Reuters MOMENTUM

In so many areas, COVID has accelerated trends that have been underway for some time. As we adapt to new forms of interacting in our day to day lives – everything from how we work and how we learn to how we connect with each other - we are increasingly reliant on access to innovative technologies. Indeed, the pandemic has underscored just how important it is to be included in the digital economy – to connect with your colleagues, to get support from your government, to allow your small business to survive, to simply live and interact every day.

So, how do we ensure that the innovative technologies that make all this possible? Right now, about one in five people worldwide don’t have access to basic financial services. That makes it difficult for them to start new businesses, build up savings or send money to family. We need make sure that the accelerated shift to digital payments creates a digital bridge, not bolster a divide. In this session, Mike Froman will address building an inclusive, sustainable digital economy with a focus on innovation, insights and trusted partnerships that ensure people can reach their potential, economic growth is inclusive and the planet can thrive.

Technology has the potential to transform our urban areas into smart, sustainable and equitable spaces that enhance the lives of their growing populations. This panel will examine how various aspects of a city ranging from access to goods, services, mobility and energy can become smart through technology.

AI projects are often expensive, risky, and complex, with many failing to achieve a sustainable impact. To help mitigate and overcome these challenges AI can be used to augment rather than automate human work. Combining human talent with AI Augmented Intelligence reduces the costs and risks associated, accelerating and deepening its impact. Topics to be discussed, include:

• The challenges to achieving a sustainable difference with AI
• Discover the concept of Augmented Intelligence, and hear real-world examples of how EY is leveraging this tool on a number of projects
• Learn how Augmented Intelligence, combined with Expertise Capture, provides an evolutionary path to create efficiencies at scale and improve the employee experience

Tech leaders at the forefront of innovation have a pressing responsibility to ensure that technological innovation improves the lives of everyone living on this planet, not just a privileged few. This panel gathers a selection of experts to discuss the intentional design, development and use of digital technologies to help us achieve our collective vision of building a more equitable society.

Financial services is an industry which is ripe for leveraging technology as a competitive advantage. Organizations able to provide faster, more secure, and customer-centric financial services through technological innovation will thrive. This panel gathers a range of expertise across financial technology and operations to discuss how technology is transforming this highly regulated industry.

Saul will share how disruptive technologies are being tested and applied at scale to transform employee and customer experiences in financial services.

The tech sector spawns the most innovative, disruptive and successful companies in the world, but entrepreneurs must have big visions and be able to execute high growth plans. This diverse panel will reveal the high-quality business training and networking required for startups to successfully navigate the technology investment landscape.

Sustainable food production can be a viable reality globally, even in the harshest of climates. Technology development is reducing the environmental footprint of modern agriculture and changing the course of global food security. Discover the primary forces driving innovation in AgTech today and explore the key pillars for long-term sustainability in the food sector.

• What are the primary forces driving innovation in AgTech today?
• How can the food sector contribute to circular economies? 
• What are the key pillars to achieving long-term sustainability for global food security?

Technology has the potential to help humanity produce enough food for our planet’s population, support the restoration of our eco-system and facilitate regenerative agriculture. This panel gathers experts across food and agriculture to examine how we can shift to a circular business for a healthier planet and population.

• How can governments and companies work together to realize the travel recovery?
• What is the timeline for the global travel recovery?
• What is the future of travel?

The impact of the pandemic on the travel industry has been unprecedented. While travel has begun to rebound in certain parts of the world, the uncertainty of the virus continues to impact travel recovery - affecting millions of people around the world. Eventually, the pandemic will end, but COVID will likely remain a part of our reality indefinitely. In this conversation, Booking Holdings' CEO Glenn Fogel will discuss the role technology has played in the travel recovery, and the role it will continue to play as COVID becomes more and more a part of our daily realities in the future.

• How did the pandemic transform the travel industry?
• What role has and will technology play in the recovery of travel?
• What role does technology have in ensuring vaccines are equitably distributed around the world, and not just to tourist hubs?

Companies across a wide range of industries are gathering exponentially increasing volumes of data but only a small fraction of this data is being analyzed to yield insights which transform into actionable insights to drive business decisions. This panel will discuss how data analytics can help businesses optimize their performance to drive growth and efficiency.

• Investing in the accessibility of sport is important to the health of this world and RISE and Strava are at the center of that investment
• Tech can be leveraged to create greater equity and sustainability in society
• The key to whether tech playing a role in sustainability and equity within society is based on who we give agency to

It is the responsibility of today’s tech leaders to cultivate the tech talent of tomorrow, but underrepresented groups including women and girls are still being left out of the fastest-growing and highest-paying jobs in the tech revolution. Education and training is key to levelling the playing field. This panel will delve into interventions from tech leaders, entrepreneurs and NGOs who are working to close the connectivity gap by creating scalable, sustainable platforms and jobs for the youth and women in society.

Artificial Intelligence is a commonly misunderstood yet hugely powerful technology which will transform our lives in the near future. It is crucial that the stories we tell ourselves and others about AI, as well as the strategies organizations implement to leverage this technology, are transparent, ethical and serve wider society. This panel will gather a range of experts to discuss how algorithmic decision-making systems can be used in a safe, sustainable and ethical way.

We have been discussing consumer behavior shifting to online for a long time, but nothing prepared us for the almost overnight shift that took place due to the pandemic. Now that everyone is online, the solutions and services needed to replicate and improve on familiar offline experiences need to match customer expectations, as well as elevate that experience with tools that can empower consumers and merchants alike. The future is a seamless experience that caters to users’ needs and wants in the right medium and at the right time.

• Why did you launch a buy-now-pay-later solution for the region in 2020?
• How can merchants improve their use of technology to optimize their customer experiences throughout the journey from exploration to repeat sales?
• What new opportunities are there to elevate financial wellbeing for consumers through technology that was not possible in the 5 years?

The future of sustainable farming is here. Controlled-environment agriculture (CEA)is set to serve the underserved billions who have historically heavily relied on imports from other markets for 70%+ of their food needs. With fast-growing populations, growing middle classes, and climate change threatening traditional food production methods, the import-dependent, climate-challenged countries are exposed to potential future food shortages. CEA has a role to deliver these nations true and tangible food security, to conserve fresh water, to diversify their economies (often natural resource-driven wealth engines), and to offer more sustainable, higher-quality, safer, and tastier fruits and vegetables.

• Discover how innovations in both technology and capital markets have made possible agriculture solutions that make economic food production possible virtually anywhere.
• Identify the fundamental drivers that influence the competitiveness of CEA farming methods versus more traditional farming methods, and how will this change with time?
• Uncover what can versus should be produced in CEA solutions in each region of the world, and what opportunities does this present to both investors and entrepreneurs

• Democratizing access to radio and how TuneIn is keeping people connected in a digital world
• How technologically-driven processes are changing the world for the better 
• The future of emerging technologies in streaming media
• The golden age of radio: Delve into ways a digital audio streaming strategy can be incorporated into all radio offerings to achieve growth and ubiquity in a global marketplace
• The future of the audio streaming space and how Covid-19 is changing the game for content creators

• Learnings during the most challenging year the travel industry has faced
• What it means to be traveler-first and the role of meta in building trust and confidence as the world returns to travel 
• The new travel experience, how Skyscanner is organizing ‘should know’ to ‘must know’ information