Tunji Adeyinka, MD Connect Marketing Services, organisers of Tech+ 2016 talks about what to expect at Nigeria’s biggest tech gathering in this speech delivered today July 12, 2016 at the Press Conference for Tech+ 2016 in Lagos:
Good afternoon gentlemen of the press, partners, colleagues and friends. You are welcome to the unveiling of the Tech+ 2016 event.
About a year ago, the Tech+ story started. It started as a gathering of all things technology, a launch-pad for innovation, for new products and services in the consumer and business technology space.
The event was presented in a unique format that combined an exhibition, a conference and a gaming experience. The event provided a test-bed for new technologies, new applications and great innovation.
Last year the event took place over two days and drew over 6,500 attendees, over 30 speakers and over 30 exhibitors and thousands of gamers. The theme last year was a Digital Future.
This year, the event has been expanded to even greater dimensions. Our theme is A Connected World. The Internet of Things is Revolutionizing the world around us, with technology being built into everything we do, there is an explosion of connectivity and innovation in every area of our lives.
In education, health care, finance, automobile, etc. Cisco predicts that by the year 2020, there will be 50 billion devices connected to the internet. Gartner forecasts that there will be 6.4 billion connected things by 2016 and 20.8 billion by 2020. Some of these devices will connect students in the remotest parts of the world to first grade curriculum and lessons developed in advanced climes.
Some will connect patients to medical counsel in the most advanced medical facilities in the world. Some will connect to fun and games and content assisting in advancing business performance and others will connect to opportunities across the world. Our vision is that Tech+ will always provide a platform for these advancements to be presented, sampled and experienced by the largest test group in one location or more.
This year, Tech+ is targeting 10,000 participants, 100 exhibitors, over 3,000 gamers, over 55 sessions and over 80 speakers. The Conference has been organized into five different tracks and segments with topics and speakers addressing the different tracks.
The tracks are the Government Technology Forum where topics like the Smart City and e-Government will be discussed. The government Track will be dedicated to government officials at the Federal, State and Local Government levels as well as service providers.
The Start-Up Forum with topics like different capital sources and funding, success stories and rules. This forum is for entrepreneurs at different stages of their venture. The Marketing and Media Forum will address topics like the how disruption affects global brands, the role of audio visual content in marketing, etc. This track is for Marketing Professionals working on the client side or the agency side.
The CIO Track will have topics like Life on the Front-Line: Perspectives on the role of the CIO and the Evolution of IT, Big Data Conversion: Monetizing Customer Service. This track is for C-Level officers in Corporates.
The Education and Women in Technology Track will discuss topics like the Implementation of the Smart School protocol in public schools. This track is for school administrators and education experts.
The Gaming Zone will feature Mortal Kombat, FIFA 16 and Call of Duty. It will also feature Mobile Games like GidiRun developed by a Nigerian company, Gamsole and running on MTN Gaming Plus. The Kids section will feature fun and interactive learning for kids ranging from age 4 to 17.
The Virtual Reality Theatre will feature the future of simulation in consumer engagement. Also, Google in partnership with Livity will be providing training to young people on digital marketing on the 22nd and 23rd of July.
To cap everything, Coscharis will be unveiling the All new Jaguar F-Pace, the first Jaguar SUV in Nigeria in a Tech+ Exclusive for just 70 people on Thursday 21st in the evening. In conjunction with IBM, we will be kicking off a Hackathon to look at creating innovations for the agricultural sector
This year, we have a team of speakers including Dr. Mobola Johnson, the Chairperson of Alliance for Affordable Internet, Kamran Elahian and Monique Woodard, both of 500 Startup, Tony Scott, the CIO of the US Government, Rodney Williams, CEO of LISNR, Alon Lits, GM Uber for Sub-Saharan Africa, Lola Masha of OLX, Helen Anatogu of IdeaHub, David Okeme, ADVAN President, Ferdi Moolman, CEO, MTN Nigeria, Remi Ogunpitan, MD of IBST, Nnamdi Ezeigbo MD of Slot, Mitchel Elegbe of Interswitch, and many other notable speakers.
In closing, we will like to thank our partners who have made this event possible. MTN, the lead sponsor for the event, Coscharis, Samsung, Lenovo, Jumia, LASSAA, Megaletrics, Stanbic IBTC Bank, IBST, Jumia, iSpace, Terragon Group, Africa Movie Channel, City FM, the Guardian, YNaija.
Also, thank you to the organizing companies, Image and Time, Neukleous, Quore Media, Redwood Consulting, Imagine and Connect Marketing. We will also like to thank our Advisory Board who have devoted time to make this happen.
Thank you and have a Tech+ experience.