Artificial Intelligence is regarded as the most powerful transformation to affect business and society since the invention of electricity - and is now in reach of the Board and Executive team.

So how should our business leaders consider the ethical challenges that A.I. presents?

From big data and analytics, to image recognition, voice recognition, emotion recognition and robots, AI is set to be part of our daily lives in new and unexpected ways.

In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast, Shara Evans (Technologist, Futurist, Keynote Speaker and Self-Proclaimed Sci-Fi Geek) discusses her background, how she transitioned from technologist to futurist, and what sparked her interest in the Smart Community space.

What happens when you transplant the DNA of Silicon Valley into financial services firms?

It’s quite a big leap for a traditional HR division.

Are you responding to your customers’ needs as quickly as they’re adopting the technology that’s making your organisation obsolete?

The world of crypto currency is exciting, fast moving, and still a bit risky in terms of valuation, hacking of digital wallets and exchanges or losing your password (and access to your crypto account). In spite of these risks, early products such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and many other digital currencies are currently being used or trialled around the world.

Teaching organisations to look beyond today, and prepare for the emerging technologies of tomorrow.

You never hear job ads looking for people who can effect real change. Sure, there’s the ads seeking “ambitious go-getters”, or the old chestnut: “think outside the box”.

But that’s not really what they’re looking for.

Property on the blockchain? Smart contracts and bitcoin-like management of decentralised property ownership is coming. And that's just the start.

Although consumer demand has driven the widespread adoption of online real estate listings, the mechanisms and processes of real estate have gone largely unchanged for decades - or longer.

That's all starting to change.

Disruptive technology isn't the only threat to the real estate industry. Technology's effect on people is where the most transformative disruption is taking place. Whether it's buyers, sellers or those providing services at every step of the real estate journey, technology is making people more connected, informed, empowered, demanding, impatient, even narcissistic.

Digitisation is reshaping the future of real estate.

Today's mobile interfaces have enabled buyers, sellers, landlords and tenants to make smart decisions in real-time... but that's just the beginning...

In this Future Trendspots video, futurist Anders Sörman-Nilsson gives us a glimpse into the future of real estate.

Flooded with options, where does one start when looking to purchase a property? The number one route is through word of mouth. Clever branding and a stellar experience can create endless strings of valuable leads. A few ingredients which I think would be essential, are:

If you ask a banker what the biggest threat to their industry might be, the answer would likely be "blockchain"... the ominous-sounding technology that powers cryptocurrency and is proving something of a headache for banks trying to innovate their way out of the red tape of the past. 

But that's only half the story...

It seems almost counter-intuitive that big-data could help financial services be more human, could connect them to the emotional needs of their customers. As banks strive to get away from their image as cold, unfeeling entities, the truly future-proof fintech thinkers are looking beyond demographics to solve the problem of a digital entity trying to understand the analog heart.

Worldwide we are seeing how Millennials are reshaping the workplace. In many countries across the world millennials are surpassing GenXers as the largest generation in the workforce. One of the countries where we have seen dramatic changes during the last 10 years is Canada. 

With nearly 50% of the world's workforce to be comprised of Millennials in just a few years, they're a demographic your business can't afford to ignore.

As automation and AI threaten to decimate our workforce, forward-thinking business leaders are looking at ways to maximize the potential of human innovation within the framework of technology. John Sweeney has three actionable tips for businesses looking to innovate in an AI world.

2017 is very different from 2007. Social media, automation, buy-with-a-click, customer engagement, big data and the cloud are just some of the things that have, in just a few years, gone from being incredible to being normal. James O’Loghlin contests that it’s naïve to think the next 10 years won’t bring just as much change.

Are you ready to give up control? The driverless car revolution promises to make our roads safer, reduce emissions and unclog our highways. But who's really in control? Michael McQueen takes a hard look at the future of our roads, and what it means for our autonomy, economy and safety.

Blue sky thinking with your best and brightest isn't always the path to innovation breakthroughs. In this short video clip social futurist Kieran Flanagan explains why.

