This is a past event. Registration is closed. View other American Chamber of Commerce, Kenya events.
POST EVENT SUMMARY
The AmCham Innovation Forum hosted Dr. Nicholas Haan, Faculty Chair at Singularity University based in Silicon Valley for a conversation on the mega trends in technology driving dramatic and disruptive innovations with an impact on all aspects of society and business. The conversation focused on opportunities and what it takes to survive and thrive in this era of disruption.
Insights
- Price performance on downward exponential trends and convergence of technology has increased accessibility and affordability of technology, making technologies once thought far off or the reserve of governments and large corporations possible and within reach of the majority. The future is happening faster than we think.
- To stay relevant, businesses will have to develop Exponential Thinking, focusing on transformative solutions with the potential to change entire industries, communities or the planet. Think: What if?Why not?
- To survive, businesses must innovate based on where the technology is going, not where it is right now. Businesses need to ask the right questions, contribute to solutions to existing challenges, think big and think radically.
- At the same time, adaptability and a clear definition of purpose - the why behind the work – is necessary to unify teams and inspire action.
Speaker
Nicholas
Haan
Faculty Chair, Global Grand Challenges, Singularity University
Dr. Nicholas Haan is a Swahili-speaking USA--East Africa hybrid; originally from California and living in Kenya and Tanzania for 30+ years. His expertise cross-cuts technology, innovation, impact, food security, climate change, energy, education, genetics, and information systems. He is a sought after speaker and innovation advisor on exponential technologies to corporations, governments, and startups.
Nick is currently Singularity University’s Faculty Chair of Global Grand Challenges. Until recently he was the Vice President for Impact; and prior to that the Managing Director of the Global Solutions Program (SU’s flagship entrepreneurship program).
Nick was awarded the NASA Earth Systems Science Fellowship and the Edmund Hillary Fellowship for Global Impact leaders. He was Senior Economist/Global Program Manager with the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization. Nick led the creation of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), the global standard for classifying severity of food insecurity, used in over 30 countries world-wide.
Nick currently serves as the Co-Chair of the Advanced Technology and Artificial Intelligence Working Group for a UN led effort to improve food security analysis.
Nick is the co-founder of three startups: Field Ready, C3 Finance (financing for vulnerable communities to build climate change solutions using blockchain and AI), and Kayak Zanzibar & Resort. He is Chief Strategy Officer for Kizo Ventures.
He is an expedition kayaker, and with his kayak partner is the first-ever to paddle the entire lengths of both Lake Victoria and Lake Turkana.
- What are the mega trends in technology and beyond the horizon breakthroughs?
- What will it take to survive and thrive in this era of disruption?
- What are the possibilities to solve global challenges and create a world of abundance?
- What does this mean for leadership in the Digital Exponential Era?
The Digital Exponential Era is upon us. Technologies such as AI, Robotics, Digital Biology, Digital Manufacturing, Sensors, Blockchain, and many more improve their price/performance at accelerating rates and converge to create disruptive innovations. Effectively all aspects of society and business are undergoing dramatic transformations, including sectors of finance, education, healthcare, food, and more. Dr. Nicholas Haan, a Faculty Chair at Singularity University based in Silicon Valley, will present his insights on these questions.
