Vertical Markets

How can industries in a range of vertical segments harness the power of emerging technologies? What will our society do if we double the years of retirement and almost halve the workforce to support it? What does the future hold for industries as diverse as travel, agriculture, water treatment, and property?

Customized Virtual Keynote Speeches and Webinars are available

What will tomorrow’s cities look like? How will emerging technologies such as 3D printing. AI and robotics impact construction methods, precision agriculture and healthcare? What’s the likelihood of people living longer, healthier lives? What role will telecommunications networks play in the world of the 2030’s and beyond?

The Future of Travel — Business and Leisure Travel in 2030

The emergence of the world wide web was a game changer for the travel industry — spawning airline websites with online booking portals, price comparison sites for flights and hotels, social reviews of tours, hotels, and anything travel related.

This is just the beginning. Emerging technologies are set to have an even more profound impact on travel in the future.

Understanding the impact these will have on your business, futurist Shara Evans deep dives further into these emerging technologies and trends that will shape leisure and business travel in the year 2030 and leaving you be better equipped to make informed decisions for your business.

Topics covered include:

  • Augmented reality — Changing the travel experience
  • Virtual reality — Will VR replace physical travel?
  • AI / Digital Avatars – How smart software will impact travel planning
  • Travelling in 2030 — How technology such as smart tags, facial recognition, biometrics, wearables, avatars and self driving cars/taxis will change your travel experience
  • Hotels of the future — A hotel experience in 2030
  • Peer-to-peer accommodation booking — The impact of sites such as Airbnb
  • Next generation travel gadgets (smart glasses/contacts, translators, sensors, implants, drones)
  • Space and underwater tourism — Will these become a mass-market opportunities?
  • What’s next for travel agents?

The Future of Transport

Emerging technologies are set to have a profound impact on travel in the future. Not only are driverless cars on the near-term horizon, but technologies such as flying taxis and space travel that seem straight out of science fiction movies are quickly become a technical reality.

The topics covered in this speech include:

  • Smart cities (a range of technologies impacting transport decisions and infrastructure planning)
  • Travelling in 2030 — How technology such as smart tags, facial recognition, biometrics, wearables – including smart glasses/contacts, digital assistants, augmented reality and self-driving cars/taxis will change your travel experience
  • Next generation vehicles (driverless vehicles, electric vehicles, AI-integration, improved GPS signals, vehicle-to-vehicle networks and lots more)
  • Hyperloop – updates + impact on long distance transport
  • Drones – including flying cars / taxis and highways in the sky (quickly becoming a reality!)
  • Space travel

Connected Users and the World of Tomorrow

Communications networks are the glue that underpins modern life. With rapid changes in emerging technologies, what kind of impact are we likely to see on communications networks? And, what kind of bandwidth will tomorrow’s networks require?

In this keynote speech, Futurist Shara Evans describes how technologies such as augmented and virtual reality, the Internet of Things, ultra-high definition video, smart cities, self-healing cities, driverless cars, drones, artificial intelligence and robots will radically change the business landscape.

During Shara’s speech, she’ll also explore how robots are already being used in the submarine cable industry in a limited fashion, and share her ideas for further robotic submarine applications.

So strap in, and get ready for a ride into the future!

Making Science Fiction Our Reality: Implications for the Legal Profession

There’s an old proverb: “May you live in interesting times.” Some consider this a blessing, and others a period in history filled with tumult and upheaval.

Whichever belief you hold, today’s rapid advances in technology are accelerating at an exponential pace. Technologies such as AI, robots, drones, augmented and virtual reality, as well as 3D printing are already changing the way many businesses operate. Add in the challenges and opportunities affiliated with driverless cars, flying taxis, hyperloops, MedTech innovations, genetic engineering, brain machine interfaces and even space travel – and it’s clear that our near-term future is going to be radically different than the world of today. And, we will be facing cyber security, ethical and privacy issues undreamt of even a few short years ago.

With so many changes to our everyday mode of living and working set for upheaval in the near term, there will be lots of opportunities to enter into new business areas, set regulatory policies, and establish a new class of ethical rules that govern a society driven by automation.

As these new technologies become mainstream many new business opportunities and challenges will unfold.

Add on to this whole new legal areas of space law, genetic engineering governance, AI decision making transparency and smart city data collection standards – and it’s clear that this truly is an exhilarating time to be in the legal profession!

Futurist Shara Evans’ keynote speech will leave you with business ideas that you can implement today, and over the longer term.

