The event started with a really great keynote from Mark Stevenson, Author, Speaker, Ideas Generator and Futurist. Thought provoking and poignant. He reminded us that “Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away” [Philip K. Dick, in “How To Build A Universe That Doesn’t Fall Apart Two Days Later” (1978)] and then went on to give us earth shattering fact after earth shattering fact. If you’d like to know what they were – book him as speaker – seriously I recommend it. I will tell you (as it is free and public knowledge) that his exposé on the price of solar energy was both startling and game changing and don’t get him started on genome sequencing (actual do it will be a valuable and interesting conversation). We are still an energy economy globally – yet if you do the maths solar will be so cheap and efficient in under 30 years we can all be self sufficient in energy. When you start to think about the repercussions of this – you start to understand the impact of the direction that your thoughts take after hearing Mark. It’s not magic it’s common sense, but some how we get anchored and blinkered and it takes someone else to point out the obvious. The future is coming whether you want it to or not.
Beyond that I strongly recommend the following subject matter experts on identity, KYC and payments:
Dr Thaer Sabri, Chief Executive, Electronic Money Association
Paul Simmonds, CEO, The Global Identity Foundation; Co-founder & Board member, Jericho Forum
Peter Sidenius, Director, Edgar Dunn & Company
John Burns, Senior Manager, Compliance Advisory, Transaction Banking, Lloyds Banking Group
Gary Munro, Senior Consultant, Consult Hyperion
I am certain the rest of the speakers were excellent – sadly I had to leave just before lunch. Consult Hyperion (CHYP) are always excellent. Usually it’s Dave Birch I bump into everywhere – but Gary was equally as good with deep insight into the whole arena of authentication.
Nuff said. Top event by Events Creation Network LLP . Roll on the next one!