The Horizon conference is Deloitte’s annual conference dedicated to the future of financial services. Every year, just before the summer doldrums hit the financial sector, the conference gathers financial industry professionals at the Philharmonie to illustrate innovative trends and new thinking that are likely to affect the industry. This year’s edition highlighted the importance of thinking “inside out instead of outside in”, as exponential organizations and new economies are gaining both traction and talents.

Keynote speaker Yuri Van Geest, co-founder of Singularity University Netherlands, captivated the audience with his speech on exponential organizations and artificial versus human intelligence, and stressed the importance of making organizations more technological and at the same time more human. According to Yuri Van Geest, an authentic purpose is the secret to success in the age of tech.

Alternative economies

“The financial sector is not only being disrupted by new technologies and an increased level of regulation. What we would like to show with this conference, is that new thinking, globalization and value-driven decision-makers are also reshaping the industry and challenging the status quo,“ explained Pascal Martino, Partner and Digital Leader at Deloitte Luxembourg.

The Horizon conference set the scene for the launch of Deloitte Luxembourg’s new whitepaper “Luxembourg – from recovery to opportunity”, which is a 10-year retrospective on the financial sector in Luxembourg. Yves Francis, Managing Partner at Deloitte Luxembourg presented the main findings of the report in his opening speech. Minister of Finance Pierre Gramegna addressed the audience through a personalized video message and Marc McCaughrean from the European Space Agency took the finance professionals on a virtual journey to Mars.

The 2017 edition of the Horizon conference took place on 29 June and was sponsored by LHoFT, with Paperjam as media sponsor. For more information about this conference and former editions, please visit www.horizonconference.lu