Slush Conference 2019The Future of the Future

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Authors

Phil RowleyGroup Innovation Director,

PHD Global Business

Vivian Tram Senior Account Manager,

PHD Global Business

4 Intro

6 Big ideas: emerging mega-trends in tech and business

The coming innovation war

The importance of ‘intrapreneurship’

The rise of DeepTech

10 Top start-up tech from Slush 2019: Implications for marketing and communications

Open APIs

Data anonymisers

Tele-everything

Digital wellbeing

Advanced body interfaces

Space advertising

20 Summary and takeouts

Contents

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Slush is Europe’s biggest and brightest start-up conference, and is absolutely stuffed with exciting, brand new, cutting-edge technologies that might define our future; technologies we need to know about.

From AI and Fintech, to energy solutions and next-gen AR, it’s not only a trade show but a laboratory – and PHD was in attendance.

Hosted in Helsinki, Slush is in its 11th year and now attracts massive venture capitalist (VC) and investment firms, as well as Silicon Valley CEOs and EU Commissioners. Last year, Slush start-ups attracted over €1 billion in funding from visiting investors.

Slush is different to other conferences. Whilst CES or MWC Barcelona (previously known as Mobile World Congress) showcase technology that may be in the consumer market within 12 to 18 months, Slush predictions may not come to fruition for considerably longer. It is a glimpse of the future of the future; a horizon scan from 2022 or 2023; a sneak preview of tech trends before they’re even trends. At PHD, we want our clients and their brands to benefit from this long view.

Let’s be clear that there’s nothing wrong with CES – but it is dominated by the usual players. At Slush, whilst there is a muted presence from Google and Amazon, there are notable absences from Facebook and Apple. But there’s a reason for that: ultimately, Slush is most definitely not about the tech giants. It is

What is Slush and why do I need to read this Snapshots?

about true innovation and experimentation from emerging companies with edge and foresight. Slush is the newer, fresher, edgier contender.

To give some context: Coldplay would go to CES. Radiohead would go to Slush.

WHAT SHOULD I DO WITH THIS SNAPSHOTS?Treat it like an early glimpse of a possible future, except a few years further out from your average prediction.

Read the section on big ideas to work out how your brand fits into the big changes we’ll see over the coming years.

Read the section on the standout tech opportunities and take the advice on the implications for media, marketing and communications in times to come.

Most importantly: Get organised. Put a plan in place. Act!

This Snapshots will also exist as a presentation. If you would like it presented to your brand(s), complete with video examples, let us know and we will arrange.

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Across two days of Slush 2019 we heard from CEOs, start-up heroes, venture capitalists, management consultants and economists. They spoke passionately and knowledgeably on a wide variety of subjects – from sustainability to carbon capture, from mental health in the workplace to the rise of Africa.

From those deep dives and explorations, we can see a set of important mega-trends surfacing. Let’s deal with these first as they will have a more serious and far-reaching effect on business over the next decade.

PHD has identified three key mega-trends:

1. THE COMING INNOVATION WARMany people in the tech world are furtively starting to use the ‘r’ word in conversations: recession. Speeches and discussions were peppered with mentions of ‘downturn’, ‘slow down’ and ‘low growth’, coupled with chin stroking and furrowed brows.

But despite the slightly concerned tone of the experts, and a frequent cross-referencing of the 2008 crash, there was also a rather counterintuitive consensus: this time, if a recession occurs, it could lead to an innovation explosion.

During the ‘Should founders be preparing for the downturn?’ session, host Jason Karaian, Chief Economics Editor at Quartz, helped

Big ideas: emerging mega-trends in tech and business

his panel articulate some key predictions. In summary: compared to 2008, there will be more VC innovation investment than ever before, with the tech sector awash with cash.

There are two reasons for this. First, unlike last time, governments and businesses won’t be attempting to cut their way out of recession, but rather innovate their way out. Noting that the previous recession’s cutbacks have left businesses playing catch-up, and that those innovators daring to step up to the plate in 2008 were largely successful, this time the tech industry will try a different tactic. Expect to see a mini tech boom as companies take advantage of low interest rates and VC funds of increasingly gargantuan amounts.

