"If you can’t find a place at the table, create a new table"

"If you can’t find a place at the table, just  a new table" CEO Jay Bailey of the Russell Innovation Centre for Entrepreneurs aptly underscored during the opening session of the 'Future of Digital Mission' in Atlanta. This approach characterises exactly what they have been doing in both Atlanta and Miami over the past few years, each in their own way and with their own emphasis.

What makes Atlanta particularly special for business - the state of Georgia also plays host to the largest number of Belgian companies in the US - is the unique combination of diversity, high-quality education, and creativity (an example for our own Brussels?). The capital of Georgia is growing rapidly and positioning itself as a technology hub for manufacturing technology, cybersecurity, deep tech, and mobility. For example, the Belgian IoT scale-up Sensolus was recently persuaded to start its conquest of the US from Atlanta.

Miami has a completely different story to tell. This city aspires to be the Web3 capital of the world and is attracting more and more entrepreneurs active in blockchain, tokenisation, finance, AR, and so on, alongside established names like Jeff Bezos. The current mayor, Francis Suarez, constantly underscores that his city is becoming the new Silicon Valley. A particularly favourable tax regime and a unique connection with the interesting South American markets are not strange to this development. 

Metaverse and AI 

Fourteen months ago, when we at Agoria started thinking about this mission, everything still revolved around the metaverse and NFTs. A few weeks later, with the launch of chatGPT, AI was back in the spotlight and the tech world was completely turned upside down. In that regard, the decision to take a somewhat broader look at the technologies shaping Web3, including AI, blockchain, IoT, and even quantum, was inevitable and even desirable.

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What quickly became clear in the United States is that virtual worlds where we spend massive amounts of time for the most diverse activities are being pushed aside by the big tech companies (with the exception of virtual worlds targeted at the very young, like Roblox). The metaverse, as Meta has presented it in its countless advertisements in recent months, is still a long way off. The same goes for tokenisation, which still needs to recover from the NFT crash of recent months.

The general opinion is that the first practical applications will be found in corporate and government applications, as we have seen with Microsoft, which is focusing on industrial metaverse applications. Another example of this came from AR specialist Magic Leap, which recently shifted its focus to industrial and medical applications rather than gaming, with powerful and lightweight AR headsets. 

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Here are some key takeaways from Agoria's very first ever inspiration mission to the US: 

• In Belgium, we have nothing to be ashamed of. We have the leading technology companies, especially in sectors such as industry, health, and biotechnology. What's more, it quickly became apparent that there are many innovators with Belgian roots working in both Atlanta and Miami. Belgium's Got Talent!
• It is striking, however,  that the environmental parameters within which companies operate are clearly different in the United States, and this has a direct impact on the growth potential of these companies and the overall health of the ecosystem. A sterling example of this is the close cooperation by and between universities and industry: professors take on the role of business leaders, campuses boast buildings shared with large technology companies and startups. This creates numerous opportunities for joint networking and research. This cooperation is an essential element for attracting talent in Atlanta.
• Industry leaders and academics in the US welcome the European AI legislation because of its ethically acceptable and clear framework.
• The exploitation of vulnerabilities in cyber infrastructure is increasing rapidly, and it takes companies longer to patch vulnerabilities (30 days) than it does cybercriminals (20 days). Calculate for yourself how many days you are then exposed to malicious actors. 
• We are moving towards a digital world where your digital likeness becomes increasingly important. It will be crucial for users to own and control those data, as emphasised by Chris Umé of Metaphysic.ai during his keynote in Miami.
• AI Virtual Assistants (AVAs) are evolving into digital humans capable of mimicking human interactions thanks to expanded memory capacities.
• Blockchain and tokenisation of real world assets are here to stay. After the NFT crash, the blockchain world is looking primarily at the tokenisation of real objects, such as grains from farmers in South America, for example. For those who are still in doubt: blockchain is here to stay, and more and more practical applications and use cases are being proposed. 
• If the United States wants to bolster its competitive position with China and India, it may be strategically important to deepen and strengthen relations with the South American markets. This creates an economic zone of 1.1 billion people instead of 400 million.
• Web 3 is all about data sharing and how to set up the right infrastructure to enable data sharing.
•  ...

See all the photos from our inspiration mission ‘The Future of Digital’ here:

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• Day 1 - 11 December 
• Day 2 - 12 December
• Day 3 - 13 December 
• Day 4 - 14 December
• Day 5 - 15 December

And be sure to read what the press had to say:

• De Tijd: Op zoek naar Web3 (for subscribers only)
• De Tijd: Jim Grubb (Cisco): ‘AI maakt ons honderd keer machtiger’ (for subscribers only)
• De Standaard: Dient innovatie altijd het algemeen belang? (for subscribers only)
• Trends: Belg Pascal Van Hentenryck leidt prestigieus Amerikaans AI-onderzoekscentrum: ‘Dit is een magisch moment’
• Tendances: Le Belge Pascal Van Hentenryck dirige un prestigieux centre de recherche américain sur l’IA: « C’est un moment magique »
• De Tijd: Krachtige AI maakt van saaie digitale assistenten 'digital humans' (for subscribers only)
• Trends: Productiever werken in 2024? We stelden Microsoft 5 vragen over de AI-assistent in Word en Excel
• Trends: Atlanta, een belangrijke technologiehub voor Belgische ondernemingen (for subscribers only)
• La Libre: “Mon job est de vous éviter d’aller en prison et de vous permettre de faire du business” (for subscribers only)
• La Libre: Mission belge à Miami: "Je ne veux pas d'ennuis avec Atlanta, mais nous, nous sommes une vraie ville internationale" (for subscribers only)
• La Libre: "L’Europe a tout à fait le potentiel pour rivaliser avec les États-Unis. Il faut arrêter de les regarder avec jalousie" (for subscribers only)
• Tendances: Technologie et diversité se rencontrent à Atlanta (for subscribers only)