Glimpse into the future through technology

Apr 30 2008 By The Journal

VISIONARY tech-heads from around the world will descend on the region in May to discuss the effect of future technologies on the way people live, work and play.

The Thinking Digital conference, which has been organised by Codeworks, will bring a host of digital and media leading lights from around the world to the North East.

The event, which is partnered by The Journal, is seen as a major coup for the region and will bring some of the most revolutionary thinkers on the planet to The Sage Gateshead.

The eclectic mix of speakers at the two-day event includes futurist Ray Kurzweil, who predicts computer intelligence will surpass human intelligence in 2029. Also in attendance will be Aubrey de Grey – a leading scientist specialising in biology who believes we have the ability to engineer a cure for the ageing process.

The event’s programme director Herb Kim said the broad scope of the conference made it the first event of its kind in the UK.

He said: “As technologies get more and more sophisticated and complex, they’re driving an ever greater need for concerned and informed individuals to meet face-to-face in order to better understand the changes in our world, digest the future trends we face and think creatively about what we can do.

“We have created the Thinking Digital conference to bring together some of the world’s brightest, most accomplished and innovative minds as speakers, sponsors and delegates across a wide variety of disciplines, industries and functions. This is a rare chance to look across borders, boxes and walls in order to stimulate new thinking, insights and connections.”

Other speakers at the event include Greg Dyke, the former director general of the BBC, Dan Lyons, the senior editor of Forbes magazine, who was outed last summer as the man behind The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs, a satirical blog about the CEO of Apple.

Sean Phelan – the founder of Multimap, which was recently bought by Microsoft in a deal understood to be worth about $50m – and Jessica Flannery, chief marketing officer for social enterprise Kiva.org will also attend.

For more information on the conference, which runs from May 21 to 23, visit www.thinking digital.co.uk