Topic: The Metaverse

Calum Chace

Calum Chace is an acclaimed author and engaging speaker on how AI (artificial intelligence) is set to re-shape the global economic and social landscape in the medium- and long-term.

He is the author of ‘The Economic Singularity’ (2016), and “Surviving AI‘ (2015). They are concise, easy-to-read guides to what’s coming, explaining – respectively – technological unemployment (the economic singularity) and the possible creation of a super-intelligence (the technological singularity). He is also the author of ‘Pandora’s Brain’ (2014), a novel examining the possible impact of super-intelligence, and its 2021 sequel, ‘Pandora’s Oracle’.

In 2018 Calum co-founded the Economic Singularity Club, a London based think-tank focused on the future of jobs. It aims to find ways to persuade society to take seriously the possibility of widespread technological unemployability and to promote activities which will enable positive outcomes to be realised, if and when it happens. The Economic Singularity Club published a collection of short stories from members, entitled ‘Stories from 2045’.

He regularly contributes to Forbes and is the author of The Internet Startup Bible, a business best-seller published by Random House in 2000.

Calum is also a chairman, coach and consultant to entrepreneurs, based on 30 years successful experience as a business leader, working as a CEO, strategy consultant, marketer and salesman.

Calum completed a degree in philosophy from Oxford University.

Lindsey McInerney

Whether building hyper-growth startups or advising Fortune 500 companies, the Royal Family or the United Nations, Lindsey McInerney has spent her career helping people understand the impact of cutting edge technologies and adopt them early.

An internet nerd and tech futurist, Lindsey has launched multiple projects in the metaverse and web3 space and remains excited about the ways crypto, blockchain, NFTs, and extended reality (XR) will change our digital and physical landscape.

As Global Head of Technology and Innovation at AB InBev (Anheuser-Busch), the world's largest brewer, she launched Stella Artois into the metaverse in an explosive partnership with ZED RUN, a crypto horse racing game.

One of the first major brand executions in the space, the Cannes Lion award- nominated campaign, put Stella Artois on the map as the first beer brand and FMCG company in the metaverse and was well received by traditional and crypto media alike.

McInerney was named to the 2023 ‘Thinkers50 Radar List’, a cohort of 30 thinkers whose ideas are predicted to make an important impact on management thinking. She has also been named one of ‘The 30 Most Influential People in the Metaverse’, one of ‘The Most Prominent Digital Futurists to Watch Out For in 2022’, one of the ‘Top Players of the Metaverse' and an 'Adweek Pride Star class of 2022'.

As Founder and CEO of Black Sun Labs, Lindsey works with executives, teams and personalities on their web3 and metaverse strategies. She is also the CEO of Sixth Wall, a technology and entertainment company co-founded with actor/producer Mila Kunis and producer Lisa Sterbakov.

Aleissia Laidacker

Aleissia is a Cretive Technology Director with over 20 years experience in the Immersive Technology space. 

She is a leader in AR/XR, where she was Head of Developer Experience at Magic Leap. Working with numerous partners to find creative and technically innovative ways of pushing the boundaries of interactions and storytelling using Augmented Reality.

She led as the Global Director of Creative Technology at The Mill working with teams to build world-class Experiences and Branded-Content for AR, XR, Virtual Worlds and LBEs.
She also advises and consults on a number of startups, focused on building the future Open Metaverse through technologies such as Web3, Blockchain and XR. 

Previous to working in the XR space, she worked in Game Development for over 10 years. Having led the Technology, Gameplay and AI Direction on some large game franchises such as Assassin's Creed at Ubisoft.

She is also co-founder of Mixed Flour, an Immersive Design Company focused on creating location-based experiences that bring together Food, Technology and Interaction Design.

As a technology evangelist, she often speaks at conferences, about XR, Interaction Design, Immersive Experiences, The Metaverse and Artificial Intelligence.