Top Tech Trends Debate 2021

The Top Tech Trends Debate is a fun and exciting panel discussion on emerging tech.

Unlike anything that currently exists in Australia, the Top Tech Trends Debate showcases the visions of five leading industry professionals. They pitch their ideas on the next big thing, and the audience votes.

The event is a replica of the Top Tech Trends event that has been successfully run by the Churchill Club in Silicon Valley for 20 consecutive years.

The event also features as a headline event for the Emerging technologies powering investment stream of the State Government of Victoria's Digital Innovation Festival. The Victorian Government is proudly one of our sponsors.

Why you'll want to be at this event

Be a part of the audience which will help shape the top tech trends whilst learning how these emerging technologies are set to impact our lives. It’s an opportunity to see inside the minds that are investing in our future, to understand how they see our world.

Each speaker will deliver one trend that must meet the following criteria:

1. Are not obvious today, but may well be in the future; and

2. There'll be an explosive impact in these areas in 3-5 years time.

Meet the Panellists:

1. Dr Andrew Webb- Head of Proteomics Research Laboratory at Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research & CSO/Co-founder Mass Dynamics.

As Chief Scientific Officer at Mass Dynamics, Dr Webb is bringing a career-long vision to life - to enable millions of life scientists to unlock and leverage the magic of mass spectrometry and proteomics through transforming its unwieldy data to scientific knowledge - better, faster and easier than ever before.

In addition to his role at Mass Dynamics, Dr Webb is an Associate Professor at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute and co-founder and inventor at IonOpticks. Across each of these dynamic positions, he is at the coalface of proteomics-based technology in both industry and academia.

2. Reeta Dhar- Former Westpac Emerging Industries Team

Reeta is an accomplished and engaging business executive and strategist with 15 years experience working across financial services, healthcare and the public sector.

As a strategist, Reeta specialised in disruptive innovation, focusing on the application of digital technologies to innovate in banking and finance.

Most recently, Reeta setup and led the Emerging Industries division in Westpac’s Business Bank, focused on the emerging digital and low carbon economy. Under her leadership, Westpac became the first major bank in Australia to develop a risk appetite to provide debt funding to ‘scale-ups’ in these sectors.

Reeta is currently enjoying a career break, using the time to explore and contribute towards the science of consciousness – having always been intrigued why no scientific consensus exists around something so fundamental to our ‘reality’. Reeta is also dipping her toe in the world of books and publishing – arguably the most disrupted industry of our modern times! She has co-founded an indie publisher- Wise As Stories, and is currently launching her first children’s book, ‘Willow the Wanderer’.

3. Gavin Appel- Ignition Lane

Gavin has 25 years of global strategic, operational and investing experience in the technology industry spanning startups, corporates and venture capital. Prior to founding growth advisory firm Ignition Lane, Gavin was a founding Partner at venture capital firm Square Peg, Senior Vice President at Experian where he led global innovation and offshore engineering, and one of the first employees and CTO at Hitwise - a venture-backed startup that was acquired for US$240m where he was integral in growing the business to be one of the most recognised global internet measurement brands.

4. Jodie Imam- Co-founder & COO, Tractor Ventures

Jodie is co-founder and COO at Tractor Ventures which provides a flexible, revenue based financing alternative for founders who want to lead profitable technology companies. They believe that not all ambitious founders need venture capital. Prior to this Jodie was at SBE Australia where she led the team in accelerating some of Australia's most innovative female leaders. Jodie set up the Innovation Bay community in Melbourne, and was an advisor to multiple startups and a mentor at Startmate. Previously, she was co-founder of two-sided marketplace, Occasional Butler, which was acquired by rival Airtasker and depo8 co-working.

5. Barbara Sharp - CEO Plaetos Group

CEO of Plaetos Group, an advanced human analytics company turning human discussions into useful human data so that decisions are not just inclusive but are precisely informed about where - and where not - to put scarce resources to accelerate change.

Barbara started her career as a journalist, moved into politics as press secretary to state and federal ministers and then - in the last and longest stretch - had the great privilege of working as a crisis and strategic communication consultant, advising on some of the Asia-Pacific's most wicked reputational disputes between corporations and their host communities.

Barbara is an alumna of The Cranlana Programme for ethical leadership, and the Springboard Enterprises accelerator for female founders. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree (English & Literature) and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD).

6. Kate Pounder -CEO Technology Council of Australia

Kate has recently been appointed as CEO to lead the Technology Council of Australia, the peak body for Australia's tech sector. Contributing $167bn to GDP annually, and employing 861,000 people, the tech sector is a key pillar of the Australian economy.

Heading up the Technology Council of Australia, part of Kate’s mission is to improve the general public’s understanding of the tech sector, the significant contribution the sector is making and the job opportunities that exist within the industry.

 

This event was originally held on Thu 26 August as part of the 2021 Digital Innovation Festival thanks to the support of the Victorian Government.