POWER AND PERIL OF THE DIGITAL AGE

Dates: Thursday and Friday, 4–5 November 2021, 9.00am–12.30pm AEDT
Venue: Live streaming and subsequent on YouTube
Registration: Details to follow.

We are at a moment in time when we must acknowledge and address the inevitably rising tide of data use and digital services. History will categorize the early decades of the 21st Century as the digital age, the age of prodigious development and use of digital technologies that enable us to transfer and access information easily and swiftly.

So much so that digital interaction is a defining characteristic of modern human life. Societies, economies, and political processes are infused and connected by the ubiquitous use of smart machines and software that process and communicate information to us in ways that would have been unimaginable just a few years ago.

The pace of digitisation was already fast by the end of 2019 before COVID-19 emerged. The pandemic broke through cultural barriers and enabled implementation of digital strategies in a matter of days or weeks rather than years. Digital technologies are central to dealing with the pandemic itself, as well as being the primary driver of productivity in almost every other aspect of society.

Almost all companies, governments and organisations across the world are increasingly taking advantage of the benefits associated with data analytics, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things to solve problems never solved before, to undertake projects in five days that would have taken five years — problems such as those embodied in the United Nations General Assembly’s Sustainable Development Goals and their achievement by 2030. Tangible benefits include greater social connectivity, learning opportunities, information storage, versatile working and transport, and greater access to entertainment, news, banking and finance.

Unlocking the power of the digital age also brings peril, associated with concerns about data security, state-based and transnational crime, and terrorism, complexity, privacy, social disconnection, media manipulation, manipulation of the truth, communities left behind, national defence and market vulnerabilities, outstripping rule-making and regulatory structures.

This year, the Royal Society of NSW in partnership with the Learned Academies – Health and Medicine, Humanities, Science, Social Sciences, and Technology and Engineering, has chosen “Power and Peril of the Digital Age” as the theme for its annual Forum.

Our goal is to have a grown-up conversation about digitisation and the use of data. It will be framed around the future life of a child born on the first day of the Forum, 4 November 2021. This child will be born into a world of increasingly complex digital systems that hold great value and vulnerability.

Starting with a technological framing, the Forum will explore several major aspects which will impact the journey of that child as we approach 2030 and beyond. We will explore aspects of technology, health, defence, and security in a digital age, and the changing nature of industry as the world and society evolves.

Finally, our annual Forum will be a call to arms for the host Societies to focus on challenges identified during the day that must be addressed for Australia to remain a prosperous, successful, and safe democracy in the digital world.

The Royal Society of NSW acknowledges the generous support of Her Excellency, the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC QC, Governor of NSW, the Office of the NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer, and the NSW Smart Sensing Network.

Program: Day 1 (Thursday, 4 November, 9.00 am – 12.30 pm)

Time	Session	Subject and Speakers
09:00–09.20		Welcome to Country Susan Pond AM FRSN FTSE FAHMS President, Royal Society of NSW and Chair, Forum Program Committee
		Official Opening Her Excellency, The Honourable Margaret Beazley AC QC Governor of New South Wales
		Introduction to the Moderator and Rapporteur Susan Pond AM FRSN FTSE FAHMS President, Royal Society of NSW
		Moderator and Rapporteur Ian Oppermann FRSN FTSE Chief Data Scientist, NSW Government Industry Professor, University of Technology Sydney
09.20–10.00	1.1	Science and technology underpinning the digital age: past, present and future
		Cathy Foley AO PSM FAA FTSE HonFAIP FInstP Australia’s Chief Scientist Australian Government
		Hugh Durrant-Whyte FRS FREng FAA FTSE FIEEE HonFIEAust NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer NSW Government
10.00–10.30	1.2	Digital lifetime of a child born today
		Frances Foster Thorpe Executive Director, Shaping Futures NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet
		Sue Bennett Professor, Deputy Director and Connected Child Co-Leader ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child University of Wollongong
10:30–10.40		Morning Tea
10.40–11.10	1.3	Avoiding a digital dark age
		Shawn Ross FSA Director, Digitally-Enabled Research (Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research)) and Professor of History and Archeology Macquarie University
		Theresa K D Anderson MACS Snr CP Social Informaticist, Connecting Stones Consulting and Research Fellow, School of Information Sciences University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
11.10–11.40	1.4	Health of our digital child
		Nigel Lyons Deputy Secretary, Health Systems Strategy and Planning Department of Health, NSW Government
		Louisa Jorm FAHMS Professor, Faculty of Medicine and Foundation Director, Centre for Big Data Research in Health UNSW (Sydney)
11.40–12.20	1.5	Safety and security of our digital child
		Dale Lambert PSM FTSE Chief, Cyber and Electronic Warfare Division Defence Science and Technology Group Australian Government Department of Defence
		Rory Medcalf Professor and Head, National Security College Crawford School of Public Policy Australian National University
		Audience Q&A
12.20–12.30	1.6	Setting up for Day 2, including the Challenges
		Ian Oppermann FRSN FTSE Chief Data Scientist, NSW Government Industry Professor, University of Technology Sydney

 

Program: Day 2 (Friday, 5 November, 9.00 am – 12.30 pm)

Time	Session	Subject and Speakers
09:00–09.20		Welcome and Acknowledgement of Country Susan Pond AM FRSN FTSE FAHMS President, Royal Society of NSW
		Recap of Day 1 Ian Oppermann FRSN FTSE Moderator and Rapporteur
09.20–10.20	2.1	The light and shade of technology on our digital child
		Moderator: Dr Ian Oppermann FRSN FTSE
		Edward Santow Industry Professor, University of Technology Sydney (Immediate Past) Australian Human Rights Commissioner
		The Hon. Verity Firth Executive Director, Social Justice University of Technology Sydney
		Mr Marc Fennell Journalist and Maker of Things
		Aengus Tran Founder and Chief Executive Officer Harrison.ai
10:20–10.30		Morning Tea
10.30–11.30	2.2	Securing the future of our digital child
		Robert Hillard Managing Partner Deloitte Consulting Asia Pacific
		Angie Abdilla Founder and Chief Executive Officer Old Ways, New Australia
		Toby Walsh FRSN FAA Laureate Fellow and Scientia Professor of Artificial Intelligence UNSW (Sydney)
		Kate Wilson Executive Director, Climate Change and Sustainability NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment
11.30–12.10	2.3	Future Australia
		Short Statements from Learned Academy Representatives
12.10–12.30	2.4	Wrap-up and Close
		Ian Oppermann FRSN FTSE Chief Data Scientist, NSW Government Industry Professor, University of Technology Sydney