My Reflection on Web Summit 2016 (Part 1)
Wow — 53,000 attendees, 600 speakers, and countless ports, wines, conversations and global opportunities in just three days. After being back for a week, I’ve taken this time to reflect on my experience at Web Summit and to share my thoughts.
Biggest Tech Trends Happening Right Now
Web Summit consisted of three jam-packed days filled with some of the world’s most notable technologists and was the quickest way (in my opinion) to get a pulse on what’s happening in tech. After listening to folks like Gary Vaynerchuk, Carl Bass, Harry West and countless other speakers, I noticed a few key themes: Emergence of AI and enterprise digital transformation.
AI will Disrupt our Industries
AI is here and everyone is trying to figure out how it’s going to change their business.
At TribalScale, we initially focused on IoT and its ability to enable seamless user experience — though to date we haven’t really seen that happen. During this past year, we’ve seen the hype around IoT. We’ve seen a ridiculous amount of ‘connected’ products and witnessed the failure to secure devices, which consequently lead to the DDOS attack a month ago that essentially broke the internet.
Well, after leaving Lisbon, I’m starting to think that maybe we’ve been thinking about IoT the wrong way. Don’t get me wrong, IoT is here and has the ability to change the landscape, but it’s not necessarily by connecting all the things around us.
AI + IoT = Software of the Future
Carl Bass, President of Autodesk, told us how his company is actually using IoT and AI together to make generative design possible. Have you ever heard of generative design? You’re not alone. Essentially, Autodesk is exploring a design world where the huge amounts of data collected through IoT devices, coupled with AI that understands a particular problem, can actually enable computers to generate designs. At Autodesk, they connected all kinds of sensors to a race car frame, drove the car around the track to collect stress and strain data on the frame, and then integrated that into their software. By leveraging IoT technology, all that data enabled AI to design the optimal chassis for that particular car and race — almost zero humans involved!
IoT devices allow us to collect huge amounts of any type of data and AI allows us to enable a computer to make decisions based on a set of constraints; together this means the software of the future will be replacing a lot of the work that people are doing today. This sounds scary at first, but really this allows us to move higher up the value chain and creativity will be the most valuable skill.
Stay tuned for part 2 as I continue to discuss my thoughts on Web Summit 2016: Digital transformation in enterprises and the growth of tech beyond the Valley.
Mitch Seguin has immense Product Management experience through working at Xtreme Labs, a Toronto based Mobile development company. He’s touched projects across iOS, Android, BlackBerry, and server side work. While at Xtreme, which became Pivotal Software through acquisition, he grew into enterprise level roles working with the likes of Carnival Cruises, Under Armour and Capital One. As Director of Product for TribalScale, Mitch has returned to his roots, helping to manage projects for companies big and small to create the ultimate in world class Mobile and Connected Experiences.
