Spark Announces New Tech Summit To Bring Global Expertise To New Zealand And Showcase Advanced Digital Technologies

Monday, 16 September 2024, 2:22 am
Press Release: Spark

One of Southeast Asia’s groundbreaking female entrepreneurs (as named by Forbes magazine), the co-founder of Siri, and a lecturer from an esteemed New York business school have been named as three of the keynote speakers at a first-of-its-kind technology summit for New Zealand’s C-Suite.

Ayesha Khanna, co-founder and CEO of AI solutions firm Addo, Tom Gruber, co-founder of Siri, and Edmundo Ortega, lecturer at Section, are making their way to Auckland this November to share their global technology and innovation experience with New Zealand’s technology community at Spark Accelerate Summit.

Spread over two days at Auckland’s Viaduct Events Centre, Spark Accelerate Summit is designed to provide Aotearoa’s business leaders with world-class inspiration from global thought leaders and local experts, as well as showcasing the latest digital technologies that will enable innovation and productivity benefits to New Zealand businesses.

Attendees will experience 11 expo stands and six showcases featuring technology, including cloud, AI, IoT and converged technology. From using a drone to find inventory in record time to walking through an obstacle course without activating automated security surveillance, attendees will experience the latest technology in action.

A limited number of complimentary two-day passes are available to the business and technology community.

Spark Customer Director – Enterprise and Government Mark Beder says Spark Accelerate Summit is an initiative born out of Spark’s ambition to accelerate Aotearoa businesses one tech generation forward.

“We released research earlier this year on the state of New Zealand’s productivity, which continues to lag other small advanced economies globally. The key insight from that report was that advanced technologies have a big role to play in moving the productivity dial, and yet uptake in New Zealand is not where it needs to be. To help play a role in changing this we developed a programme of initiatives to help our customers and other New Zealand businesses to better leverage these technologies to improve productivity,” Mark says.

“At Spark Accelerate we will be giving our customers and business leaders access to technology experts from international markets, and through our own tech showcases and breakout sessions we will allow businesses to see for themselves how these technologies – from AI to IoT and converged solutions – can be applied within their businesses.”

Speakers for the Future State keynote series at Spark Accelerate Summit include:

Ayesha Khanna, Co-Founder & CEO, Addo

Dr. Khanna was named one of Southeast Asia's groundbreaking female entrepreneurs by Forbes magazine and is a strategic advisor on artificial intelligence, smart cities, and the metaverse to leading corporations and governments worldwide.

She serves on the boards of NEOM Tonomous, responsible for formulating the vision and delivery of the technology infrastructure for NEOM, the $500 bn smart city under development in Saudi Arabia; the Scientific Advisory Board of L'Oreal, where she advises on new technologies and disruptive innovations; and Mercy, one of the largest healthcare providers in the United States, and advises on how to modernize patient journeys and improve clinical outcomes with data and AI.

Dr. Khanna is the Founder of 21st Century Girls, a charity that delivers free coding and artificial intelligence classes to girls.

Tom Gruber, Co-Founder of Siri

A computer scientist, inventor, and entrepreneur, Gruber is renowned for his work as an AI product developer and designer. He notably co-founded Siri Inc., the intelligent assistant now central to the user experience of all Apple products and served as its CTO and head of design. Today, Siri is used globally more than 25 billion times a month in dozens of languages.

With a career spanning 40 years, Gruber's foundation in artificial intelligence and cognitive science has led to significant contributions in technology and design. Gruber advocates for what he terms "Humanistic AI"—artificial intelligence that augments and collaborates with humans rather than competing with or replacing them. He uses Humanistic AI principles to curate his advisory portfolio, guiding companies and organisations that use AI to augment human capabilities for societal benefit.

Edmundo Ortega, Partner & Product Leader, Machine & Partners

Edmundo uses his 20 years of Silicon Valley experience in product, design, and strategy to help clients understand what's possible and create value in their businesses. He is a partner at Machine & Partners, a strategic consultancy helping organisations get up to speed and into market with AI products that deliver real and relevant value. 

When it comes to integrating AI into workflows and products, their philosophy is going slow to go fast. They help businesses to create potential use cases and assess them for how hard they will be to build, how much value they will create, and how fast you can get them built. Followed by helping to build an MVP without getting bogged down in the development process.

He is also a lecturer on AI at Section, the online US-based business school for the age of AI, founded by NYU Stern Professor Scott Galloway.

Spark Accelerate Summit will be held at Auckland’s Viaduct Events Centre on 12 and 13 November 2024.

To view the full agenda for Spark Accelerate Summit, visit www.spark.co.nz/online/large-business-govt/why-choose-spark/why-spark/accelerate

To register for a pass to Spark Accelerate Summit, visit https://business.spark.co.nz/Register_your_interest_for_Spark_Accelerate

© Scoop Media