Web Summit | Reflections

As I write I’m sitting in a café in Lisbon, a few steps away from a single room apartment I rented for the week. I’m feeling inspired, reflective and energized in equal measures having spent the past four days at a riveting global conference which, until a month ago, I didn’t even know existed.

In recent years Web Summit has become a marquee annual event for the tech sector. In 2016 the Mayor of Lisbon, Fernando Medina, outbid competing cities across Europe to secure a multiyear contract with Web Summit founder Paddy Cosgrave. Lisbon now enjoys exclusive rights to host the event until at least 2028, drawing contributors from around the world in everything from IoT and cloud computing to AI, machine learning, robotics, automation and all things enterprise tech.

Participants include many of the hottest startups and most promising growth companies alongside some of the largest corporations and leading VC/PE investors, as well as senior representatives from influential governments and international organizations. In short, over 70,000 participants from more than 150 countries spent the past week sharing, discussing, challenging and shaping the way forward for digital technology and its impact on major aspects of society including energy, mobility, healthcare, food, waste and finance.

In each of these areas we are within reach of a tipping point. Propelled by the imminent arrival of 5G and large-scale integration of AI, atop decades of transformational advances in computing power, human ingenuity and economies of scale, major paradigm shifts are about to happen. If we think the past decade has been marked by tremendous change, this past week has undeniably shown me we ain’t seen nothing yet. 

5G: harbinger of the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’

We can’t have a serious conversation about digital transformation without acknowledging the importance of 5G. Verizon CEO, Ronan Dunne, offered an electrifying run-down of his company’s ‘8 currencies of 5G’ and the advent of 4IR (Fourth Industrial Revolution); the key attributes that most stood out for me were:

• Throughput: transmission speeds of up to 10Gbps… multiple times the speed of 4G
• Latency: < 10 milliseconds ...key for split second changes in autonomous vehicles, haptics-enabled internet, remote surgery and many other examples, all in real time
• Connected devices: up to 1MM per km2 …internet of all things now a possibility
• Mobility: devices moving at speeds of up to 500km/h remain connected

How we get around is changing fast

Automotive tech was another hot topic. During one panel discussion Teemu Moisala (Futurice) and Alain Visser (Lynk & Co.) shared examples of large-scale disruption already playing out in the automotive sector. In short, our legacy ‘car ownership’ model is being challenged on all fronts by a powerful combination of electrification, competing forms of transport for urban centers, and ride hiring and sharing apps, all delivered via low cost and low hassle subscription models. According to Felix Leuschner (Drover), millennial consumers are generally opting for a flexible and frictionless online customer experience rather than having to purchase, insure and maintain a car.

Sabrina Soussan (CEO, Siemens Mobility) suggested that cars will continue to be an important component of the mobility mix albeit alongside autonomous, connected and shared alternatives. Intelligent infrastructure will provide smart parking, smart lighting and smart traffic management, while first mile and last mile transportation will blossom into a full range of personal choices – and public transport will increasingly develop as the backbone to urban mobility everywhere.

Most technophiles are eagerly anticipating the arrival of autonomous vehicles; 5G will expedite this in fundamental ways. In speaking with AID, the autonomous driving unit of Volkswagen, I learned about the 5 levels of autonomy. We’re currently at level 3, where lane and distance control, short duration autopilot and similar features are already embedded in certain cars. Level 4 will emerge as autonomous driving ‘zones’ come into existence. Level 5 will only come into play when the driverless vehicle will be able to negotiate all situations in any commute, from start to finish, without the need for human involvement. In short, the road ahead is packed with Lidars, Radars, Sensors and computing power, not to mention batteries and charging stations.

AI is ours to own

Artificial intelligence seemed to permeate all discussions at Web Summit and in my view Cassie Kozyrkov, Chief Decision Scientist at Google, recalibrated feelings best by reminding us that AI shouldn’t be feared as it’s developed by humans for humans, adding that the emphasis should be on machine teaching rather than machine learning. In short, a warm reminder that humans run tech.

Guiding principles

A number of speakers wrestled with the sensitive topic of personal data, increasingly caught in the crossfire of competing models. The critical question for me remains the following: is our personal data destined to be a marketable commodity, traded for profit or political gain?

On opening night Ed Snowden live streamed from Moscow his deep concerns in respect of data collection and the notable absence of suitable checks and balances, wrapping up with: “the only way to protect anyone is to protect everyone.” 

On the last day Margrethe Vestager, EU Commissioner for Competition and Digital Policy, offered unwavering commitment to an ethical and principle-led version of the web where our real-world rights and real-world values are protected and transferred into our virtual environments – that said, enforceability will remain our biggest challenge.

Reflecting on an intense week of learning I think it’s time for each of us to sit up and take an active interest in the kind of society we want to live in and what we want our legacy to be for future generations, not only in respect of climate change but also in terms of human rights, democracy, data privacy and the pursuit of happiness in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Web Summit offers a great forum to get in on that discussion.