You now have less than a month to prepare for the SingularityU Portugal Summit Cascais. In the meanwhile, Ricardo Marvão, the head of SingularityU Portugal, tells us about the hows and the whats.
How did the idea of bringing the Singularity University concept to Portugal come about?
We started the conversation with Singularity mostly because we wanted to launch a chapter in Portugal. For that, the first step they told us to take was to understand what kind of organization we would be. And for that, the best option was to hold a summit: one event where we can show that we know how to gather a community, fundraise and logistically organize a big event.
The main driver was creating an event that showcases everything that is best about Singularity: a place where you can organize your thoughts on future technologies and how those technologies will impact your country, your city, your sector, your business, your company.
This event is organized for corporations and leaders that want to better understand the path to the future for their organizations, through a summit that showcases many technologies and how they are already impacting on some areas. This ensures participants know just how they can be used to leverage innovation.
Why is it important for Portugal participate in the SingularityU movement?
I think Portugal has always been one of these countries that wants to be in the forefront of whatever is happening and that is also why we wanted to join this movement.
Portugal is a small country but still always looking at the future and what it might bring. The Portuguese themselves are early adopters of technology and want to experience things very early on. It is in our DNA. I think Portugal has always been one of these countries that wants to be in the forefront of whatever is happening and that is also why we wanted to join this movement.
For us, this event to happening in Portugal is very important because we are at this phase when there is a lot of discussion about technology and its human side. Hence, we really want to embrace both sides. We not only want to showcase technologies but also the human side of them.
Do you consider the Portuguese business ecosystem is already aware of the questions around exponential technology and its impacts?
Before we started planning the summit, we went to a hundred companies and it was amazing to find that people were already familiar with Singularity. We discovered that there is this will in workers who want to impact their business, who look towards future technology and, at the c-level, who have already understood that need and want to impact on the rest of the organization.
There is an appetite right now for looking at future technologies and seeing how they will impact business and society in general. We are in a world that is moving faster, and faster and Portuguese organizations are already feeling that they need to keep up and be actively studying these technologies and how they might disrupt their business so as to better prepare for the future. We found that they want to anticipate before being disrupted.
For those who are not aware, why is it so important to discuss these topics?
If you start late in the game or you are in denial and you don’t want to understand what is happening, then you might as well throw the towel in and just wait until something does disrupt you.
There are a lot of people who believe that the world is changing at the same pace it was 50 years ago but there are also a lot of people who are in denial, who think they know their business very well and they have been doing it for a hundred years and nobody does it better than them. Those are the people that think that competition comes from the front, instead of from the sides.
However, there is then a competitor that arrives and takes 2% of their business and then 3% and then 5%. And there are many others, some coming from the right, others coming from the left, and suddenly they have lost 20% of their business and actually don’t really know quite how. So, only then do they start looking at the market and see what is happening. By the time comes when they can really engage and start preparing for that change, they have lost maybe 40% of their business. By then, they are not number one anymore.
In big corporations, it takes time to react and to engage. If you start late in the game or you are in denial and you don’t want to understand what is happening, then you might as well throw the towel in and just wait until something does disrupt you.
And for the companies that wish to embark on this process, what will they find in SingularityU?
The Summit will provide you with a breadth of knowledge and a good sense of what is happening. Sometimes, it’s really the areas that you had never thought would have an impact on your business are the very ones you have to become most aware about.
There is just under one month left until SingularityU Portugal Summit Cascais. What can we expect?
In the end, we want to bring a more hands-on approach to how the future looks like and how these technologies are going to impact.
You can expect a two-day event with around 700 c-level or first line executives. We also want to ensure a diverse and inclusive event so we are gathering designers, entrepreneurs, students and creatives. We expect to have 25 speakers from different nationalities and backgrounds who will speak about different technologies and sectors — from artificial intelligence to neuroscience and astrobiology to corporate innovation and the financial sector.
We are also working very hard on the summit experience. How can you go to an event that is not just a one-way street, where you sit down and listen and then have a break before listening some more and then you have lunch and you listen and you have a break? It must be an experience in which you can actively engage.
This is why we will have three types of stages: one for the main topics, one for deep dives into certain specific technologies and sectors and another hosting workshops for attendees seeking to explore a technology or incorporate something for a project that they might now be trying to do.
In the end, we want to bring a more hands-on approach to how the future looks like and how these technologies are going to impact.