From Sony to Microsoft, Adidas to Alcoa, and Billabong to Lego, many a brand has lost their mojo at one time or another. Michael McQueen shares key insights on how we can keep the pedal on momentum.From Sony to Microsoft, Adidas to Alcoa, and Billabong to Lego, many a brand has lost their mojo at one time or another.

In this video-clip, futurist Anders Sorman-Nilsson shares some key insights about big data, cyber criminals and the immense value of customer behavior data.

To respond to the ever growing demand amongst my clients, I'm launching my new book Innovation Wars, with the pre-orders starting on May 2nd. After the success of my previous book Mobile Ready, I've chosen to partner with Publishizer to build the support to produce an amazing innovation tool. You can pre-order the book here.

If every aspect of your business isn't 'Frictionless' you will soon lose customers, just like Taxis are losing to Uber.

Peter Sheahan is a best-selling author and internationally recognised thought leader on innovation and behaviour change. His latest research addresses the burning question posed by leading organisations throughout the world. How do you create a company that matters?

In this video, Pete introduces us to his forthcoming book - Matter: Move beyond the competition, create value and become the obvious choice. This game-changing work provides a workable blueprint to find your edge of disruption and become the obvious choice in the hearts and minds of your customers.

Visiting Australia in 2016, Pete is available to speak across the country from February the 11th - 17th.

FinTech expert, innovator, radio host and Amazon best-selling author Brett King highlights tensions between enriching the customer experience and brand versus compliance.

When you drop a pebble in a pond the effect ripples out to the rest of the water, in the events industry the experiences we create are that pebble. It can be easy to forget, between meetings and briefs, that we are in the business of inspiring people - but we are, and it's a huge priviledge to be able to share the effect of these events with you.

Ever had a lightbulb blow and then not replaced it for weeks because getting to Bunnings was such a trek? Or have you run out of bread only to find your corner shop closed? These little annoyances are just part of life...until now.

In this revealing and educational interview with Wired Magazine, globally respected banking innovator Brett King talks banking trends and how he came to create the worlds first downloadable bank.

If they aren't in our hands, or in our pockets, they are under our pillows or infront of our faces.

Screen time - we dedicate more of our life to looking at laptops and phones than we do exercising or hanging out with loved ones and it's becoming a very worrying trend. We now have 12 month olds knowing their way around iPads before they learn to count, and when the sun is out valuable play time is being missed.

In a recent UN/ICAO commissioned survey on the use of signatures in passports, a number of countries including the UK recommended phasing out the long held practice because it was no longer deemed of practical use. More significantly, however, is the emerging trend that has some parents, educators and lawmakers espousing their concern - when asked to sign most kids these days are simply writing their name - the art of the signature may soon be a lost art. A recent report in Gulf News disclosed that this is a global problem with kids in Canada, Tokyo, Hong Kong and elsewhere moving away from written signatures because they live their life through technology, but without the need to sign.

For anyone working in the technology sphere, you will know that your consumers are no longer confining technology to their work lives. People are demanding technological intelligence in every facet of their lives - from data around their workouts to a home that echoes the Jetson lifestyle we all grew up in awe of.

As consumer demands continue to disrupt the status quo, even the IT & technology industries aren't safe from becoming irrelevant. Gen Y's & Gen Z's are their own computer experts and will soon no longer require an 'expert' as they continue to become one themselves. So how does this dynamic industry protect itself & ensure it offers something that no consumer can replicate? Embrace the home!  As commuting becomes a thing of the past - the companies identifying & adapting to this need will truly thrive.

The Big Pivot: Radically practical strategies for a warming world

What has until now been called green business, or sustainability, cannot be a side department or a niche conversation in the technology and IT industry. Instead, we must pivot — sometimes painfully, always purposefully — so that solving the world’s biggest challenges profitably becomes the core pursuit of business.

Brett King is a globally renowned speaker and expert on shifting trends in banking. Technology & IT trends are the two biggest disruptors in finance, and the shifting demands of consumers is ensuring that further evolution in how banks interact with their stakeholders, via websites, apps and wearable tech, is absolutely vital for their survival.

In this blog post, Brett outlines the ways in which banks will need to evolve their IT / technology strategy to ensure they keep their customers engaged.

In 5 Years, 50% of revenue will be digital but where’s the revenue going to come from?

