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Welcome to Country

Join a dynamic discussion on how the fusion of cutting-edge technologies is forging Australia’s path forward. This panel explores the forward looking trends in tech and how we can leverage our national strengths to secure a competitive advantage. This session will uncover how these converging frontiers can redefine our industries, drive economic productivity and prosperity, and secure Australia’s position as a global innovation leader.

Australia stands at a pivotal moment in the global quantum technology race. With world-class research and a growing ecosystem of quantum startups and scaleups, the country has the potential to become a global leader in this transformative technology. However, there is an urgent need for coordinated national action to ensure Australia doesn’t fall behind as capital, talent and R&D infrastructure are increasingly concentrated in jurisdictions with deliberate, future-oriented policy and funding strategies.

This panel will bring together researchers, industry leaders and adopters to explore how quantum technologies – spanning computing, sensing, and communications – can unlock transformative productivity gains across key industries such as healthcare, cybersecurity and climate modelling, bolster economic resilience, and strengthen sovereign capability. It will also examine how Australia can transform its comparative advantage into global leadership through strategic investment, talent development, and regulatory support.

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AI is one of the most transformative technologies of our generation, with the potential to lift productivity, reshape industries, and drive innovation across every sector. Yet this potential will not be realised unless Australians have the clarity, control, and assurance they need to feel confident in using it.

The Future Ready 2025 report shows that while adoption is rising, uncertainty about fairness, transparency, and safety remains a core barrier. Without trust, deployment in areas such as healthcare, government services, employment platforms or financial systems will stall – even when the technology itself is capable and safe. For small businesses, uncertainty can mean the difference between competitiveness and hesitation; for marginalised communities, weak safeguards risk embedding inequity and harm.

Women in Highly Technical Occupations Research Launch

As organisations scale and transform in response to a wave of digital change – including the adoption of AI and automation, new ways of working and evolving customer expectation they face a dual challenge: how to quickly and effectively transform, while maintaining culture and engaging their workforce through change.

This panel explores how to navigate transformation with both technical rigour and cultural clarity. It will look at how to retain and evolve culture through periods of rapid change, how to engage workforces during uncertainty, and how to ensure that investments in AI, automation and systems change don’t come at the expense of trust, connection and performance.

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Australia’s digital future won’t be delivered by government alone. Nor can business pursue digital ambition in a vacuum. True nation-building in the 21st century depends on a new kind of collaboration – one that aligns policy, infrastructure, capital and long-term thinking across sectors.

How do we build the foundations – connectivity, compute, capital and capability that can underpin a stronger, smarter, more resilient Australia? The session will examine what it takes to move beyond rhetoric and drive real-world change: from accelerating digital infrastructure and closing investment gaps, to rethinking the role of government in de-risking innovation and anchoring sovereign capability.

This panel will explore how national security technologies underpin both sovereign resilience and long-term economic growth. From cybersecurity and secure communications to advanced manufacturing, autonomous systems, AI, and quantum, these capabilities are deeply interconnected. They shape the way Australia protects critical assets, ensures the integrity of supply chains.

National security technology is no longer a set of discrete industries — it is a complex, interdependent ecosystem that spans defence, industry, and the broader economy. The ability to develop, integrate, and scale these technologies will determine not only our defence readiness, but also our competitiveness in global markets.

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Drawing insights from earlier dialogues on skilling from the Summit, this panel features a conversation around the national imperative to advance AI skills across every sector. Panelists will break down bold, actionable strategies to put AI policies into practice, exploring real-world opportunities and challenges in reskilling today’s workforce by ensuring the participation of all Australians. The discussion will also spotlight innovative approaches to ensure equitable access to AI education and lifelong learning, empowering the current and next generation of workers to thrive in an AI-powered economy.

Cargo Hall, Overseas Passenger Terminal, Circular Quay.

Hear from Allegra Spender MP, Independent Federal Member for Wentworth and  Co-Chair of Parliamentary Friends of Tech and Innovation, Scott Farquhar, Chair of Tech Council and Damian Kassagbi, CEO Tech Council.

Fireside chat: Professor Michelle Simmons AO – quantum physicist and founder of Silicon Quantum Computing – sits down with Culture Amp founder and Tech Council Director, Didier Elzinga to share what it feels like to stand at the edge of possibility. From pioneering the development of the world’s first quantum computers to navigating the doubts, setbacks and breakthroughs that define truly original work, Michelle will reflect on the ambition and resilience required to bring radical ideas into being.