Disruptive technology and changing business models will dominate the agenda at this year’s Global Wellness Summit.

From the impact of AI, to virtual reality, Bitcoin, Blockchain and robotics, many of the keynotes will address the disruption that will most impact the wellness industries, so that conference attendees can better grasp upcoming threats and opportunities.

The disruption experts who will analyse the technology and business trends that will shape the future include: Frits Dirk Van Paasschen (former CEO of Starwood and author of The Disruptors’ Feast), Paul Price (CoCreativ), David McCaughan (Ai.agency), Maggie Hsu (Zappos), Alia Crum (Stanford University), Laurie Racine (Lifesquare) and Ramesh Caussy (Partnering Robotics).

The conference will be held at The Breakers in Palm Beach, Florida, US, from 9-11 October.

“We are living in a time of radically accelerated change, profoundly transforming businesses around us and affecting how we live day-to-day,” said Van Paasschen. “We have all seen businesses that were either 'change-blind' – or simply too slow to react.

“I’m excited, as one of the presenters, to explore how the same patterns of disruption are affecting wellness in our lives and to see how the wellness industry can navigate through a world of ever more disruption.”

More about the speakers and topics:

Frits Dirk Van Paasschen

Former CEO of Starwood and The Coors Brewing Company, and past president of EMEA for Nike, Van Paasschen is the author of The Disruptors’ Feast: How to Avoid Being Devoured in Today’s Rapidly Changing Global Economy. Van Paasschen’s keynote, “Wellness in the Age of Disruption”, will explore how change is not only wreaking havoc on companies but also on social structures – and how we need entirely new traditions to reclaim control of our businesses and lives.

David McCaughan

For three decades McCaughan led communication strategies for a variety of brands with global advertising agency, McCann. He now serves as chief strategy officer at Ai.agency, using artificial intelligence tools to discover and track the key narratives driving brands and category opportunities. His keynote is entitled, “Beauty, Wellness & Artificial Intelligence: Finding the Narratives that Matter”.

Paul Price

An award-winning digital marketing leader, Price has served as CEO of several successful digital marketing companies, where he acquired deep experience on the convergence of technology and marketing. He is now group CEO of CoCreativ, a new group of best-in-class creative solutions for digital commerce. In his keynote, “WHAT IF: Imagining the Unimaginable Impact of Technology on Your Business”, he will share his playbook for digital marketing in the 21st century, along with his top-ten plays for growing customers in the wellness category using the most powerful marketing technology applications.

Maggie Hsu

Hsu is Adviser at Zappos.com, the leading online retailer for shoes and clothing, and former director of strategy for Brands and Commercial Services at Hilton Worldwide and consultant at McKinsey & Company. Her keynote “Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Bitcoin and Blockchain for Wellness: Fad or Future?” will explore the most transformative new technologies, to identify which make the most sense (or not) for the wellness industries.

Alia Crum, PhD

Crum is assistant professor of Psychology at Stanford University, PI of Stanford’s Mind and Body Lab, and health director at the university’s SPARQ (Social Psychological Answers to Real-World Questions). Her keynote, “Understanding the Positive Implications of the Placebo Effect”, will present new research on the eye-opening role of mindset in shaping the effects of diet, exercise and stress. Crum has received the National Institute of Health's New Innovator Award.

Laurie Racine

Racine is CEO of Lifesquare, a startup that is changing the way people connect and communicate critical health information among in-hospital teams and between people as they go about their daily lives. She has spent the past 20 years investing in, founding or running companies like dotSub, Creative Commons, Startl and Lulu Enterprises. A champion of women founders, Laurie also advises or sits on the board of The Skimm, littleBits and Open Road Integrated Media.

Ramesh Caussy PhD

Caussy is CEO and founder of France-based Partnering Robotics, and president of Roboethics, industrial president on ethics in robotic service, by Grenoble INP. He has worked for various Fortune 500 tech companies (Intel, Alcatel, 3com) contributing greatly to breakthroughs such as the release of XDSL, connected Palmor, and the Intel Connected TV platform. His talk (and immersive experience) is “Meet the Wellness Robot”, which shows how this technology can enhance human wellness.

With a conference theme of “Living a Well Life”, Summit attendees will not only hear about disruptive wellness technologies, they will experience them: from DNA and personal biomarker testing to a wellness robot, to new technology that makes real-time access to people’s health information a reality.

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