Lorne Sulcas - The Big Cat Guy

Pieter Geldenhuys

Tour guide to the Future

• South Africa
• Stellenbosch, Cape Town
• Pieter Geldenhuys – Director: Institute for Technology Strategy and Innovation Pieter Geldenhuys is used extensively as a futurist and strategist on the global stage by some of the world’s top business schools, including the illustrious London Business School.  He assists numerous organisations in leveraging their innovation potential by providing them with the skills and insights to be pro-active agents in creating the future. He assists companies in Exploring, Harnessing and Navigating the Future. Exploring … As a public speaker, he has more than 1 000 radio and more than 1 500 public appearances under his belt and has spoken to audiences in more than 25 countries. He is also the Author of the controversial new book entitled, HEADLINES FROM THE FUTURE, where he explores News Headlines that will define our future. Harnessing … He is the Founder and Director of the Institute for Technology Strategy and Innovation (ITSI). Over the past two decades, he and his team have guided more than 4 000 students and more than 120 innovation projects within the largest technology companies in India, the Middle East and Africa. He was the previous Technology strategy advisor to the CEO of Vodacom, and Vice-Chair of the Innovation Focus Group at the International Telecommunication Union in Geneva, Switzerland. He is also a nominated member of the South African Academy of Science and Arts, and Vice Chairman of the ATKV. Navigating … He is a renowned Futurist, Academic and Innovation expert. He has a degree in Electronic Engineering, an MBA specialising in Technology Strategy. He is adjunct faculty at North-West University, and regular guest lecturer at the London Business School. He believes the only way to effectively predict the future is to create it. <em>Keynotes</em> <strong>2035: Exploring a Complex World</strong> Join me on a fascinating journey where we explore the technological changes that will change our civilisation beyond recognition. Welcome to a future dominated by near abundant energy, CRISPR -CAS9 gene changes and Intelligent machines. Welcome to a VUCA world. A world where transport, agriculture, security, medicine, habitat, communication and materials will be redefined, and through it the foundations of our civilisation. In times where the only constant is change, organisations need to reframe their thinking, strategy and processes to stay competitive and relevant. We are operating in a complex world where a “best practice fits all” solution to challenges does not give optimum results any more. In this presentation the notion of reframing a business to ensure relevancy is discussed and debriefed. Extraordinary possibilities of success and failure lie in a gap between what is possible and what is organisational reality. Complexity management is also discussed in detail, giving various options of organising value creation in world that is finally realizing that human systems are complex systems, and not linear predictable ones.   <strong>Business Unusual – Harnessing the promise of the Future </strong> The Business Unusual presentation (or strategy workshop) provides an invaluable view into the changing world of business in a Hyper-connected world. It not only allows companies to prepare for the challenges of the future, it empowers them to be agents in creating the future. Whenever new technology emerges, it often takes years for the business world to adapt their operational models to take full advantage of the opportunities that the new technology offers. We are once again in the midst of a technological and social revolution as the ubiquitous Internet allows instant communication to anything and anyone at any time. Hyper-connectivity, Large data sets of human behavior patterns and Machine Learning Algorithms have unprecedented  impact  on linear value chains and existing business models. The Innovation space is exploding. Everything from retail to manufacturing to services is being redefined, as innovation in the interconnected space becomes the key differentiator. The Business Unusual presentation strives to make sense of the new opportunities available within this new hyper-connected world as it starts unpacking dozens of innovative business models and business trends from around the world. The presentation will take the participant on a journey into an exhilarating world where established business models are turned on its head, and where the mental maps in the minds of the entrepreneurs defines the business landscape of tomorrow.   <strong>Three Men and an Elephant – 25 words to change your view of the world</strong> How do you navigate your organisation’s journey in an increasing volatile and unpredictable world? This presentation focuses on the lessons we can learn from Nature in managing innovation, market research and organisational change. To be more effective in the world of innovation, we need to learn from the patterns evident in nature. The 25 words are the bedrock of a competing management science, founded in Complex Adaptive Systems rather than in Linear Physics. The world of Complex Adaptive Systems has been at the centre of research in fields as diverse as Mathematics, Physics, Anthropology, Biology and Sociology for the better part of the last five decades. As the world is becoming increasingly complex, Management theory is starting to encompass these philosophical foundations. Each of these words are explained in graphical detail and is then matched to astonishing real world examples that exemplify excellence in Innovation Management.   <strong>12 Lessons from the CyberWar Frontier</strong> The world continues to reel from one cyber attack to the other – and the threat is growing larger by the day. Phishing, worms, attack bots and malware attack computer systems worldwide on a continual basis. This is a reality that makes science fiction look boring. The 12 Lessons from the CyberWar Frontier presentation takes you on an enlightening journey, highlighting the ingenuity and audacity of both the Cyber Hackers, and the Cyber Sentinels that protect the status quo. The presentation unearths recent events that are truly stranger than fiction. Have your username and password been sold to the highest bidder?   The presentation also highlights the threats that are to come, as the Internet of Things (IOT) reality looms larger. Want to see if your security cameras have been breached?   Finally, the presentation provides the participant with 12 critical lessons that will reduce their corporate and personal Cyber threat significantly. The presentation balances valuable life lessons with a fascinating narrative of the forces of good and evil that battle it out in the Cybersphere a daily basis. It is a presentation that you cannot afford to miss.   Intelligence 2.0: The coming Machine Learning tsunami Words such as unsupervised and reinforced learning, Open Graphs and Knowledge Graphs, R and Flexible computation sound as if they belong in the Software Engineering department at a university, yet it will become common language in most Corporate Boardrooms in the not too distant future. Machine Learning, Deep Learning, AI and Robo-advisors are at the cusp of a tsunami that will irrevocably change the business world forever after. The Intelligence 2.0 presentation will provide the audience with an invaluable insight into the business opportunities that can be unlocked by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML). The presentation will provide an overview of the AI landscape, discuss the AI value chain, discuss the AI toolsets and provide useful information as to how an organisation can deepen their knowledge of the field. The presentation will also highlight a number of case studies and provide practical advice on how an organisation can leverage the tools that are commonly available. The presentation will finally showcase the Digital Transformation journey that would allow a company to leverage the AI revolution to its fullest extent. If your organisation is burning to know how they can use AI to their advantage, you cannot afford to miss the Intelligence 2.0 presentation.