Second, we may see a US vs China innovation arms race, as a subset of their intensifying trade war. All intelligence points to a potentially huge investment from China in AI, EdTech, biotech, energy and SpaceTech as a way of securing the long-term future of their society whilst simultaneously promoting growth. The message to the US is simple: respond in kind or get left behind.

The upshot is that we are about to see innovation accelerate, both as an exploitation and a solution to any slowdown, and both at the level of private companies and sovereign nations.

China has a roadmap to create a US$1 trillion Artificial Intelligence industry by 2030 Source: CNBC, Global Investing

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2. THE IMPORTANCE OF ‘INTRAPRENEURSHIP’Tech veterans were also at pains to point out the need for dedicated internal innovation resources – or ‘intrapreneurship’.

An intrapreneur’s job is to work within existing practices to ensure that there is a steady supply of new inspiration flowing into an organisation. Crucially, their output should be designed around stress testing innovations within the context of a clear business strategy.

The future is never an extravagance because it is inevitable, yet some businesses are only obsessed with the present. On stage, Diane Bryant, ex-COO of Google Cloud, drove home the point that successful businesses are those with a vision of the future and a plan for how to prepare for it.

In short, more companies need intrapreneurs as a dedicated resource, building it into their organogram as an investment for the future.

3. THE RISE OF DEEPTECH The phrase DeepTech was everywhere at Slush this year. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, think of it as technology which uses hard science to solve more profound existentialist challenges: biotech, clean energy, lab-grown meat.

On stage, Maryanna Saenko from Future Ventures talked of VC big-bets on planet-changing tech and the colossal amounts of investor money available for these hyper- projects. Not only that, but the number of start-ups in the DeepTech space is rocketing as entrepreneurs sense a growing opportunity to make an unimaginably profound impact on 7 billion people’s lives. As a former employee of Airbus, Saenko had sat through a whopping 200 separate pitches for airborne urban transportation systems – or drone taxis – and there are also plans for huge leaps in carbon capture and lab-grown meat.

For the right brand, there are some real opportunities to become a long-term partner in genuine impactful changes.

Private investment in DeepTech 2015 – US$9.8 billion | 2018 – US$18.9 billionSource: BCG Hello Tomorrow Report

EMERGING MEGA-TRENDS: WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS?If you are a brand, what do you do about all of this? Given these are grand, overarching mega-trends, there are no immediate specific actions. Instead, think about the shifts in direction you may be able to make over time:

Don’t hold back on innovation. When you‘re tightening your belt, your competitors will be innovating. Even if they are busy tightening their belt, this is your chance to get ahead. Set aside dedicated resource for innovation. Embed it in your organisation. If the downturn comes, use it: whilst the hare sleeps, be the tortoise.

Don’t believe everything you hear. Just as important as dedicating time and attention to innovation is having a discerning view about those opportunities that are likely to come to fruition, and those which are hype and over-excitement. Develop an objective set of criteria that will help you understand which innovations you need to deliver on your goals. Hold your futurists and horizon-gazers to account, and check in again to see if they were right.

Be on the right side of history. There is clearly a renewed drive amongst the wider tech community to eradicate the biggest cultural and economic challenges facing our species today. These entrepreneurs will always be looking for partners and funding. If your values overlap, and you have a genuine desire to create value, look for DeepTech partners to help you create real change on Earth.

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We spoke to many tech exhibitors and start-ups across the two days with the aim of spotting commonalities in their offering. Unlike most attendees at Slush, PHD was there not as an investor or an exhibitor, but as an advance scout, looking for those innovations we thought would have later implications for media, marketing and communications.

OPEN APIS – JOINED-UP DIGITAL THINKINGThere are many new platforms emerging from the rise in open APIs. Open API software intertwines disparate data streams to create joined-up user experiences.

The benefit of open APIs is that it allows a brand’s goods and services to be recommended objectively alongside other services that may be complementary rather than competitive. For some companies this may go against their philosophy, with them preferring to jealously guard their databases. Similarly, it may also seem in contradiction to consumers’ moves to better protect their data, but there is plenty of evidence that having your service recommended alongside another is a crucial driver of revenue. The future of company data is open, un-siloed and integrated for the benefit of all.

