wbj - Inside Trends – The most important conference in the CEE region

The international Business Insider INSIDE TRENDS conference devoted to trends that will shape the markets of the future in the following areas: FinTech, Business 4.0 and LifeScience, was held on 18 and 19 October. 80 speakers from all over the world and approximately 1,400 participants attended talks and workshops during which we found out how the banking sector, the world of finance, the industry and human life will change as a result of the implementation of new technologies.

 The event was held at the Centrum Praskie Koneser in Warsaw. The organiser of the conference was Business Insider Polska.

 Among the 80 speakers invited were key business people from the industry who are experts in FinTech, life sciences and digital business. Apart from talks and presentations, the attendees of INSIDE TRENDS could also attend workshops and debates with the speakers. The event was held simultaneously on three stages. The first stage was devoted to topics related to FinTech, the second to Life Science, and the third to Business 4.0.

One of the outstanding experts in their fields invited to speak at the conference was Kevin Mitnick, the world’s most famous hacker, who opened the second day of INSIDE TRENDS with his presentation on security principles in companies. A day earlier, on the first day of the conference, Lars Silberbauer gave a talk entitled “Building digital value brick by brick” and on the example of LEGO blocks he discussed how the brand he works for became the most popular brand on Youtube worldwide.

“These were two days packed with knowledge and networking with people who actually have an impact on how the world is changing. We got what is usually missing from many conferences of this kind, namely practical knowledge and a recipe for success in business. We had both at INSIDE TRENDS. This and lots of emotions and networking which permitted many of our attendees to establish business relations that will benefit their businesses in the future”, says Łukasz Grass, Editor in Chief of Business Insider Polska. “Our speakers were not just talking theory but demonstrated, based on their own experience, how the revolution and evolution is unveiling in many areas i.e. banking and more generally financial services, transport and industry. One of the highlights of the conference was the LifeScience stage where we managed to combine emotions and science. I was convinced early on that INSIDE TRENDS would be one of the biggest such events in the CEE region where many valuable statements and insights would be made. During the conference, I realized that the amount and quality of information passed on to attendees by the speakers made it the number one business event of the season. I think most businesses and persons who attended INSIDE TRENDS would agree with the statement made by Michela Magas that the job of contemporary companies is not forecasting the future but designing and making it”, says Business Insider Editor in Chief.

“We are extremely proud of how popular the conference was – we welcomed over 1,400 attendees! We can officially announce that the second Inside Trends conference will be held next year”, said Martyna Majchrzak, Group Digital Publishing Manager at Ringier Axel Springer Polska.

One of the speakers of the Life Science stage was Michela Magas, founder and creative director of Music Tech Fest who proved that disability does not limit people from becoming experts in their fields. Jonathan Carrier of Aeromobil gave a talk entitled “The Future Mobility” where he discussed flying cars and the means of transport to be used by humanity in the future. Anja Rubik, well-known top model and social activist, showed that owing to her popularity she can do great things and educate the young people of today. Another speaker was Kristina Tsvetanova, the founder of BITLAB. Her company created the first ever tablet for blind and sight impaired people.

The Business 4.0 stage attendees could take part in a debate of the heads of the Digital Switzerland, Digital Poland and Digital Serbia foundations, namely Marc Walder, Aleksander Kutela and Nebojš Djurdjevic who talked about the economic race between the US, China and Europe. Toni Cheng of Alibaba Cloud DAH, discussed the impact of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence on the growth of the Alibaba platform. Speakers in the Business 4.0 section included Andreas Gall, head of innovation at Red Bull and Felix Oberholzer-Gee from Harvard Business School.

One of the FinTech stage speakers was Karol Sadaj, Country Manager Revolut for Poland who talked about the impact of fintech on the traditional banking sector. Michał Protasiuk of Google discussed the shopping processes in the e-commerce industry, while Arkadiusz Wójcik of Samsung talked about the role of an open ecosystem in business mobile solutions.

 8 key take-aways from the Business Inider INSIDE TRENDS conference

 Leaders who want to succeed ought to be inspired by and combine many different sectors at the same time. They also need to trust their teams. Mark Dekan, Ringier Axel Springer Polska CEO said that without the latter, no effective relationship can be established with the employees and the surrounding environment.

1. Social media are no longer just an addition to the marketing strategy of a business. Via the use of blockchain and BIG DATA, they become their driving wheel. This is what made LEGO a giant in the social media, as explained by Lars Silberbauer.
2. In the age of such rapid technological advancement we cannot just look up to Western benchmarks (the UK or the USA). One of the fastest developing markets in the field of IoT and AI is China. In 2000, 95% of the largest companies in the world were based in the USA and the EU. According to estimates, in 2025, the Chinese market will be larger that the combined markets of the USA and the EU. Marc Walder, Aleksander Kutela and Nebojš Djurdjevic pointed out that Europe needs to join the technological race which is currently dominated by the Americans and the Chinese.
3. More and more industries, such as financial services or medicine, is using AI tools. Robots are already handling diagnostic tests and, as was stressed by Felix Oberholzer-Gee of the Harvard Business School, every year more and more work that used to be performed by humans is being taken over by machines. This does not translate into a loss of jobs but causes new positions to be created in new areas of business.
4. Fintechs will not replace traditional banks altogether, but the latter will have to change the way they reach their customers and begin to cooperate more closely with online financial platforms.
5. The 4th Industrial Revolution is here. This means that we can obtain knowledge and experience in a single service. This product is created by IoT or AI. The 4th Revolution consists in digital representation (digital twin). Aleksander Poniewierski of EY said that to understand the 4th Revolution, we need to interpret correctly the motivation of Generation Z. The question we need to answer is – what makes them create and act?
6. We are more and more prone to cybercrimes. The security of companies ought to be one of management priorities. However, as Kevin Mitnick put it, the greatest threat does not come from technology but the people in an organisation. This is why the right company training policy is of essence.
7. Contemporary medicine, owing to the use of advanced technologies, offers people with disabilities or suffering from various ailments the opportunity to function normally. Devices like nanorobots destroying cancer cells, prosthetics with nerves are now being made, and people with paralysis resulting from strokes can start walking again owing to the right stimulation of the brain.

 About the Business Insider INSIDE TRENDS conference

Business Insider INSIDE TRENDS is a platform for discussion of global market trends. During the event, world-class experts talked about the transformation of the modern financial market, of the media, new technologies, medicine and health and the hottest topics to surface in the business world in the upcoming years. INSIDE TRENDS is one of the most prominent events devoted to business trends in the Central and Eastern Europe region. The Business Insider INSIDE TRENDS conference was attended by nearly 1,400 invitees from the world of business, marketing, science and media who could meet in one place and share their expertise and experience.

Source: wbj