POWER AND PERIL OF THE DIGITAL AGE

Dates: Thursday and Friday, 4–5 November 2021, 9.00 am–12.30 pm AEDT
Venue: Live-streamed and now on YouTube
Brochure: The brochure is available in two forms:
(a) an abridged document (pdf: 5.8 MB) providing just the program, and
(b) a complete document (pdf: 6.2 MB) providing the program, abstracts, and speaker biographies.

On this page:

• Overview
• Presentations

Overview

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 and Presentations

1.0: Day 1 — Welcome and Official Opening
	Welcome and Acknowledgement of Country Susan Pond AM FRSN FTSE FAHMS President, Royal Society of NSW Official Opening Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC QC Governor of New South Wales Moderator and Rapporteur Ian Oppermann FRSN FTSE Chief Data Scientist, NSW Government Industry Professor, University of Technology Sydney
1.1 Science and Technology underpinning the Digital Age: Past, Present, and Future
	Cathy Foley AO PSM FRSN FAA FTSE Australia’s Chief Scientist Australian Government Hugh Durrant-Whyte FRS FREng FAA FTSE NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer NSW Government Panel and Q&A
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 Panel and Q&A
1.3 Avoiding a Digital Dark Age
	Shawn Ross Director, Digitally-Enabled Research (Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research)) and Professor of History and Archeology Macquarie University Theresa K D Anderson Social Informaticist, Connecting Stones Consulting and Research Fellow, School of Information Sciences University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Panel and Q&A
1.4 Health of our Digital Child
	Zoran Bolevich Chief Executive, eHealth NSW Chief Information Officer, NSW Health Louisa Jorm FAHMS Professor, Faculty of Medicine and Foundation Director, Centre for Big Data Research in Health UNSW (Sydney) Panel and Q&A
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 Panel and Q&A
1.6 Setting up for Day 2, including the Challenges
	Ian Oppermann FRSN FTSE (Moderator and Rapporteur) Chief Data Scientist, NSW Government Industry Professor, University of Technology Sydney
2.0: Day 2 —Welcome and Recap of Day 1
	Welcome and Acknowledgement of Country Susan Pond AM FRSN FTSE FAHMS President, Royal Society of NSW Recap of Day 1 (Moderator and Rapporteur) Ian Oppermann FRSN FTSE Chief Data Scientist, NSW Government Industry Professor, University of Technology Sydney
2.1 The Light and Shade of Technology on our Digital Child
	Ian Oppermann FRSN FTSE (Moderator and Rapporteur) Chief Data Scientist, NSW Government Industry Professor, University of Technology Sydney Edward Santow Industry Professor, University of Technology Sydney (Former) Australian Human Rights Commissioner The Honourable Verity Firth Executive Director, Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion University of Technology Sydney Marc Fennell Journalist, Interviewer, and Maker of Things Aengus Tran Founder and Chief Executive Officer Harrison.ai Panel and Q&A
2.2 Address by NSW Government Minister
	The Hon. Victor Dominello MP Minister for Digital and Minister for Customer Service, Government of NSW Member for Ryde, Parliament of NSW
2.3 Securing the Future of our Digital Child
	Ian Oppermann FRSN FTSE (Moderator and Rapporteur) Chief Data Scientist, NSW Government Industry Professor, University of Technology Sydney Robert Hillard Managing Partner Deloitte Consulting Asia Pacific Angie Abdilla Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Old Ways, New Australia Professor of Practice, Faculty of Art, Architecture and Design, UNSW (Sydney) Toby Walsh FRSN FAA Laureate Fellow and Scientia Professor of Artificial Intelligence UNSW (Sydney) David Pryor Senior Team Leader, Energy Security Safeguard NSW Department of Planning, Industry, and Environment Panel and Q&A
2.4 Future Australia Short Statements from Learned Academy Representatives
	Ian Oppermann FRSN FTSE (Moderator and Rapporteur) Chief Data Scientist, NSW Government Industry Professor, University of Technology Sydney Tony Cunningham AO FAHMS Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences Richard Waterhouse FAHA FASSA Australian Academy of Humanities Toby Walsh FRSN FAA Australian Academy of Science Deborah Lupton FASSA Australian Academy of Social Sciences Annabelle Duncan PSM FRSN FTSE Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering Panel and Q&A
2.5 Wrap-up and Close
	Ian Oppermann FRSN FTSE (Moderator and Rapporteur) Chief Data Scientist, NSW Government Industry Professor, University of Technology Sydney