Top start-up tech from Slush 2019: implications for marketing and communications

“Uber exposes its Uber API, Driver API and Deliveries API in hopes the market will discover new uses, such as food delivery, driver rewards and more, which, of course, drive new revenue streams and suggest new investments by Uber itself. The company enables others to create customer journeys powered by its API, rather than try to retain complete customer ownership.” Uri Sarid, CTO, MuleSoft

Receipt Hero

Receipt Hero is an open API-based platform that uses data from your bank to replace physical receipts with e-receipts sent straight from the vendor to your email. The advantage is that every purchase from that vendor becomes both an unofficial loyalty card and a messaging opportunity, allowing physical purchases to aid targeting and retargeting opportunities afforded by online purchases.

Find out more at getreceipthero.com

Tink

Tink aggregates a host of data points from an army of online financial services (e.g., mortgages, insurance, savings) and uses them as building blocks to give users a holistic integrated, personalised finance plan across a range of partners. With all datapoints visible to its API, Tink aims to be a leading provider of personalised finance management.

Find out more at tink.com

AdChina.IO

AdChina.IO amalgamates open APIs from leading Chinese social media platforms (i.e., QQ, Tencent, Baidu, Toutiao and WeChat) into a consolidated media buying dashboard,

allowing the coordination of multi-platform campaigns from one location and one button. Programmatic integration is planned for 2020.

Find out more at adchina.io

OPEN APIS: WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS?There will be pressure on brands to open their databases and data streams and to find ways of sharing that data with partners in adjacent fields to provide complementary, connected services. This may seem a risk for some businesses, but there is plenty of evidence to suggest that when a company’s services are bundled with another, it helps drive both understanding of the offering and chances of adoption. Ask what data you can offer to other services, and what they can offer you, to forge dynamic partnerships.

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DATA ANONYMISERS – TECH THAT GIVES USERS CONTROL OF ITS DATABrands might soon have to start working harder to target their customers as the data and privacy issues that dog Facebook and Google move further centre stage. Microtargeting is a term that for some is being used in a negative fashion, and the installation of GDPR shows that governments are listening to their citizens.

Against that backdrop, we’ve seen bespoke technical solutions that provide users with bolstered privacy. Last year at Slush it was private clouds, storage walled off from the worlds of Google and Facebook. This year it’s data anonymisers.

VEIL.AI

VEIL.AI works to anonymise personal data. It’s the digital equivalent of scribbling over selected letters of a word in marker pen, making it impossible to piece back together a profile of a user.

Currently, VEIL.AI is only being employed to anonymise medical records. Its algorithm has an innate understanding of which pieces of information, when combined, can best give insight into a user, and then spams that algorithm with ‘synthetic data’ to throw it off the scent. Its creators say the technology has many use cases and may be used in future to cover a user’s digital footprints altogether.

Find out more at veil.ai

DATA ANONYMISERS: WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS?If this technology ports across to other disciplines involving the use of data, then it may compromise a brand’s ability to be effective in its targeting and messaging in the long run.

If this practice becomes widespread, we may see a resurgence of contextual targeting – placing an ad message in a location resonant with its adjacent content – or deep content partnerships that ensure the brand is baked into the content output from the outset.

TELE-EVERYTHING – STAY AT HOME AND DO MORERecently, Peloton – a cross between an exercise cycle and a conference call, allowing people to train through live video with other users – was valued at US$4 billion. Peloton is an example of a growing trend of tele-fitness. Add that to the growing list of activities and services (e.g., tele-medicine, tele-retail, tele-security) which you can do at a distance.

In this vein, there were a number of technologies on display demonstrating the continuing shift to making the home the centre of activities we would normally leave the house or office to do.

Glue and SensoryX

The cloud processing of 5G means the ability to transmit human movement without the need for a fast computer is really gaining ground. This also means we will be able to insert external media (e.g., video and presentations) within virtual environments and view them as if in the real world.

Glue uses this tech to create VR teleconferencing, equipping people to conduct a meeting in a virtual space, complete with a VR widescreen TV, whiteboard and boardroom table on which 3-D objects can be placed. The physical movement and interactions of users can be captured, reflecting the adage that 90% of communication is non-verbal.

Find out more at glue.work

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Glue would also work well in conjunction with another company we met, SensoryX, which provides astonishingly accurate haptic control over virtual environments via their gloves. The demo at Slush allowed users to use specific hand signals as commands to trigger actions, such as the the horned-devil ‘rock!’ signal triggering a heavy-metal riff soundbite. Could brands have their own ‘hand logo’ that triggered a particular action?