APIs: The Nervous System of the Future

A Digital Nervous System is a phrase that’s used to describe a vision for how the IT infrastructure of an enterprise could be analogous to the autonomic nervous system of a biological organism. To leverage the rise of smart devices and big data, you need a purpose-built strategy to drive the value that matters most to your unique enterprise. You also need to keep on top of the ultra-fast pace in which technology is evolving.

In this keynote speech, Futurist Shara Evans will describe how technologies such as augmented and virtual reality, smart cities (and the Internet of Things), driverless cars, drones, artificial intelligence (including speech recognition, image recognition, facial recognition, emotion detection and more!) – not to mention robots – will rely on APIs.

Security, privacy and ethics also needs to be an integral part of the products and services that we build, and it will often be integrated into products via APIs.

There’s also the convergence of technology and medical research – and we may soon meld ourselves in some way, shape or form with machines. APIs will play a big part of this too.

And – we can’t ignore the impact of automation on today’s workforce.

So many people talk about doom and gloom, but in reality there will be many new jobs arising from the technologies we’re rolling out today, and a lot of Shara’s work over the past year has been defining some of these new job roles.

This speech will take you for a ride into the future, so strap in!

Technology Trends: Driving the Businesses of Tomorrow

What will tomorrow’s cities look like? How will emerging technologies such as driverless cars, drones, IoT, AI and robotics impact how cities work? Will cutting edge research into self-healing cities change the way we interact with cities?

In this keynote speech, Futurist Shara Evans will describe how technologies such as augmented and virtual reality, smart cities, the Internet of Things, driverless cars, drones, artificial intelligence and robots will radically change the business landscape.

From big data and analytics, to image recognition, voice recognition, emotion recognition and robots, AI is set to be part of our daily lives in new and unexpected ways. AI is being woven into almost every emerging technology on the near and long-term horizon, and as such is important to understanding your customer’s future needs. In this speech, Shara will share examples of how AI is already being used in many different vertical industries – and arm you with ideas on how to approach your customers with innovative solution proposals.

Technological change is also going to have a massive impact on the job market around the world. Yet, somehow there seems to be a major disconnect between the acceleration of technologies such AI and Robotics, and their impact on the workforce.

Now is the time to strengthen individual and organizational capacities to actively engage in human-machine partnerships.

This speech will empower you with information and insights to leverage technology solutions to create more value for your customers.

Option: With this speech, Shara also offers a lunchtime round table session, where she’ll lay out a wide range of new job categories that will need to be filled, and will start you thinking about the skill sets required for these jobs, as well as providing thought provoking insights and a roadmap for kick-starting the transition process. She’ll also talk about the convergence of medical research and technology – where we’re on the cusp of humans not only living much longer than we do today, but also being enhanced by technology.

The Future of Business – A Glimpse into an Automated World

Is your business ready for the robot uprising? In the very near future, the shape of our existing workforce will undergo rapid, massive change as automation, robotics and AI make repetitive manual work obsolete.

Discover new opportunities for your business by harnessing future technology today. At the same time, realise that only businesses that focus on the creative potential of their human capital, and invest in upskilling and retraining will thrive.

Key takeaways:

  • How to determine if your business is at risk of disruption from automation
  • Look at the major technology trends that your business can embrace today
  • Learn how companies around the world are using tech to innovate for competitive advantage
  • Help your business understand what technologies will impact your business in the next 3-5 years, and beyond
  • Gain practical examples of how you can use technologies such as augmented reality, artificial intelligence and robots in your business today
  • Learn about the many new jobs of the future
  • Understand how technology will impact the future of human society

Will our Future be Digitally Disrupted or Digitally Enhanced?

Despite a barrage of dire predictions, it’s important to recognise that the onslaught of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics has the capacity to add as much good to the human condition as it does to destroy it.

In this engaging keynote session, Futurist Shara Evans takes your audience on a journey into the many ways that life in the future will change, including:

Topics covered include:

  • Life in tomorrow’s cities; examining the many ways that technology will enable smart cities – including the use of sensors, augmented reality, virtual reality, driverless vehicles and robotics.
  • Advances in GPS precision that will enable a wide range of applications including precision feeds from electricity and water treatment SCADA systems — arming tomorrow’s workforce with enhanced information for maintenance activities, autonomous robotic city maintenance and vehicle-to-vehicle communications networks.
  • The use of artificial intelligence techniques ranging from deep learning to advanced image recognition to aid in applications as diverse as facial recognition to water usage forecasting to chatbot-based home loan advisers.
  • The use of robots in many different industries including specialized robots that can inspect water pipes, or go into dangerous areas such as hazardous nuclear impacted zones.
  • Advances in alternative energy sources such as solar, wind power, hydrogen, nuclear fusion and more.
  • The impact of automation on today’s workforce, along with a preview of some of the many new futuristic jobs enabled by technology, such as AI + robot trainers, chief ethics officers, privacy guardians and many more.
  • Insights into the convergence of medical research and technology that have the capacity to change what it means to be human.

