by Mélody Deunier-Lisene, Voys Telecom, ITWeb, South Africa (excerpts published from original)

Taking place every year in Amsterdam is The Next Web Conference, which gathers some of the world’s sharpest tech minds for an intense two days in June. Tim Berners-Lee, Natasha Chamuleau, Brian Solis, Edward Snowden, Meik Wiking and Mo Gawdat were among the over 200 speakers at the 2022 event. Mélody Deunier-Lisene from Voys South Africa went along to take a dizzying dive into the future of digital technology.

To boldly go

In a realm where the phrase ‘the next big thing’ has more miles on it than a photon from the Big Bang, ‘The Next Web’ is a particularly apt moniker for a conference devoted to examining the outermost frontiers of the web. What are they, what do they reveal, are we going to go there, when and how? Attempts to answer these questions form some of the most exhilarating investigations, innovations and inventions currently emerging from many of the keenest minds of this or any age.

We are currently experiencing a technological hyper-renaissance where so much is changing so quickly that it can be both liberating and terrifying.

Up, up and away

Another standout speaker at The Next Web was Brian Solis. The ‘digital anthropologist’ and celebrated author spoke powerfully about his new book Lifescale:​​ How to Live a More Creative, Productive, and Happy Life in a manner both simple and true, which had the audience questioning their own impediments to happiness and productivity. Solis’ work is credited with strongly influencing the early digital and social marketing landscape.

Final frontiers

This could quite easily describe the purpose of The Next Web Conference as a whole. For anyone who fears the future or is troubled by technology, this conference is the perfect antidote: rarely have so many people been so excited about technology’s inherent potential to make the future a fun, free and fascinating place to be.

Please read the full article here, in addition to summaries of other standout speakers including, Mo Gawdat, Edward Snowden, Alisa Cohn, and Jason Silva.