Find out more at sensoryx.com

Zoan and Vyking

Zoan and Vyking are changing the way people shop from home. Zoan is a VR production company providing a hyper-realistic shopping experience via Finnish VR headset manufacturer Varjo. The demo involves a wander round a high-end apartment stocked full of interactable premium Scandinavian furniture, all rendered in high-definition detail.

Find out more at zoan.fi

Similarly, Vyking uses AR and advanced ‘foot tracking’ to allow users to visualise wearing a pair of trainers. It even accommodates movement, meaning users can recreate the standard ‘walk-around-the-shop-wearing-the-shoe test’ without leaving their front door.

Find out more at vyking.io

TELE-EVERYTHING: WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS?Consumers are always looking for more convenience from their products and services. Technologies that shrink distances, cut costs and save trips will always be favoured. Ultimately, tele-services deliver that convenience in spades, and brands should look to exploit these shifts.

Identify ways of allowing users to experience products or services from the frictionless comfort of their home, whether that be creating a bespoke virtual environment, or simply allowing your product to be delivered to their front door.

Predicted Telehealth Value by 2021: US$40.1 billion Source: Investopedia

DIGITAL WELLBEING – TURNING YOUR BODY INTO A DASHBOARDIn an age of longer working hours, perpetual digital connection and stifling pollution, many worry we are in danger of creating a society of the permanently sick. Thus, health and wellbeing was a key focus at Slush this year.

Oura Ring

Oura is a smart ring that monitors your vital signs, including sleep, physical movement, heart rate and temperature to give daily feedback and optimise your health. Oura produces customised health plans via an integrated dashboard that reads like the deck of the Starship Enterprise.

Find out more at ouraring.com

Nightingale Health

Nightingale Health is like Fitbit for the blood, providing personalised and comprehensive health advice drawn from blood-test data, including cholesterol, blood sugar and insulin sensitivity. It requires no doctor’s appointment – rather a visit to a test station – and provides its recommendations via an app system resembling a credit score.

Find out more at nightingalehealth.com

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DIGITAL WELLBEING: WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS?People’s health and vitality may just well be the biggest growth area for tech over the next decade. Gifting people access to data about their physical state effectively democratises knowledge about one’s own body.

Whilst we don’t expect brands to immediately go out and develop their own wearables or biotech solutions, there is a general principle to extract here. Brands that can help people feel demonstrably better through digital data-led experiences will have an advantage. In the race for brands to make commitments to sustainability, we may soon see a new additional requirement: products and services that deliver quantifiable improvements to health, mood or wellbeing.

Jeff Bezos and Peter Thiel are key investors in Unity Health, a biotech start-up specialising in life extension. Unity Health now has a market cap of US$700 million.Source: The Edge, CNBC

ADVANCED BODY INTERFACES – MAN AND MACHINE INTEGRATE FURTHERAs technological advancement accelerates, the interface between man and machine PHD predicted in our 2017 publication Merge | The closing gap between technology and us draws ever closer. Some of the most advanced offerings at Slush preview a future where our physical form is increasingly interlaced with digital environments, resulting in new forms of payment, advertising and control.

Pivo Face Payment

The Pivo Face Payment may be the future of secure payments. Using a biometric template

of the face as a unique ID, a quick stare into a screen will unlock access to goods and services or debit your account accordingly. At Slush this was live-demoed via a vending machine, but the applications are numerous and alarming. Some schools in China are already using this tech to record attendance.

Addreality FaceA natural extension to the idea of face payment is using facial characteristics to target and deliver specific messages. Addreality has already kitted out a Russian supermarket as a test case, with outdoor units that scan your face on arrival to make some educated guesses on your age and gender, and then continue to target you with personalised offers as you move around the aisles.

NextMindNextMind translates neural signals from the brain into direct commands, using the mind’s recognition of signs and symbols to generate an action. It’s a non-invasive technology, resting on the back of the head like a thick hairband, and gifts users with control over basic digital functions, such as changing the TV channel or music track. This may just be the start of telekinesis and telepathy we’ve seen in sci-fi films.

