Reflections of ResponsibleTech Summit 2020

Agile is all about putting the user at the centre of all we do. But recognising the humanity of the user is not something we always consider. Given how our humanity is being challenged on so many levels right now, it seemed the perfect opportunity for the AgileAus community to come together (virtually) for ResponsibleTech Summit 2020.

Pivoting on the theme of creating a future where humanity lies at the heart of our tech, ResponsibleTech Summit 2020 featured a stellar cast of thought leaders and lead researchers from across the country (and the world!)

Some highlights of the event included Queenland’s Chief Entrepreneur Leanne Kemp delivering a talk from her paddock; Chris Cooper of Responsible Tech Australia taking on big tech with his perspective on regulation; Laura Summers of Debias AI on decoding biases that exist in machine learning and Cyborg anthropologist & UX designer Amber Case who shared all the way from Portland, Oregon on why we need calm tech.

It was also incredible to hear from Matthew Beard from the Ethics Centre on the four horsemen of unethical tech; incoming Director of Data61 Professor Jon Whittle on how agilists can actually embed values and ethics in software – as well as a fantastic influence from 3Ai with Zena Assaad and Ellen Broad sharing on the emerging safety considerations of robotics and bridging the gap between the roles in responsible tech respectively.
 

As part of the quest to better understand how tech is being built and delivered responsibly in Australia, we are in the process of conducting a survey and producing a ResponsibleTech report. We’d greatly appreciate if you could complete this ~5 minute survey to help us achieve this.

Our thanks go once again to the speakers, sponsors, supporters and attendees for making the inaugural ResponsibleTech Summit so inspiring! We are so glad you were part of the conversation on how we can innovate responsibly and build and deliver tech that is useful, trusted and trustworthy.