Biography: Adjiedj Bakas was born of Indian parents in 1963 into a family of teachers in Suriname and has lived and worked in the Netherlands since 1983. With roots in three continents, he is at home everywhere. He is widely travelled, erudite and combines craftsmanship and knowledge with a large dose of humour. He runs his own trend practice and utilises his own research and that of various other (inter)national partners and parties. He has worked in broadcasting and was the director of the trend communication agency Dexter bv. He studied Dutch (specialising in Communication skills) in Utrecht (1983-1987) and is currently a visiting lecturer at various universities and colleges in a range of countries, including the Netherlands, Abu Dhabi, Shanghai, London, Suriname and Recife (Brazil). Bakas was elected ‘Trendwatcher of the Year 2009’ and ‘Black Businessman of the Year 2008.’ He is in the top ten list of most frequently booked speakers in the Netherlands.
Talk description: Collectively, the 400 million Europeans have already left 50 billion online internet tracks. Linking together all of that different data and using it to produce a business model is becoming one of the big trends of the 21st century. Soon there will be no more secrets. But the flip-side of this advancement is becoming evident. Technology has transcended the human dimension. People do not realise that their PC, telephone, refrigerator, pacemaker and car talk to one another about their owners. Neighbourhood quarrels are now thrashed out on social networking sites and almost no-one has laid down rules for what will happen to their Facebook profile, Hotmail account or the rest of their digital inheritance should they die unexpectedly. This results in old social media profiles becoming coma profiles or digital orphans. Knowledge is power, and that is since time immemorial. In an inspiring talk Adjiedj Bakas will tell you what is going to happen with our privacy in the coming decades.
Photo: Avi Goodall