Find out more at next-mind.com

ADVANCED BODY INTERFACES: WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS?Facial recognition and thought control are the two most troubling technologies we saw on display at Slush. With the current heated discussion around the misappropriation of technology for political gain, and witnessing the spill-over into concerns around microtargeting in general, the emergence of these platforms will not do anything to calm the nerves. Rather, it leaves

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brands in a moral quandary: will we eventually feel the need to use this technology? If so, how can we use it responsibly? This is not one issue that will be immediately resolved, but we have a duty to start considering the ramifications of these technologies.

Globally, the facial recognition sector is predicted to grow to a value of nearly US$9 billion by 2022. Source: MarketWatch

SPACE ADVERTISING – THE NEXT FRONTIER OF ADVERTISINGYes, we’re serious.

Historically, the fate of space travel has rested with nation states, but over the last decade, private aerospace companies with start-up mentalities have reshaped the industry. After 50 years, the race for space is back on.

This time, rather than nation versus nation, it’s also business versus business. With Virgin Galactic and Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin entering the fray, we expect to see the commercialisation of the infrastructure surrounding launches. And it’s not just the vehicles, but everything that goes with it: spaceports, hospitality and events, official co-created content and footage streams, and merchandise.

At Slush we saw the start of that commercialisation. Yes, it’s early; no, it’s not for every brand; but this might be a thing sooner than you think.

ispace

ispace is a lunar exploration company that has raised US$94.5 million in funding, a record-high for a series A round.

ispace has announced a programme of lunar missions to the Moon starting from 2021, and offers partnership programmes across the mission architecture and infrastructure: from earth-bound opportunities like official media partner and uniform sponsor, through to more integrated offerings like component supplier, and even the official payload insurer. Partners are not limited by their distance from the engineering sector. If a link in values or creative messaging can be established, then there’s a reason to do it.

Suzuki, Dentsu-Aegis and Japan Airlines are already on board, with SpaceX also aiding on some of the launch capabilities.

Find out more at ispace-inc.com

SPACE ADVERTISING: WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS?Again, whilst opportunities like this may seem distant and almost silly, there are plenty of examples of brands colonising this space: from the Red Bull space jump in 2012, to Audi providing components for a moon rover in 2015. And, of course, Elon’s Tesla Roadster PR stunt.

Of course, space launches are fraught with delay and other setbacks, but a partner would be buying into that world knowing that the value for an advertiser is in associating with endeavour and progression. Similarly, it is the ultimate way to convey ideas of engineering excellence and technical knowhow, and a great way of making a point about the truly global nature of an offering.

In six months immediately following Red Bull space jump, sales increased 7% to US$1.6 billion in the US.Source: AdAge

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The Slush view of the future is from a higher vantage point, and thus stretches further into the future than most. This can mean the scheduled ‘arrival time’ for its predictions can be a little further out.

Many of the initiatives and technologies are in embryonic form and will not be delivered by the end of 2020. Though these are mid-term forecasts for a possible world, now is the time to start thinking about them.

Start preparing for the coming changes and talk to PHD about what to do.

Consider addressing the following:

INNOVATE YOUR WAY TO GROWTH If another recession comes, don’t stop innovating. Watch the tech space to see what innovations are thriving in a world that will come to place great value on efficiency, frictionless-ness and convenience. Ask how you can emulate it or be part of it. Use the downtime to think about how you can set yourself up for success ready for when the boom returns.

Summary and takeouts

BUILD JOINT SERVICES THROUGH DATA PARTNERSHIPSThe future of company data is un-siloed and shared, and used as a glue between complementary services and like-minded partners. Think about what data you can afford to share that could be used by a third-party to build an integrated service that moves your brand into a new and uncharted space. Think about what data from another partner’s API you could use to augment your own brand, product or service.

THINK ABOUT HOW YOUR BRAND CAN ADD LONG-TERM VALUE There is a drive in the tech and business world to bring real value to Earth, not only through sustainability and environmentalism, but through delivering true health and wellbeing to its citizens. Think if there are ways that your brand can genuinely optimise and improve a consumer’s life in a clear and demonstrable way. DeepTech also reflects that desire to seriously tackle big global issues, and if consumer data does become harder to access, a partnership or joint service with tech companies delivering far-reaching, game-changing solutions will be invaluable.

This Snapshots will also exist as a presentation. If you would like it presented to your brand(s), complete with video examples, let us know and we will arrange. We are also happy to facilitate introductions to any of the start-ups mentioned in this book.

phdmedia.com