CeBIT Australia hosts leading minds in business tech sector

The much-anticipated keynote speaker Eugene Kaspersky, Chairman and CEO of Kaspersky Lab, recognised as the world’s foremost authority on cyber security spoke at CeBIT Australia yesterday about the growing incidence of cybercrime worldwide.

In this new age of cyber-warfare, he expects attacks against large industry systems to increase, the worst-case scenarios including attacks on infrastructure, the power grids and health care services.

“Cybercrime is a huge global problem due to the Internet of things (IoT) and inter-networking of physically connected smart devices. More attacks are growing and crime groups are now working together. Unfortunately, cybercrime business is very profitable costing the world globally AU $600 billion,” said Mr Kaspersky.

Mr Kaspersky co-founded Kaspersky Lab in 1997, the largest privately held end-protection vendor with the most comprehensive anti-virus and internet security worldwide, protecting over 300,000 malicious global attacks daily. He has earned a number of international awards for his technological, scientific and entrepreneurial achievements.

Day one of CeBIT Australia came to a close with CeBIT Black, an invite-only VIP charity event bringing together 450 of Australia’s senior leaders of enterprises and government organisations. Held at Doltone House, Jones Bay Wharf this exclusive event included insightful presentations from Morris Miselowski, business futurist and a closed auction of unique experiences for the official charity, The Smith Family.

Randi Zuckerberg, entrepreneur, investor, author and media personality was the first keynote to kick off day two of CeBIT Australia. Her keynote explored exciting trends impacting businesses today.

Citing her book, Zuckerberg said that things can get ‘dot complicated’ and that with new technology comes great things but also risks.  She urged entrepreneurs to think about the social consequences of new technology, and how we can be responsible about the new ideas and solutions we put out to society. Zuckerberg asks; “Are we creating an upstairs and downstairs work culture with our mobile, on-demand economy? And if so, what are the consequences?”

Nicholas Davis, Head of Society and Innovation, Member of the Executive Committee, World Economic Forum, provided an interesting insight into how human development has been linked with revolutions in how we work and live.

“Human development has increased in terms of income, health and education, and while it isn’t all about technology, it has been a massive advancer in human development,” said Davis.

The impact of Industry 4.0 on how we work has raised many concerns for the workforce of the future. According to a World Economic Forum survey completed in 2015, 35% of the core skills needed in the workforce will change between 2015 and 2020. However, there is a dichotomy of workforce skills needed. We need to be engaged in STEM education, so we can have the understanding of technical. However, we are also doing more complex problem solving, critical thinking, and creative thinking.

The issue remains though, you can get a lot of great jobs if you are good at relating to others, also if you are very technical, but what about everyone else? This is a major challenge for Australia to address.

“A critical skill needed for the future is the one that helps us understand the technology and what the systemic impact of this. What are the outcomes for our children and society. We need to think about the value of development for those who aren’t as privileged,” said Davis.

CeBIT Australia 2017 continues tomorrow for its final day on 25 May 2017 at the International Convention Centre, Sydney.

CeBIT Australia Conference Room:

The Conference Room is located within the Main Foyer, on the ground floor of convention centre, adjacent to Speakers Preparation Centre. Please contact cebit@zadroagency.com.au for more details on CeBIT Australia press conferences.