Overview

Humans are starting to have conversations with products and services. These conversational interfaces open up new horizons for how we can form relationships with brands. Smart Homes are becoming a reality and we are expecting to use dialogs to coordinate a wide variety of products designed to make our lives easier. With Amazon’s Alexa we see how Intelligent Agents (a.k.a. “Digital Assistants”) will also be used to curate offerings from marketplaces.

We will examine Agents in detail, from multiple perspectives, and build a shared understanding of threats and opportunities for investors, corporates, and policymakers.

We will capture what we have learned in an e-book made available to participants, featuring their own thoughts and contributions. The e-book will also be available to members of the Post-Industrial Forum.

About the Post-Industrial Forum

For the first time in the history of the human species, we have exponential technology development coupled with massive decentralization. This goes beyond “digital,”it is change on an anthropological level. We are transitioning to a post-industrial civilization. (For more background, see this white paper.)

Brought to you by the Post-Lean Institute in collaboration with industry partners, including SRI International, the Post-Industrial Forum brings together executives, investors, policymakers. Our aim is to connect the dots and find smarter ways to navigate the changes now taking place.

For more background on the Post-Industrial Forum, see our About page and also the videos from our inaugural Silicon Valley event.

Who should attend?

• Senior corporate executives
• Board members
• Investors (VCs, CVCs, PE GPs and LPs, Family Offices)
• Policymakers and policy advisors

Note: Seating is limited.

Book: Attendees will receive a complimentary electronic copy of speaker Dr. Bob Moore’s new book on dialog design.

Program

08:00am Registration, coffee, light breakfast

09:00am Introduction: Intelligent Agents and the
 Post-Industrial Transition
Frode Odegard, CEO, Post-Lean Institute
– How and Why Agents will reshape the Business Landscape
– Agents and Industry Decentralization

09:15am Intelligent Agents: Core Technologies,
 Platforms, and Future Directions

Dr. Karen L. Myers, Lab Director, Artificial Intelligence Center, SRI
– How Intelligent Agents work
– What capabilities do they have now?
– What capabilities can we expect in the near future?

10:30am Break, coffee

10:45am How Intelligent Agents are
 Transforming Commerce and
 Threatening Established Brands
Sergei Mitrofanov, Partner, Brandflight
– How digital disruption puts brands under pressure
– How Intelligent Agents can commoditize brands
– Agents as Brands, how your brand can co-exist with Agents

11:35am Designing Natural Dialogs with Agents

Dr. Robert J. Moore, IBM Research, Almaden
– Why are today’s Agents so conversationally limited?
– A discipline of dialog design and the user experience
– Agents and the Future of Enterprise Software Development

12:30pm Lunch provided

1:30pm Intelligent Agents, the Post-Industrial Enterprise, and the Future of Work

Frode Odegard, CEO, Post-Lean Institute
– Agents for customer acqusition, support, and hiring
– Automating management tasks, Agents in the boardroom
– A work landscape of Humans and Agents

2:15pm Break, coffee, snacks

2:30pm Facilitated workshop. Build the Future!
– How will agents reshape business?
– How can you take advantage?
– What are the risks?

Contribute to an e-book which will include participants’ ideas.

4:00pm Close

Speaker biographies

Frode Odegard
Chairman and CEO, Post-Lean Institute

Frode is a thought leader in next-generation, post-industrial management science. His major focus is on how corporates, investors and policymakers can best navigate humanity’s transition to a post-industrial civilization and economy. A serial entrepreneur since his high school years, Frode’s multi-disciplinary background stretches from theoretical computer science to the boardroom. He has a deep background in organizational design and a passion for history, linguistics, disruptive technologies, and philosophy. When not at work on post-industrial management science, he can be found in the dojo practicing traditional Iwama style Aikido.

