InsurTech, AI and Tech Conferences That I Look Forward to Going to (Again!)

As the Chief Scientist at AIG, my role involves leading a global team that develops AI-first products for Insurance and Investments arms of the company; we create apps and services that are designed to employ Machine Learning to inform and assist users. We also carry out R&D in Machine Learning, and attempt to create synergy with AI-related innovations in the broader DeepTech world, when possible. Given the fast pace at which these fields are developing, I find attending conferences invaluable.

Conferences can be one of the most effective ways to network with the broader community of experts. You get to know about new ways of doing things by learning from others' experiences and expertise; share ideas and gather feedback (fast); and discover emerging trends. A great conference also translates to a great experience (and fun). It provides an opportunity for attendees to learn in a new environment and be inspired by things they do not have access to in their usual business settings. Being immersed in the experience means you can learn so much more than what you would reading a few blog posts.

I’ve decided to share some of the greatest conferences* (from 2017) that I look forward to going to again this year. They fall within three main themes: InsurTech, AI, and Tech Innovation / Thought Leadership. All had the qualities that I wanted to see in a conference, to perfection: they provided a unique mix of networking, learning, and fun (and helped their attendees grow and challenge themselves).

InsurTech

It is an evolving landscape; many conferences are born every year, and a few have been out there for more than a couple of years. I really enjoyed attending and speaking at DIA and ITC, in Europe and America, respectively. They both have thousands of attendees, strong presence of both startups and incumbent executives, an excellent selection of speakers and topics, great venues, and thoughtful design of the program. In my opinion, this makes them the two best InsurTech conferences, and an ideal place for networking and inspiring conversations.

AI

NIPS and ICML stay atop academia-led AI conferences — many great workshops, tutorials, attendees and research findings, all in one place. Furthermore, these conference grew exponentially in terms of the number of attendees (with a strong commercial presence next to academia), which shows their importance in the Machine Learning community. If you’re going to be there, come and visit our booth. 

In addition to academic AI conferences, there are two industry-led conferences that I enjoyed attending and speaking at: AI Summit and CogX. They’ve both done a great job at bringing thousands of AI enthusiasts together, from academia, startups, and large companies.  In addition to these major conferences, Transform AI and ReWork events have also been doing an amazing job in bringing a smaller group of experts together over a series of global events.

Tech Innovation / Thought Leadership

This is probably the broadest conference theme — I'm sure that there are plenty of amazing conferences in this theme that I didn’t have a chance to go to. However, among the ones I attended, Wired and Disrupt stand out. Wired brought together some of the most amazing people — from young enthusiasts and entrepreneurs to seasoned professors, executives and politicians (not to mention the real-life Iron Man) — that challenge the status quo and push the society forward. Disrupt, on the other hand, was great for meeting those who are making innovative ideas happen; the biggest number of startups imaginable in one place, each introducing a new way of doing things. 

I would also like to mention the great work H-FARM has been doing in this area, with great events such as Kinnernet and their maize magazine.

* A few important notes:

• Every conference I attended / spoke at was full of learning and exciting conversations, and them not being in my list is not a criticism of the great work they are doing
• My viewpoint here can be EMEA-centric, and hence might not mention the amazing events happening in Asia and the US
• This is a personal opinion and does not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of AIG or the University of Oxford
• If you are going to be at any of these events (or want to recommend additional ones), let me know.