Keynote Presentations

Mark Pesce

Inventor, Writer, Educator and Futurist

Mark Pesce has been exploring the forefront of emerging developments in science, technology and media for a quarter of a century and is known internationally as the inventor of VRML. From the latest trends on the Internet, to current developments in neuroeconomics, to the future of design in an energy-conscious world, Pesce is first and foremost a storyteller. The author of five books and numerous articles, Pesce has also been a panelist on the hit ABC show THE NEW INVENTORS for the last three seasons. In 2006 Pesce founded FutureSt, a Sydney media and technology consultancy which works with clients such as Telstra, Lonely Planet and SanDisk to refine products and strategies to meet their consumer and technology needs.

Dr Richard Eden

Deputy Director-General, Corporate Services, Education Queensland 

Richard is responsible for leadership in policy, investment and strategic direction for both learning and management environments as well as business transformation and educational reform made possible via automation. Since 2002, Dr Eden has been the planner, architect and deliverer of the Queensland Government's Smart Classrooms strategy. The Smart Classrooms initiative includes:

• the enterprise ICT platform across 1300 state schools in Queensland
• standardising business processes and providing common software solutions for student management, finance
• management and school management across 65,000 teachers and administrators working in those schools
• developing and providing the digital learning materials and learning management environments for modern eLearning
• ensuring the workforce is competent in digital pedagogy
• providing flexible learning spaces, both physical and virtual.

Prior to this, Richard was the Chief Information Officer responsible for the State's land ownership, water, soil, vegetation and climate data for over a decade. Richard has consulted widely across many industry sectors on automation potential, strategies and implementation, including in Asia with the Harvard Institute for International Development.

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