EmTech Investment Meeting in Davos Gathers Investors with More Than $400 bn AUM

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Emerging Technologies Investment Meeting in Davos gathered leading industry players and major investors to discuss the hottest topics in finance, including social impact and sustainable investment, as well as the evolution of the global financial market.

The meeting offered three days of complete immersion into the world of deep tech and institutional finance, with the participation of leading global investors representing more than $400 billion in AUM.

The annual Emerging Technologies Investment Meeting in Davos once again looked at impact investments in emerging tech through a fascinating series of panel discussions and keynote speeches.

The EmTech Investment Meeting brings together business leaders, investors, PE & VC Funds, Corporate VC, hedge funds, professional traders, family offices, government representatives, and journalists. 

The three-day programme commenced on 20 January 2020 with an evening event entitled "Sustainable Investments and Social Impact of Emerging Technologies." The discussion began with opening remarks from Daniyal Baig (Forbes Middle East). Speakers from the investment and academia spheres included Sandro Salsano (Salsano Group & Salsano Family Office), Ibrahim AlMojel (Saudi Industrial Development Fund), Pär Lindstrom (i(x) Investments), Henrik Lundin (IMAS Foundation), Sebastiaan Ranner (MN), Carlos Sanchez (Willis Towers Watson), Christian Wipf (Schaffhausen Institute of Technology). The perspective on emerging technologies and trends was presented by Alexander Prokhorov (MultiGreen), Peter Fedichev (Gero AI), Brian Kean (Sensorium), Evgenii Borisov (VIMANA), Yusef Khesuani (VIVAX BIO/3D Bioprinting Solutions), Sergey Sholom (GNation Foundation) and David Solomon (Blueprints). 

Dr. Tobias Reichmuth (SUSI Partners), who moderated the panel discussion "Sustainable Finance: a Must for Institutional Investors," said: "Climate change is one of the most-discussed topics at Davos this year, which means that sustainable finance has an importance like never before. We have seen in our panel that while certain barriers must still be overcome, capital is available and we are generally going in the right direction. " 

Peter Fedichev, Founder of Gero, noted: "In 2019 we achieved rejuvenation in mammals using an intervention discovered by artificial intelligence. It is a significant milestone for the AI and biotech industries. We are happy to announce it here at the EmTech conference at Davos, which is an impressive gathering of people interested in impact investments."

Brian Kean, Head of International IR and Voice Creation at Sensorium, told the audience: "As content creators, we ask you all to keep an eye out for our late 2020 world-wide launch. The Social VR experience in the Sensorium Galaxy is the next step in social networking."

This session was followed by a fireside chat between Arif Khan (Alethea AI) and Dan Patterson (CNET and CBS News) about the synthetic media revolution.

Day two (21 January 2020) of the programme took place at Davos' HardRock Hotel, leading with a discussion on "Evolution of Financial Markets." The discussion featured opening remarks from Zack Seward (CoinDesk), followed by keynote speeches from Charles Hoskinson (Cardano foundation), Lennix Lai (OKEx) and Ciara Sun (Huobi Group); and a panel discussion entitled "The Beginning of Institutional Era for Digital Assets: Custody, Prime Brokerage, Exchanges, Hedge Funds" presented by Rupertus Rothenhaeuser (SIX Digital Exchange), Steve Kelso (Galaxy Digital), George Zarya (Bequant Prime Brokerage), Marc P. Bernegger (Crypto Finance AG) and moderated by Jemima Kelly, a reporter at FT Alphaville, Financial Times.

The evening proceeded with a talk by Ezequiel Steiner (Acronis), Ali Mizani Oskui (FiCAS) and presentation by Lennix Lai (OKEx) entitled, "Disrupting the Future: Financial Markets Evolutions," and a fireside chat between Brian Collins (Horizon) & James Haft (PALcapital).

The second day concluded with a panel discussion on Investments in Digital Assets in Asia with Hugh Madden, CEO at BC Group, and other thought leaders from OKEx, Huobi Group, PALcapital, and was moderated by Tom Blackwell, CEO of EM.

Ciara Sun, Vice President of Global Business at Huobi Group, stated: "There is an industry-wide consensus that institutional investors and HNWIs will be the major contributors of growth for the crypto economy in 2020 and beyond, but barriers like low liquidity and a lack of asset enhancement products are stalling widespread adoption. By introducing institutional-grade products and liquidity solutions that cater to the needs of institutions and eliminate existing barriers, we are aiming to help drive the entire crypto-economy forward."

According to Lennix Lai, Financial Market Director at OKEx: "Unbankedness has been a global challenge. The underprivileged who are not able to afford or return with enough economic benefits to the bank are left behind from a decent living standard."

Diego Gutierrez Zaldivar, CEO of IOV Labs, commented: "We are thrilled to have been sponsors at the EmTech Investing Meeting 2020, as it has touched upon topics that are at the heart of our organization. IOV Labs is focused on developing the platforms needed for a new blockchain-based financial system that will enable worldwide financial inclusion and bridge the gap between these nascent technologies and mass adoption. We are aiming to do this through RSK Smart Contracts that extended Bitcoin´s functionalities, RIF (RSK Infrastructure Framework) that is creating the building blocks to construct a fully decentralized internet by adding identity, storage, communications, marketplaces, micro-payments, and gateways layers, and Taringa — the world's largest Spanish-speaking social medial network with 30 million users and over 1,000 active online communities."  

On day three, EmTech IM held a discussion on the travel rule and data privacy with opening remarks from Michael Casey of CoinDesk, followed by a keynote address by Jason Hsu, Congressman and President of the Taiwan Parliamentary Coalition for Blockchain & Industry Self-Regulatory Organisation (SRO).

This was followed by two panel sessions. The first, entitled, "Travel Rule and Data Privacy," featured presentations by Nathan Kaiser (Cardano Foundation), Anson Zeall (Blockchain Association) and Ron Tucker (IDAXA).

The second panel session was entitled, "Compliance Solutions for Business," included the speakers Delphine Forma (Lykke Business), Gino Wirthensohn (Sygnum), Guido Rudolphi (SEBA Bank AG), David Riegelnig (Bitcoin Suisse) and Zurab Ashvil (L3COS), and was moderated by Anna Poullain, freelance journalist for Vice News, Getty Video and Reuters. 

Zurab Ashvil, CEO at L3COS, stated: "Without having a single universal platform for governments, businesses and individuals worldwide, there is no practical solution for addressing the underlying blockchain problems that we are facing today."

Founders of the EmTech Investment Meeting, Anna Palmina and Alena Yudina, said:

"We are delighted to be in Davos to bring topical debate and knowledge from incredible speakers to an audience thirsty for content on world-changing issues — such as the growing recognition that the societal and environmental impact of investments is of equal importance to their financial returns. There is no better place than Davos to discuss such issues, where the best global minds in finance, government, business and technology come together. We are honoured to be hosting an event where positive and world-changing conversations can take place."

All panel discussions and keynote speeches were recorded. To request video or quotes from speakers and other information, please contact EmTech IM's organisers at contact@em-tech.org