Dr. Karen L. Myers
Lab Director, Artificial Intelligence Center, SRI International

Dr. Myers’ research focuses on intelligent systems that facilitate man-machine collaboration. Her expertise includes autonomy, multi-agent systems, automated planning and scheduling, and intelligent assistants. She has led the development of several AI technologies that have been successfully transitioned into operational use in areas that span collaboration tools, task management, and end-user automation. Myers has a Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford University, a B.Sc. in mathematics and computer science from the University of Toronto, and a degree in piano performance from the Royal Conservatory of Music.

Sergei E. Mitrofánov
Senior Brand Strategist and Partner at Brandflight

Sergei has an over 25 years of experience in marketing and brand strategy development and more than a decade’s experience in mentoring startups. He is head of branding agency Brandflight’s subsidiary in Russia and Eastern Europe. Brandflight was founded in 1997 and has offices in London, Moscow, Stockholm, Berlin and Palo Alto. Its client list includes Virgin, Nestlé, Net Jets, Deutsche Bank, Microsoft, Nokia, BMW, SAS, Spotify, Airbus, P&G, J&J, Nordea, Volvo, and IBM.

Dr. Robert J. Moore
Research Staff Member, IBM Research Almaden

Bob examines the intersection of human conversation and technology. Currently, he is developing a methodology for Conversational UX Design that applies the formal, qualitative models of natural human conversation, from the field of Conversation Analysis, to the design of conversational interfaces. He has developed a general Natural Conversation Framework, also implemented on the IBM Watson Conversation service, which defines a set of conversational UX patterns. In addition to conversational systems, Bob explores the use of automated transcription technologies in the practice of Conversation Analysis research. In the past Bob has worked as a research scientist at Yahoo! Labs and at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) and as a game designer at The Multiverse Network. Bob holds Ph.D., M.S. and B.A. degrees in sociology with concentrations in ethnomethodology, Conversation Analysis and ethnography.

 

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Past events

January 15, 2020: Post-Industrial Forum, Silicon Valley Launch at SRI International in Menlo Park
June 25, 2019: Post-Industrial Forum, London Launch at Ashurst LLP in the City of London
June 20, 2019: The human side of disruption: investor opportunities in 
a changing landscape, Allocate 2019, London, United Kingdom
November 29, 2018: Business Unchained: Can corporates survive the Post-Industrial Transition?
June 28, 2018: Keynote: Post-Lean Thinking: How Corporates can become Disruptors, Centre for the Digital Revolution, London, United Kingdom
June 27, 2018: Keynote: Private Equity in the Post-Industrial Transition, Allocate 2018, London, United Kingdom
April 19, 2018: Keynote: Post-Lean and Disruption in the Automotive Industry, Hyundai, Silicon Valley
September 26, 2017: Keynote: Disruptive Corporate Innovation in a Post-Lean Era, The SF Vault, San Francisco
July 18, 2017: Workshop: Private Equity in the Post-Industrial Transition, London, United Kingdom
June 12, 2017: Keynote at the Global PE Alliance Annual Summit, Las Vegas
May 24, 2017: Special Session on Post-Lean and disruptive innovation at Global Corporate Venturing Symposium, London
April 19, 2017: Keynote at Norwegian Institute for Directors Annual Conference, Oslo, Norway
January 25, 2017: Special Panel at Global Corporate Venturing and Innovation Summit, Sonoma, California
January 17, 2017: Keynote at FSN Capital Annual Portfolio Company Conference, Oslo, Norway
November 1, 2016: Executive Workshop hosted by Amesto, Oslo, Norway
October 5, 2016: Webinar: Post-Lean Thinking: New Horizons for Corporate Innovation
September 13, 2016: Keynote at YPO GNS conference in Miami, Florida
June 15, 2016: Executive Workshop hosted by Google Norway, Oslo, Norway
June 7, 2016: Executive Workshop hosted by Nordic Innovation House, Palo Alto, California
April 27, 2016: Keynote at YPO Technology Network Summit, Santa Monica, California
April 1, 2016: Presentation at Global Technology Symposium, San Francisco, California
March 11, 2016: Executive Workshop hosted by Sopra Steria, Oslo, Norway