The World of 2030: What it will mean for Real Estate Agents and Property Developers

In this keynote speech, futurist Shara Evans takes real estate audiences into the world of the future to show how new technologies will impact property developments, as well as many pragmatic ideas and tools that can be used to drive business today.

But property isn’t just about buildings. It’s about the cities, regional, and rural locations we live in, and the people and communities in these locations.

Shara customises this speech to client briefs, but key topics that can be covered include:

  • Smart cities / IOT / Sensors / Driverless Cars / New Transport modalities
  • AR/VR in real estate
  • 3D Printing of homes / offices
  • Self-repairing cities
  • AI + Robots – pragmatic info on how AI is already being used in many different industries – including the use of Chatbots for sales / marketing
  • Alternative energy sources
  • Future of humanity – including extreme advances in MedTech – genetic engineering – BMI – Robots – and even reversing ageing. Imagine what this will do to the property market!
  • Shara typically includes several Jobs of the Future such as Humans training robots or Smart Home Handyperson in this presentation to give audiences a sense of some of the new job roles that are on the near-term horizon

This speech is designed to arm real estate agents and property developers with tools for today, and the knowledge they will need to navigate the world of tomorrow.

The Changing World of Tomorrow – Technologies Impacting Residential Developments

In this keynote speech, Futurist Shara Evans describes how a range of emerging technologies will radically change the world of tomorrow, and as a result the day-to-day life of people.

What will tomorrow’s cities look like? How will emerging technologies such as driverless cars, hyperloops, drones, AI and robotics impact how cities work – and the amenities that people will look for in residential properties? Will cutting edge research into robotic self-healing cities change the way we interact with cities? How will this fit into the types of property that people will want to live in?

Already technologies such as augmented and virtual reality are being used by the construction industry, and will continue to play an increasingly important role in how we plan and construct residential, commercial, mixed use and industrial properties.

And, there are new technologies such as huge 3D printers and robots already being used in the construction industry. In this speech, Shara shares examples from around the world, and talks about the implications that this has for the future of residential living.

From big data and analytics, to image recognition, voice recognition, emotion detection, robots and cyber security, AI is set to be part of our daily lives in new and unexpected ways. And, technological change is also going to have a massive impact on the job market around the world. Yet, somehow there seems to be a major disconnect between the acceleration of technologies such AI, Robotics, and automation, and their impact on the workforce. But it’s not doom and gloom, there will be lots of new jobs, but they will be different to what many people do today.

During Shara’s speech she shares a few of the new job categories that will need to be filled in the residential construction and maintenance segment, and will start you thinking about the skill sets required for these jobs, along with giving you ideas for some new service opportunities.

She also talks about the convergence of medical research and technology – where we’re on the cusp of humans not only living much longer than we do today, but also being enhanced by technology – along with the Impact on the housing market of people living radically longer lives.

Changes and Possibilities in the Property Market: A Technological Look at the Future

What will our society do if we double the years of retirement and almost halve the workforce to support it? Where will the housing market go with a contraction in the base of local and overseas buyers due to massive job losses? How will our economy react as we move from the mechanised era to the automated era?

Are sports cars a status symbol of the past as automation not only takes over the production of cars but the driving of them?

Leading us through the potential minefield of the future will be Shara Evans, futurist, engineer, social commentator and thought-provoking speaker.

Topics covered include:

