By James Bush, Head of Creative Technology, Dentsu Creative
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As a somewhat SXSW veteran, it felt strange to wake up and commute to Australia’s inaugural SXSW Sydney. Whilst Sydney doesn’t have quite the same “Keep Austin Weird” vibe, it does have good coffee and that is always a good place to start for any day at SXSW.
The first session was probably the highlight of my day, titled Inventions of the Century: From Solar Cells to Spray-On Skin. The session covered three topics that I knew very little about; solar energy, electric vehicles and healthcare, but the discussion was fascinating and deeply informative. From simple facts around electric vehicles out selling the internal combustion engine in 1910, to better neuro plasticity leads to faster healing after injury.
The three topics proved to be a great catalyst for discussion and the panel illustrated the importance of finding your passion, be it an anatomy lab at age 17 – Dr Fiona Wood, to hearing adults say we are going to run out of oil at age 8 – Slava Kozlovskii.
The panellists did a great job of illustrating the importance of investing in innovation and continuous research, because if we don’t, we will have to buy it in and that in turn will end up costing us more. I feel this will be a theme that will be widely shared throughout the week, the discussion will be where that investment should come from, public or private funds.
Artificial Intelligence is, as you might expect, front and centre of most sessions, whether it’s in the title, discussed in depth, or a question from the audience. Refreshingly, it wasn’t all doom and gloom perspectives, although I did feel Amy Webb’s predictions were a little too dystopian but that is the magic of SXSW – hearing new points of view or challenging your own perspectives.
The need to intentionally build ethical AI systems will be another theme that dominates sessions this week, a topic I’m an advocate for, but I am going to try to attend sessions that are a little more left field.
Interestingly, Australia’s mineral resources and the Minerals Council of Australia were actively discussed in 3 of the sessions I attended. This clearly highlights the potential Australia has to lead in the energy space. To quote Robyn Denholm, “The energy transition game is Australia’s to lose.” It also felt like an incredibly strong buy signal for anyone investing in the small cap space, but don’t take this as sound financial advice.
As for tips for anyone attending… The smaller room panels filled up fast, with standing room only for the first two sessions I attended. I’d encourage people to try and get to sessions early if you want to get in, and as any SXSW regular will understand, don’t be shy about leaving a session early if it isn’t for you.
See Also: SXSW Sydney 2023: Mediaweek recaps Monday
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Top Image: James Bush