If you’re interested in the Internet of Things (IoT), don’t miss this year’s CEBIT Australia business technology conference and show from October 29 to 31 in Sydney.

The event will include more than 200 speakers and a show floor packed with technology demonstrations.

But it’s the impressive line-up of IoT-related talks, panel discussions and workshops that’s caught our attention.

We’ve saved you time by listing the standout sessions below. Our pick is the panel discussion about who will pay for smart city projects, but take a look and see what grabs you. Also check the CEBIT site for the most up-to-date version of the agenda and information about other sessions.

Smart cities

  • Sunshine Coast Council: The power of creating a smart Australian region – Smart city discussions typically focus on big cities, but this talk is about applying smart city concepts to a regional area. Learn about behind the scenes decision-making, processes, implementation and investments from Sunshine Coast Council Smart City Framework Coordinator Michael Whereat. He recently worked at Sunshine Coast International Broadband Network Project, which will provide “Australia’s fastest connection to Asia””.
  • Building financial sustainable smart cities. Is there a better economic model to fund progress? – Cash-strapped councils and state governments should make a bee-line to this panel discussion, which proposes that the “basic model of expecting government to fund smart cities projects is neither sustainable nor a long-term solution for industry”. The panellists will include representatives from Infrastructure Australia, University of Wollongong and the IoT Alliance Australia.
  • Moving from strategy to action. The secrets behind scaling mobility & smart tech to create the city we all dream of! – If you’re interested in people, policies and planning, then this panel discussion is for you. It acknowledges the challenges funding, red tape and changes in government create for smart city initiatives and looks at “innovative processes or initiatives” that have led to “less talk and more action”. Participants will include City of Brisbane, Central Coast Council, Transport for NSW, ARUP and Aurecon.
  • The future smart city: How geo-optimisation is using technology to change lives for the better – We’re very familiar with Sydney’s transport challenges, so we’re keen to hear this talk about how AI optimisation company Staybil is working with Transport for NSW to achieve the very ambitious goal of a “30-minute Sydney”. Learn about how open government data about transit movements and schedules, freight and logistics tracking and demographics can help.
  • Designing a city built for everyone: How smart cities can deliver better community outcomes – Are the right mix of people driving smart city projects? This talk examines if lack of diversity in smart city teams could result in those projects failing to address community needs. It’s an interesting question that’s easily ignored.

Data science

  • Ethical & functional AI - A discussion about the ethical use of AI in Australia – As we race to give AI influence over important decisions, are we thinking hard enough about the outcomes? This panel session will involve Dr Tiberio Caetano, Chief Scientist of Gradient Institute and Adjunct Professor at UNSW, who has 20 years of AI experience. Panellists will also include Charlie Wood, General Partner of IAG Firemark Ventures, and Liesl Yearsley, CEO of AI company Akin.com.
  • The minds behind the eyes: vision AI innovations in Australia – Learn about the use of ‘AI vision’ to manage service levels and register fraud and theft in retail banks, and how Meat & Livestock Australia, Fremantle Terminal and local sheep export companies are involved in the development of video analytics to protect sheep. And you’ll hear how drones, image sensors and computer vision are improving powerline inspection.
  • Creating great AI and data science to feed the world without wrecking the planet – Local agtech company The Yield has plenty of real-world IoT experience, so this session about how it is using AI with Azure should be interesting.
  • What is data empathy? Everything you need to know about a design thinking approach to AI application development – This talk will explain a “simple framework” for developing AI projects the “right way”, which involves defining business problems and turning them into data science questions. The speaker will be Franki Chamaki, co-founder of Data61-backed AI company HIVERY.
  • The essentials of data communication – If your job involves analysing and interpreting data, you’ll benefit from knowing how to visualise it. In this session, Atlassian’s senior data scientist will talk about the data visualisation principles he uses.
  • Deep dive discussion: There's room on the chain for everyone – Supply chain tracking company Escavox gave fascinating insights at our IoT Festival this year. Here’s an opportunity to ask their CEO Luke Wood questions. He’ll be part of a panel discussion about blockchain, and will then answer questions.
  • OpenGov NSW data API.NSW workshop for publishers – Learn how to access OneGov NSW data sets via API.NSW, and about other data sources available via OpenGov.nsw.

Industrial IoT

  • Infratech 4.0: The power of the digital twin – If your organisation deals with construction, property and physical infrastructure, you might find this session interesting. Engineering and construction services company GHD Digital will take the audience through a digital twin case study.
  • Industry 4.0 research to collaboration – The term ‘Industry 4.0’ is thrown about so freely it’s in danger of becoming meaningless. So, it will be interesting to see what a panel comprising a manufacturer, NSW’s Chief Scientist and Engineer, the director of a university R&D unit and a marine systems ecologist have to say about it.
  • Accelerating the implementation of industrial IOT – This session will be led by Paul Berkovic, who is the Chief Commercial Officer of IoT company Rayven and has double major in electrical engineering and computer science. He’ll talk about which problems are a good fit for IoT, what ‘good’ IoT solutions look like and build a mini IoT solution. Everyone from executives to commercial or operational managers may find this interesting.

Security

  • The weakest link - Effective supplier and third-party risk management – Your organisation may be strict about authentication and data encryption, but what about the organisations it works with? Third parties may be sharing, transmitting, generating or storing data about your operations or your customers. Learn how third party risk management can go wrong.

Disabilities and healthcare

  • The largest underserved tech market you've probably never thought of – Technologists, entrepreneurs, and engineers would be “crazy” to ignore people with disabilities, claim the organisers of this talk. That’s because it’s a huge and growing market.
  • Tech start-ups for the differently-abled: loop+ - Could wearable technology reduce hospital admissions? That’s the premise that will be explored in this talk by the founder of Loop+, a company behind a solution for monitoring the movement of people in wheelchairs to provide automated health alerts and risk assessments.

CEBIT Australia 2019 will be at Sydney’s International Convention Centre from October 29 to 31. Book tickets to CEBIT here.