Fast Company’s first-ever European Innovation Festival will convene in Milan and Florence, Italy, on July 9-11, for three days of in-depth discussions and experiences designed to highlight the intersection of humanity and superintelligent machines.
The festival is sponsored by Gucci, and the first part of the event will take place at the luxury brand’s Milan head office in the historic Caproni aeronautical factory, built in 1915. For select attendees, the third and final day of the festival will feature a field trip to Florence; guests will visit the Gucci ArtLab, a center for experimentation and development of leather goods and shoes.
Confirmed speakers for the festival include Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, an economist and international development expert who has twice served as finance minister of Nigeria; Jared Leto, actor, singer, songwriter, and director; Yuval Noah Harari, professor, historian, philosopher and bestselling author of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind; Alec Ross, a technology policy expert—he was senior advisor on innovation to Hillary Clinton during her term as secretary of state—and author of Industries of the Future; Natalie Massenet, founder of Net-A-Porter and cofounder and managing partner, Imaginary Ventures; Riccardo Sabatini, a scientist and entrepreneur known for his work in numerical modeling of complex systems; Julian Birkinshaw, professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at the London Business School; Jessica Brillhart, an immersive director and writer and founder of Vrai Pictures; and Marco Bizzarri, president and CEO of Gucci.
The theme of the festival, “The Dawn of Superintelligence,” aims to explore the ways humans and machines can collaborate to create a new paradigm for society. The conversations will be punctuated by a set of performances and experiences that will highlight the human senses.
The event extends the Fast Company Innovation Festival, now in its fifth year, to Europe for the first time.
Visit the European Innovation Festival website for ticket purchase information and more details on the venues. Additional speakers and sessions will be announced in the coming weeks.
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