Ignore the naysayers was former Apple chief evangelist Guy Kawasaki’s message to entrepreneurs at the opening of CeBIT Australia.
The conference, one of the largest business technology events in the Asia Pacific, got underway on Tuesday.
“Can you imagine if Steve Jobs came to a show like CeBIT and told someone that he had an idea to dramatically change computing, and they said, nah it can’t be done? If Steve had listened to that, we never would have had one of the most successful profitable companies in the world today,” Kawasaki said.
According to Hannover Fairs Australia managing director Harvey Stockbridge, this year’s conference, which runs until Thursday and includes over 400 exhibitors, featured unparalleled interest from academia, industry, and government.
“Already our exhibitors are reporting great leads from discussions on the show floor, and we look forward to another two days of great ideas, business deals and education,” he says.
The first day of the conference focused on the topics of social business, mobile engagement and big data analytics.
New South Wales Minister for Finance, Services and Property Dominic Perrottet told the conference the tech sector was full of passion and purpose, and was a source of new energy for the Australian economy.
“We are fortunate to be living through a technology revolution that is transforming almost every aspect of our lives,” he says.
“From how we shop to how we travel, how we exercise to how we sleep, how we do business to how we talk to our friends… all our most common and everyday activities are being changed, challenged and disrupted at warp speed.
“I’m excited to be here at CeBIT because more than just an exhibition or a selling opportunity, this conference is an opportunity for us to think about the challenges that are to come – and how technology can help us solve them.”
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