  • Smart Cities / Cities of the Future: What will tomorrow’s cities look like? What’s the impact of driverless vehicles and how soon might changes occur? What’s on the horizon for long distant transport? How will drones fit into city life? Will we have flying taxis? If we deploy Hyperloops, what are the ripple effects on property values?
  • Practical examples of how real estate agents can use augmented and virtual reality apps to sell property.
  • What’s the next step in home automation? Will voice activated virtual assistants become home automation hubs? How will we ensure that all of our new smart gadgets are securely integrated into our home networks? And, what kinds of new jobs / occupations are on the horizon to give us help when home automation gadgets have issues?
  • Automation and the impact of AI / Robotics: Around the world leading think tanks are forecasting that 40-50% of employed people will be out of a job within the next 10-15 years if this pans out, how many people will be able to get into the housing market? What kind of accommodation might be feasible if people are earning a ‘living wage’? What happens to the housing market if there is a withdrawal of international money due to automation overseas? What kind of jobs might be displaced, and why both in Australia and overseas? Where are the new jobs of the future? What is the impact of low job growth, lower consumption, and higher welfare?
  • Combining AI with Solar Energy and Smart Buildings: What is the impact of renewable energy sources?
  • Will giant 3D Printers change the way we build and design homes and and offices?
  • The Impact of People Living Longer: Find out about some of the latest technology-based health innovations. In the short term we’ll need more aged care facilities, but eventually people will live longer and still be healthy. What are the flow-on impacts for the property market of people living longer, healthier lives?

A New Era of Precision Agriculture

In this keynote speech, technology Futurist Shara Evans takes the audience on a journey into the world of precision agriculture where sensors, robots, drones and cloud based analytics transform agriculture into a high tech business. There are massive opportunities to leverage these technologies with ubiquitous connectivity platforms to provide Drones-as-a-Service and Robots-as-a-Service coupled with cloud-based advanced analytics.

In this engaging keynote session, Shara shares many examples of cutting edge agricultural robots being developed around the world that are capable of doing everything from on-the-fly soil analysis, autonomous weeding and crop picking, applying pesticides and herbicides (or using lasers to zap pests for organic farming) to herding animals.

Underpinning all of this are continuing advances in communications technologies (satellites, mobile and terrestrial networks), as well as advances in GPS precision that will enable ubiquitous mass-market measurements down to the 3-5 cm level.

Technology has become an indispensable part of doing business for every farmer, rancher, livestock handler, agricultural retailer and agronomist. If you’re involved in the agricultural sector this is a speech that you won’t want to miss.

The Future of Freight Logistics

Leading freight and logistics companies are already harnessing artificial intelligence and machine learning to inform and fine-tune core strategies, such as determining warehouse locations, enhancing real-time decision making related to issues such as availability, costs, inventory, carriers, vehicles and personnel. But this is just the beginning – and the transport and logistics industry is ripe for disruption.

In this keynote speech, technology Futurist Shara Evans explores a wide range of technologies that will impact the future of freight logistics, including:

  • New modes of transport: driverless cars, driverless trucks, flying taxi drones, drone delivery, and hyperloops
  • Requirement for electric vehicle (EV) and autonomous robot infrastructure
  • Sensors: for logistics, traffic infrastructure, and order tracking
  • The Impact of AI on logistics: chatbots, facial recognition, emotion detection, aiding sales and marketing, detecting manufacturing anomalies + much more!
  • Robots:  including exoskeletons to lift heavy items, robots in warehouses, robot delivery bots and giant robots used in autonomous ports
  • The impact of Blockchain on supply chain logistics
  • Warehouse logistics – including the use of augmented reality
  • Space travel: the next frontier for logistics!

Unlocking the Future: Opportunities and Risks for the Telco Sector

Futurist Shara Evans understands only too well the impact that emerging technologies such as advanced wearables, sensors, augmented and virtual reality, and biometrics will have on the Telco Industry.

With the potential to generate massive amounts of data that can be leveraged into real-time context based information, and as our cities and infrastructure comes alive, these applications will consume more and more bandwidth, and generate a range of new business opportunities. The question for you in this session is – will telcos take advantage of these trends by developing new, innovative services? Are there hidden risks for telcos? Don’t be a laggard and get left behind, book in this keynote session now!

Topics covered Include:

Emerging Technologies – wearables, sensors, augmented and virtual reality

  • Biometrics — understanding the latest advances in biometrics and how they can be used to secure networks and customer data
  • The impact of the Internet of Things on Cities: Exploring opportunities to provide network infrastructure for the range of sensors that will be deployed across smart cities, vehicle to vehicle (V2V) communications, drone air traffic control, and real time robot applications
  • Understanding AI and robot-based services that telcos can offer
  • Risk factors — Your reputation is your business, what do telcos need to be aware of?
‘Shara’s an absolute delight to work with! Shara presented a whole lot of new ideas which are going to really impact the property area down the line, in terms of technology but also biotechnology, ageing and a whole bunch of different areas.’
Deborah Upton, Property Funds Association

Looking For a Dynamic Speaker?

Get in touch now to check Shara’s availability to speak at your next event. Shara works closely with her clients to ensure all her presentations are tailored to your event – ensuring maximum impact for your business.

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