Europe, most recently in Romania, the buzz and enthusiasm were infectious, and afterwards the conversation turned to how to build the right cultures and ecosystems to help these communities thrive on the global stage.
Matthew's view from travelling the world is that enthusiasm to build a better future is rarely the problem. The challenge is connecting people to the right communities and resources so they can realise their full potential.
311 Intelligence
What this means for your leadership team
Pace of change sets the plan.
The keynote began with how to understand and predict accelerating change. Our trend data shows faster technology adoption and shorter corporate lifespans compressing business planning cycles. Leaders should treat long fixed plans as a risk.
Science fiction is now a roadmap.
Matthew showed technologies that have moved from fiction to fact. At the festival, students were demonstrating brain machine interfaces and robots were making art for charity. Our data rates robots as a mature technology, and brain to machine interfaces as one to watch.
People and ecosystems decide outcomes.
Matthew's view is that enthusiasm is rarely the problem. The gap is linking people to the right communities and resources. Organisations that build those links, and the cultures around them, will help talent thrive on the global stage.
Three questions for your next leadership meeting
Which of our plans assume the pace of change stays steady?
Where do keen people in our organisation lack the right resources?
Which communities and partners could help our teams reach their potential?
The trends and technologies behind this session
From the 311 Starburst, the 311 Strategic Intelligence Unit’s map of the technologies and trends shaping the next 50 years.
It says change is speeding up and that technology once seen as fiction is now real. The practical answer is to plan for shorter cycles. Organisations should also connect their people to the communities and resources they need.
How does Exponential Technologies relate to the keynote?
The keynote title points at the same idea. Our trend data says exponentially improving technologies keep reshaping the economy even as classic chip scaling slows. It carries an Act now rating.
How do Brain to Machine Interfaces relate to the keynote?
University students at the festival were showing breakthroughs in this field. Our data says these interfaces link the brain to a computer. We rate them Watch, with a first product expected in 2025 and wide use around 2045.
How can 311 brief our leadership team on this?
Through a private executive briefing or leadership workshop, tailored to your sector. These are delivered in person first.
Bring this to your leadership teamA private executive briefing or leadership workshop, tailored to your sector. In person first, anywhere in the world.
Analysis by the 311 Strategic Intelligence Unit, from Matthew Griffin’s session and 311 data.
If Matthew gave this session today
Whole industries could soon be disrupted in a day.
The codex explains the forces accelerating global disruption and how close we are to disrupting whole industries in a day, the accelerating pace of change at the heart of this keynote.
