The stark statistic all businesses should be aware of is that of those listed on the Fortune 500 in 1955, 88% no longer exist today due to bankruptcy, mergers or loss of position, with lack of innovation being the main cause of their downfall.

A classic example of this is Blockbuster. Blockbuster was a video rental company that was very successful in the 1990s and early 2000s, with over 9,000 stores worldwide at its peak. However, Blockbuster failed to adapt to the changing market and the rise of streaming services like Netflix. In 2010, Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy and closed all of its remaining stores.  

As the life span of companies continues to shrink, this is exacerbated by the intense competition, which is faced from newer, more agile players coming into the market and by those who embrace and are the early adopters of the rapid advancement of technology from Web2 to Web3.

I was reminded of this a few weeks ago when HQNFTs was invited to attend and actively participate in an event for the top 50 AI and web3 leaders in the world, called Purpose. This was hosted by Ian Utile, the CEO of attn.live, at the HQ of Tricon Residential. Tricon is a real estate tech company that owns and rents around 40 thousand homes in North America.

   The breadth and depth of those who were invited to take part in Purpose was wide, enabling a cross section of views and perspectives to be heard and experiences to tap into. This ranged from companies who are leaders in blockchain development, media, entertainment, business, education, the creator economy, pro-athletes and not for profits. 

The event was live streamed across North America, with several panel discussions around how AI could impact numerous topics, with these thought leaders actively partaking and providing their thoughts and insights.

These thought and business leaders engaged with and shared their real-world expertise about why business and society should embrace the future of Web3 and AI technology across numerous topics. They included the impact and benefits on community and philanthropy, news and media, education, apprenticeships, business and finance.

During the discussion on business and finance, the initial question that was posed to the panel and the leaders in the room was, “what benefits could the business and finance sectors reap from embracing and Web3 and AI innovations?

AI technology can automate mundane processes including data analysis, customer service and fraud prevention. The combination of these two technologies can reduce costs, increase efficiencies, facilitate faster transactions, improve customer experiences and create new opportunities for the wider business and finance industry as a whole.

Andrea Huels, head of global growth and strategy at Radius AI, talked about what is driving AI adoption in the retail, restaurant and convenience sectors. Previously, Hueles deployed McDonald’s first AI in the drive through. She said, “one of the drivers which is bringing about adoption of AI and Web3 is the need for speed and no customer friction.”

This was already starting to be actioned within the industry, and she was seeing other major players starting to actively engage in this space. She mentioned that recently, the CEO of Walmart, as part of his keynote, stated that he would be investing in 3 significant areas: data analytics, robotics and AI. Other real-world examples discussed where AI could make a major impact to business was the use of computor vision for the visibly impaired to other forms of communication.

Mance Harmon, CEO of Hadera Hashgraph sees that web3 intersection of stablecoins, PCBs and decentralized finance (DeFi) will create a tokenized world where everything with value will have an associated token. Raw materials, products, and even energy consumption will be recorded on tokens, which will be automatically exchanged on DeFi platforms for finance functions, supply chain management and ESG markets. He said that there is a platform called atma.io that already does some of the things he spoke, and the future looks bright for DeFi, which will fundamentally change the economics of everything.

Ashish Shah from the The London Fund talked about how they developed a fund on the blockchain that allows everyone to participate and earn compensation for bringing relationships and constructs together. By removing the current regulatory system, self-auditing structures become powerful and quarterly reports become unnecessary. He said this has the potential to change finance and create long-term monetization opportunities for people. The key to this is creating attribution for relationships and earning UBI.

 The initial questions that was posed during the Community and Philanthropy session was, ”what sparks could ignite the community and philanthropy sector to adopt Web3 and AI innovation?” 

Vanessa Russell, the founding executive director of Love Never Fails, a national anti-trafficking organization believes that the advancement in AI and Web 3 could be an excellent medium to shift wealth and educate to create opportunities for people who would have otherwise fallen of the cracks.  

Major Dreams from Seeds of Freedom spoke about utilizing blockchain technology to store records of seeds and recipes can generate long-term benefits for communities.

During the Art and Entertainment session, Debbie Soon, co-founder of www.thehug.xyz shared her thoughts on how web3 technology is making art collecting more accessible to everyone. She believes with web3, the traditional gatekeepers of the art world, such as galleries and curators, are no longer the only ones who determine what is considered "good" art. Instead, the community can now decide what is meaningful to them.

 Artist Punkmetender believes that integrating art with blockchain technology is crucial because it can protect the artist and create a story for the artwork. With blockchain, the entire journey of the artwork, from its creation to its sale and eventual display in a museum, can be tracked, creating a new culture around art. Additionally, the technology can generate money for charitable causes. The artist is excited about the possibilities for the future of art with blockchain technology.

From the event, it was evident that Tricon Residential understood and actively embraced the fact that to remain innovative and to future proof their business, they need to be willing to be agile, take risks and invest in new technologies and strategies. Market conditions are changing and challenging at the best of times. This requires a culture of innovation with leaders willing to encourage and embrace experimentation. By hosting this event and inviting the leaders in the world of web3 and AI to their business, this was very evident.