The prestigious Singularity University conference was held for the second time in the Žofín Palace in Prague. More than twenty experts from a wide variety of disciplines took turns giving speeches during the two days. Speakers from all over the world shared their experience, observations and insights into the world of tomorrow. The entire conference, with Deloitte as its partner this year as well, was hosted by moderator Daniel Stach.

One of the first speakers at the summit was Amin Toufani, Chief Financial Officer of T-Labs, who talked about the topic of exponential economics, or “exonomics”. The main problem according to Toufani is the unpreparedness of companies for technological innovations and business models of the future. Surprisingly, however, companies are aware of these shortcomings – according to the survey, 92% of them think their current business model will not hold out in the future. If they want to avert this future, companies should prepare, for example, for the expansion of nanoeconomics, Toufani advised.

The future of transport and cellular agriculture

Exponential future and technological innovations are an inevitable part of most areas of human activity. Ways to deal with them properly were presented in the lecture of Carlo Van de Weijer, a mobility expert from the Eindhoven University of Technology. According to him, fully autonomous vehicles or drone transport are essentially just a matter of time. However, companies should already start preparing for such a future now.

4 tips for surviving exponential future

• Do not be afraid of demonetization.
• If you cannot predict the future, be prepared to go beyond the limits (because you will not find any innovations in the comfort zone) and keep a little chaos (which will enable faster changes).
• Respect your needs, follow Maslow’s pyramid.
• Shift your attention from quantity to quality.

Great expectations are also connected to technological advances in the medical field. Biotechnological innovations will open an infinite number of new possibilities – liquid biopsy that reveals a range of diseases simply through a blood test, gene programming that will make people resistant to some diseases before they are even born, or cellular agriculture that will provide food for the ever growing population of the Earth. These prospects were presented at the conference by Raymond McCauley, a Silicon Valley scientist and Chair of Biotechnology at Singularity University.

Iron Man in Žofín

In order to cope with the demands of a technological future, we have to start getting ready from childhood. The issue of child-rearing in modern times and access to education was addressed twice at the summit by Taddy Blecher, a South African education specialist. According to him, parents should provide their children primarily with love and discipline, both in an equal and appropriate amount: “If a child has a warm relationship with their mother, they will achieve greater success later in life,” Blecher said.

But there were not just theoretical debates, the organisers also prepared a practical demonstration of future technology for the conference visitors in addition to a number of lectures. British inventor Richard Browning, also known as the real-life Iron Man, flew over the Vltava river from the Slovanský Island to the Legion Bridge and back in his special suit equipped with small jet engines. The event was a success with the audience composed of the summit visitors as well as random passers-by.

Are you interested in the topics discussed at Singularity University? Do you want to read more about technological and digital innovation prospects? Take a look at our articles with the Singularity University tag and get to know the visionary perspectives of the future.