Tech of Tomorrow: How innovative techs can be used in practice

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Staying on top of the latest tech and what it can do for your business can feel like an impossible task, especially when there are so many events to choose from. I’ve always got my eye out for tech events to cover for CoinGeek, especially from a perspective of helping startups, entrepreneurs, and businesses get comfortable with how they can harness blockchain and other future technology.

As I was browsing LinkedIn a few weeks back, this one video post on Tech of Tomorrow caught my attention:

Having met Dr. Agata Slater in person several times and following her work ever since, I’m confident this Tech of Tomorrow conference will be special. Dr. Slater serves as the event’s program director and co-founder, while her partner, Marcin Rzetecki, is the CEO and co-founder, a professional in the blockchain space. I have also had the pleasure of meeting with her several times.

According to Dr. Slater, the two primary goals for this event include accelerating innovation in Poland and the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) region in general and showcasing the innovation at the intersection of blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT).

“These technologies are the driving forces of economies of things—where devices are capable of acting autonomously on behalf of their owners and exchange economic (or other) value. We want to highlight what role blockchain, AI and the IoT technologies play in the process of building these new digital economies and what prerequisites and considerations must be in place for economies of things to accelerate,” she said.

I’m delighted to be attending this event from March 19-20 on behalf of CoinGeek and wanted to encourage our readers to attend as well, especially those focused on the CEE region. In addition to producing CoinGeek video coverage throughout the two days, I’ll be moderating one of the event’s few panels, “Securing the Future: Enhancing Data Integrity, Security, and Transparency in the Age of Blockchain, AI, and IoT Innovation,” featuring four bright minds in the future tech space, you won’t want to miss it!

To give you even more reasons to consider joining us, I spoke with Dr. Slater so she could provide specific details on what to expect across the two days.

Becky Liggero: Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview, Agata! We all know there are many, many “future tech” events these days…what are some common frustrations with tech events, and how will Tech of Tomorrow endeavour to circumvent these frustrations?

Dr. Agata Slater: Over the years, many tech conferences have become somewhat overly “theoretical.” It is not uncommon for tech events to feature predominantly panel discussions, where technology solutions are merely talked about. While we don’t deny that these sessions can be inspirational and informative, we’ve been missing a more hands-on format for such events. We’ve been craving an event where tech solutions can be practically demonstrated, for example, as a demo or a walkthrough etc., and where speakers can practically showcase how a given piece of technology can be used to solve a business problem.

Dr. Agata Slater: We wanted to create an informative but also entertaining and “rich” business event, which is why we have designed a number of interesting side events for our attendees to join. Immediately following the conference, there’s the Hack of Tomorrow hackathon, where teams can get their hands dirty building solutions that combine blockchain, AI, and IoT technologies. Our main sponsor of the hackathon is the Fetch.ai Foundation, comprising companies such as Gameswift, Chain4Energy, BOSCH and Fetch.ai. The Foundation will work together with the hacking teams to implement decentralized AI agents to solve particular business challenges. This will be a fantastic opportunity to try out existing AI agent frameworks, and build decentralized multiagent systems in a business context.

We are also bringing visual delight to our attendees. As part of the Tech of Tomorrow conference, the attendees can join an NFT gallery. This is a dedicated, beautifully setup space within the conference grounds where attendees can view digital and physical art. This space will not only entertain our attendees visually, but will also educate them on the value that blockchain technology brings to art today.

During Tech of Tomorrow, we will provide a dedicated conference application where attendees can find more information about our side events and how they can get involved. In general, though, most ticket options grant participants access to all of our side events. 

Becky Liggero: What is the Innovators of Tomorrow program, and what involvement will they have at Tech of Tomorrow?

Dr. Agata Slater: Innovators of Tomorrow is a program coordinated by The Polish Blockchain Association that is dedicated to secondary school students. The goal of the project is to inspire young people to enter the world of technology and equip them with the necessary foundation knowledge to give them a head start in the realm of business and tech, but also to bust some myths that often prevent young people from entering the tech space. For example, we wanted to encourage the youth with diverse interests and talents to get involved, and this way, we bust a myth that only people with STEM abilities are a good fit for the field of technological innovation.

The Innovators of Tomorrow program ran between February and June 2024 and included a series of lessons delivered to students by business representatives. We collaborated with some of the biggest companies, including i.e. Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), Tauron Group (the largest energy provider in Poland), PKO BP bank, and many others. Following the educational part of the program, the students then had to come up with innovative ideas for digital products that solve business problems and are relevant to the young generation today. These ideas were then pitched during a dedicated session. The shortlisted teams had a chance to present their projects on stage during an on-site event in front of a panel of expert judges. During the event, the judges selected four winning teams. It is precisely those teams that will present their ideas again during the Tech of Tomorrow conference. During the session, we will pick the final winning project to join Sebastian Kulczyk’s Young InCredibles mentoring program. The pitching session will be followed by a discussion panel focusing on the future of the workforce, education, and equipping the next generation for tomorrow’s challenges.

Becky Liggero: Amazing initiative. Anything else you’d like to add?

Dr. Agata Slater: Tech of Tomorrow is a one-of-a-kind event. We’ve put a lot of effort into delivering quality and merit over quantity (of speakers and sessions). It is an ideal event for business representatives who want to learn more about how innovative technologies could be used in practice. It is also a great event for startups and smaller enterprises—for knowledge sharing, gaining inspiration and networking. We will be joined by speakers such as Stefan Andonovski, Minister of Digital Transformation, North Macedonia; Dario Zoric, Regional Digitisation Lead at Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs; as well as representatives of such companies as IBM (NASDAQ: IBM), BOSCH, Fetch.ai, Salesforce (NASDAQ: CRM), Aptiv (NASDAQ: APTV), Vodafone (NASDAQ: VOD) and many others!

Becky Liggero: Thank you so much, Agata; I look forward to watching it all unfold in a few weeks!

Watch | Rediscovering Blockchain: Here’s how you build trust at scale