The Malta Independent on Sunday
World leaders in Artificial Intelligence heading to Malta for business-aimed Summit & Expo
With speakers from the United Nations, the University of Cambridge, and leading-AI policy consultation firms, this month’s AI in Business Malta Summit will set the ball rolling for the bigger and more intensive AI in Business Malta Expo set to take place
On Friday 22 February, the ‘AI in Business Malta Expo’ will be launched with the ‘AI in Business Malta Summit’, a one-day seminar and networking event taking place in the Petite Suite of the MFCC in Attard. The much-anticipated event will feature three worldclass speakers, who will provide a practical overview of AI technology and the ways it is already changing the world and businesses.
Leading the panel will be Matthew Fenech, an AI Policy Consultant who has advised the UK and Welsh Parliaments, as well as global organisations like Shell, Ricoh, HSBC, Vodafone and the Development Bank of Japan. He will be joined by the Head of the Centre of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics at the United Nations, Irakli Beridze, who initiated and managed the organisation’s first programme on AI and Robotics in 2014, and Charlotte Stix, a Research Associate and Policy Officer for the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence at the University of Cambridge, an advisor on European AI Policy, and a Fellow of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Neurotechnologies and Brain Sciences.
“Artificial intelligence is everywhere these days,” Fenech said. “It has been described by worldleading economists as ‘the most important general purpose technology of our era, on a par with electricity.’ Stephen Hawking himself said that AI could be ‘the best […] thing ever to happen to humanity’.
“With this Expo, we want to make sure that Malta can bring its great strengths to the AI revolution,” he continued. “With its world-class connectivity, the government’s forward-thinking policy on new technology such as blockchain, and its highly-skilled ICT workforce, Malta has a fantas- tic opportunity to position itself as the foremost centre for AI in the Mediterranean.”
The one-day AI in Business Malta Summit will also be the launch pad for the AI in Business Malta Expo in September, which will bring together a range of international experts to explore the impact and benefits of this phenomenon on various fields. These include financial services, manufacturing, logistics, transport, and health – all addressed from the perspective of the local business community.
“Both the Summit this month and the Expo in September have the same aim, that of giving local businesses a better understanding of how AI could help them revolutionise the way they work, change the way they interact with their clients, and up their targets,” Fenech concluded.
Spaces to the 22 February ‘AI in Business Malta Summit’ are limited. To reserve a place, please visit www.aibusinessmalta.com The AI in Business Malta Summit is supported by the Ministry for the Economy, Investment and Small Businesses, and the Secretariat for Financial Services, Digital Economy and Innovation in the Office of the Prime Minister of Malta.