I’m at Computers in Libraries 2018 this week. I’ll probably have a couple of posts focused on what I hear this week – so be warned!
The first keynote speaker was Rick Huijbregts, VP, Strategy & Innovation, George Brown College former VP, Digital Transformation & Innovation, Cisco. His talk revolved around fast-moving technology change and how it’s affecting the world. It was a very interesting talk and a great way to start off the conference.
Here are some random things I heard/found interesting:
- Centennials are entering the workforce – born when the web was born (roughly). They have never known a world without it.
- We are in the 4th industrial revolution – cyber physical systems. Foundational digital capacities during this revolution include mobile, video, internet of things, digital networks, security.
- Rick says over 50 billion smart objects will be connected to the internet in a few years. Wow.
- Automotive industry: self-driving technology will affect a lot of businesses, including manufacturing, repair, etc. Transportation – logistics, hotels, airlines, parking garages. Public sector – real estate, healthcare, law enforcement, education. Adjacent – insurance, finance, media, entertainment, energy, retail. I hadn’t thought about it that broadly before.
- Blockchain technology. Radically changing the future of transaction-based industries, including: Digital currencies: e-commerce, global payments, remittance, p2p lending, microfinance. Smart contracts – digital rights, wagers, escrow. Securities – equity, private markets, debt, crowdfunding, derivatives. Record keeping – healthcare, title records, ownership, voting, intellectual property.
- AI – artificial intelligence will create 2.3 million jobs in 2020, while eliminating 1.8 million.
- Cooking – robots doing it. Jason Griffey (sitting by me during the talk) just shared cafe-x with me – a fully robotic barista.
- 42% of workforce is at high risk of being affected by automation in the next 10 years… I think is what he said.
- 85% of the jobs in 2030 have not been invented yet. The Future Institute, 2017.
- Communities – examples include: Dubai – use blockchain to transform citizen services. Washington DC – goal is to be a green city. They are looking at installing sensors everywhere.
The goal of this talk was to share an overview of changes taking place, and helping libraries to embrace those changes and to start thinking about what we do and how we do it in different ways.
Good talk!