Exponential Leadership
Future Vision Program
Understand the the forces driving disruption across industries — and identify the right opportunities
From Singularity’s Exponential Leadership track, the “Future Vision” program provides a high-impact overview of the technological forces driving disruption across industries, emphasizing a linear-to-exponential mindset shift, and empowering participants to navigate uncertainty by taking action to future-proof their organizations in the face of accelerating technological advancement.
This program is designed for three days, is intended for an in-person audience and incorporates an intensive mix of workshops, discussion and prototyping activities.
Shift from linear to exponential thinking to properly understand how quickly new technologies can disrupt and enable.
Prototype and experiment with emerging technologies through workshops in AI bias mitigation and rocket science.
Synthesize insights from the program into actionable next steps to bring back to your organization.
Thinking exponentially is core to everything we teach at Singularity, this means that we start with showing how each year the power and/or speed of technology is doubling and/or the cost is dropping by half. Getting into the mindset of thinking exponentially is a fundamental first step for projecting into the future. During this session participants will not just understand the basic definition of exponential growth, but dive into its implications, and shift from a linear way of thinking to an exponential one.
We typically overestimate growth in the short term, and underestimate it in the long term due to the deceptive nature of exponential growth. Because computational technologies (including artificial intelligence, biotechnologies, advanced manufacturing, and more) progress exponentially, its growth and adoption can be surprising. As these technologies continue to democratize, access to use them becomes more widespread and more and more people, companies, and industries will have a role to play in how they’re leveraged.
This session will prepare you for thinking about these growth patterns, how they apply to your industry, and what role you can play in their use.
The world around us is changing at an exponential pace. From climate change to water to hunger, global issues are becoming more challenging and growing faster than traditional organizations are able to manage. What does it mean to create impact in this new environment? And how can you, as one of today's most capable leaders, define your own massive transformative purpose?
The global challenge of learning is a massive mismatch of quality teachers and students. With a population explosion of promising young people in developing countries, a critical need for democratizing access to quality learning tools. Let us join the journey of a headstrong teacher who was once a learner with dyslexia and ADHD, and sets herself on a moonshot mission of learning. Being inspired by the SU mentors, peers, and lectures, an educator with a policy background suddenly jumped into the startup world and built a team in the most underdeveloped country to bridge the gap of massive mismatch by building cutting-edge learning technology products from scratch. Disrupted by a series of curve balls including the coup d'etat, she fled from her home county for personal safety, yet continues to democratize learning access to over half a million learners in a place where over ten million children are deprived of formal questions for two years in a row.
Artificial Intelligence and its embodied cousin, Robotics, are worming their way into everything we do, think, and want. As the world came to a halt for 18 months of COVID, the march towards a world dominated by AI and Robotics has only accelerated: Tech giants have doubled profits, consumers and workers rely more on tech, and the influence of AI on economic resilience, geopolitics and human equity has intensified. There is no going back. No matter if your interest is commercial or humanitarian (or both), understanding these technologies, their drivers, and their future trajectories will be key. Those that understand the technology can benefit from it and lead to its responsible use; those that don’t understand it, will be dragged along helplessly.
This session will cover the following topics:
The activity aims to strengthen learners’ future forecasting muscles by making predictions about the future. Participants work in groups to determine whether an event is likely to happen in 0-5, 5-10, 10-15, 15-20, or beyond, share their reasoning, and receive feedback from experts and other participants. This will empower the audience to recognize the potential impacts of horizon technologies that will impact their world.
During this session, participants will:
This session will cover the 101 of what blockchains are and how they enable decentralization. We will look at how decentralization enables us to restructure societies, particularly those in developing economies. We’ll touch on the impact on money, identity, refugees, government and much more. Participants will walk away understanding the bigger picture of why this technology matters for the world and for creating impact.
As the internet and world wide web has continued to mature over the past fifteen years, the development of online virtual environments has also taken shape. Now, we've reached a moment of hype and attention focused on a concept referred to as the "metaverse." At its core, the ‘metaverse’ represents a radical shift in the way we spend time online, and soon we will come to navigate an internet of game-like virtual environments where we'll work, play, shop, and connect with friends. These environments will become an increasingly relevant aspect of our personal and professional lives. But what exactly does the word 'metaverse' even mean? Most mainstream coverage quickly blows by their definition of the term and many discussions operate from different interpretations of what is coming. Grounded in his decade of work researching, using, and building online virtual environments Aaron Frank will introduce important context for navigating the questions surrounding this 'new tech obsession'. This presentation weaves together introductory topics ranging from augmented and virtual reality, game engines, virtual worlds, crypto-economic infrastructure, and virtual economies.
The mobility industry is in full disruption with loads of new technologies filling the headlines. Self-driving vehicles, electrification, drones, hyperloops, sustainable aviation fuels, electric scooters: the entire hype cycle can be filled with new predicted breakthroughs. The car has evolved from a mechanical device into a “data producing embedded software platform”, and the internet is quickly linking the supply and demand to effectively fulfill our transport needs.
Just like every industry that is confronted with disruption, the changes come faster than most traditional players can prepare for, with an outcome that is harder to predict than ever. Yet, with all unpredictability that comes along with disruption there are some fixed rules that one can prepare for when combining the potential of technology development with the predictable needs of people. The expected rapid change in technology towards cheaper, safer, greener, and far better vehicles and services will redefine a lot of traditional dogmas in mobility. Carlo van de Weijer will distinguish sense from nonsense on the mobility developments and picture how we travel and remain connected in the future.
In this hands-on workshop participants will learn how algorithmic bias emerges from the design of automated decision-making systems. They will train and design their own algorithms in a manner that is comparable to the implementation of technologies across industries. Once designed, the algorithms will run and be deployed on the participants so that they experience the effects of inclusion and exclusion first-hand. The primary learning outcome is to increase the understanding of algorithmic bias and how even with the best intentions, cultural prejudices and assumptions are programmed into data-driven technologies.
Participants will learn to identify different kinds of algorithmic biases; pinpoint where biases enter their designs; and assess an automated decision making system on its risk for perpetuating biases. Because participants build the algorithms themselves, they will also learn how automated decision-making algorithms and Machine Learning systems are designed, implemented, and used.
Even the best rocket engine designs need to stand up to testing. It’s ok to start from a known configuration, but the lessons of early testing cannot be overstated as learning the subtle variations between design and reality will determine success or catastrophic failure.
Learn about the process of building things that go boom through a hands-on competition of flying contraptions. You will go through the cycle of Experimentation, Building Knowledge and Applying Experience. Will this lead your team to success? You can take this framework back to your teams and demonstrate the process of building experience by testing forward iterations.
“How can Singapore/Kazakhstan/Rwanda/Brazil/Dubai become more like Silicon Valley?” “How can the Government be more like a start-up?”. Karen has been asked these questions repeatedly over the years. Silicon Valley’s innovation is admired globally, but how do we apply it in all its good, bad and ugly?
Since joining SU’s faculty in 2017, Karen has lectured on smart cities, using technology to combat inequality and disrupting government from the inside.
This talk is by far her most personal, addressing the challenges of bridging the Silicon Valley tech and start-up system with places and organizations that are built on very different operating principles. Each of you is an expert on the dynamics of your home ecosystem, and you will have much to add to this discussion.
We live in an exciting era of human history. We are witnessing the birth of a new economy fueled by advancements in space technology. Space is no longer just a playground for governments and large corporations; it is now open for business to entrepreneurs and startups who are willing to take risks and push the boundaries of what is possible. In this talk, we will explore the current state of the new economy in space and the exciting opportunities. We will look at how the private sector is driving innovation in space exploration and how the entrepreneurial spirit is transforming the way we think about the possibilities of space. We will examine the different industries emerging in the space economy, such as space tourism, asteroid mining, and satellite constellations. We will also discuss the challenges and obstacles entrepreneurs and startups face in the new economy in space, including regulatory frameworks, financial barriers, and technological limitations. Despite the challenges, the future of the new economy in space is bright and full of promise.
You’ve drunk from the firehose. You’ve seen the future. You’re about to return to your work and your home. What’s next?
After exposure to the trends and technologies that will help shape our future world, it's time to weave together the threads of the program into actionable steps you can take when you return home. In this interactive workshop, you'll synthesize the core ideas you've received, develop a new perspective on the process of developing and prioritizing options for future actions, and shape these insights into strategies you can implement in your industry, your organization, and your personal life.
(presented by facilitator)
Thinking exponentially is core to everything we teach at Singularity, this means that we start with showing how each year the power and/or speed of technology is doubling and/or the cost is dropping by half. Getting into the mindset of thinking exponentially is a fundamental first step for projecting into the future. During this session participants will not just understand the basic definition of exponential growth, but dive into its implications, and shift from a linear way of thinking to an exponential one.
We typically overestimate growth in the short term, and underestimate it in the long term due to the deceptive nature of exponential growth. Because computational technologies (including artificial intelligence, biotechnologies, advanced manufacturing, and more) progress exponentially, its growth and adoption can be surprising. As these technologies continue to democratize, access to use them becomes more widespread and more and more people, companies, and industries will have a role to play in how they’re leveraged.This session will prepare you for thinking about these growth patterns, how they apply to your industry, and what role you can play in their use.
The world around us is changing at an exponential pace. From climate change to water to hunger, global issues are becoming more challenging and growing faster than traditional organizations are able to manage. What does it mean to create impact in this new environment? And how can you, as one of today's most capable leaders, define your own massive transformative purpose?