Nike’s recent withdrawal from the fitness band market has raised some significant questions regarding the future direction of wearable technology.

Although the size of the market is predicted to grow exponentially by most industry experts such as Credit Suisse, which predicts the market to increase five-fold to $50 billion by 2017 and wearable technology appears to have already reached a high level of awareness amongst consumers.

If you work in the IT & technology sector you will know first hand the difficulties faced when it comes to communicating.

You have an incredible understanding of such complex products & services that make you the best at what you do. But the problem is, to the average person, the language that you speak might as well be code!

Technology is taking over the world! No this isn’t some doomsday naysayer trying to convince you that your children are robots – it’s simply fact.

Where we once used to put pen to paper, we now put fingers to keyboard or voice to iphone.

We all know the feeling of having a full on workday where we quietly say to ourselves ‘If I have to deal with one more angry customer, broken bone, cup of coffee today I will scream’.

Are banks becoming irrelevant? Are payments going to be invisible? Where is our money going to be held? Brett King examines all of these questions and so much more in his latest book.

Many of the things we take for granted today would have sounded ridiculous when they were first thought of;

• ‘What about a machine that can fly and carry people?’

In a world of constant change, how can we predict whether the role we play at work will continue to exist for years to come? In this thought provoking & no holds barred interview with ABC Radio, disruption analyst Michael McQueen gives us an insight into what industries will shortly become obsolete.

Apple CEO Tim Cook recently said something to a shareholder that you very rarely hear: take a hike. I’m paraphrasing, but only slightly.

At the company’s latest shareholder meeting, a think tank, NCPPR, pushed Apple to stop pursuing environmental initiatives like investing in renewable energy. Cook went on a tirade — or at least what passes for one from the very cool and collected CEO. He made it clear that he makes choices for reasons beyond just the profit motive. As he put it, “If you only want me to make decisions that have a clear ROI, then you should get out of the stock.”

SILICON VALLEY

This name conjures up word and brand associations like high-tech, Facebook and big data. But think about the name in two parts. 

Firstly, silicon - the raw material for most commercial semiconductors, the backbone of the digital world. Next, valley - a physical description of a geological depression with predominant extent in one direction. 

Put the two words together and we have the metonym for the US high-tech industry. This physical, analogue place has been driving digital innovation and the creation of cyberspace for decades. There is a certain irony in this. 

Everywhere you look right now, there are carriers trying to muscle in on the mobile wallet and payments space and rightly so. There are already a plethera of mobile carriers fully engaged in mobile payments right now, from Safaricom in Kenya, Orange (with Barclays) in the UK, the list goes on.

The core problem with credit cards today for consumers is that they are fundamentally designed to encourage spending, in order to generate revenue for card companies and issuing banks. While debit cards are marginally better for consumers on an interest rate perspective, the lack of visibility on spend and overdraft fees means that in the US the average consumer pays $225.00 in fees per year[4] on a debit card/checking account – that includes all those “free” checking accounts, which are anything but!

In an age where daily life is lived at breakneck speed, are we losing the ability to enjoy downtime to our own detriment?

 In the ever-growing world of smartphones and smartphone users, one thing has become fairly clear: We all love our own phone, but we hate yours. A self indulgent view of life amongst mobile & social technologies.

Mobile life has become the norm, but it doesn’t mean we all have equal ideas about it.

There is no doubt that strategies around mobile banking are in the top five priorities for any financial institution. Even with this focus, many bankers have a difficult time making the paradigm shift that is required to build a great mobile banking application.

Technology is evolving and the status quo is being disrupted on a daily basis. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Financial Services sector.

In my short video, I will equip those working in this challenging industry, with the tools to reinvent they way they conduct themselves in business.

Such tools include:

Where you sit on the relevance curve - is your business soon to be obsolete?

How to spot the warning signs that you need to reinvent

How you can innovate to stay ahead of the pack

Through working with some of the biggest brands in the country I have seen first hand, the importance of not only staying abreast of the relevance curve, but of reinvention in keeping your brand competitive.

The topic of Digital Disruption has generated a lot of buzz in the industry because of a couple of key reasons: