TEP CONFERENCE • INTERNATIONAL WEEK
The Future of the Workspace
Are We Moving Away from the Traditional Office?
By Dr. Amol Sarva
F
Change is now a constant in headcount. You need an
on-demand office, not a ten-year lease.
rom the time the physical office was
first invented (picture Mr. Scrooge’s
counting house) to the start of the
twentieth century, little had changed. Then,
in the 1950’s there was a great leap forward
as architect Mies Van Der Rohe put the finishing touches on the Seagram building—a
steel and glass box, every floor like an Excel
spreadsheet of workers at desks.
But things are changing. Knotel—now
running eight company-sized workspace
locations serving hundreds of founders in
New York—is part of the first big wave of
change since the cubicle.
Here’s the megatrend in four ideas:
Headphones and cell phones. The office is quiet now and there is little paper,
so people sit closer together, needing
fewer walls.
Dr. Amol Sarva
The office or the couch? You and your
team can work from anywhere, and often choose to do so. So running an office
is partly about making it a place people
want to go.
Too much or too little. Change is now
a constant in headcount, especially with
flexible hiring models. So your real estate
needs are literally unknown. You need an
on-demand office, not a ten-year lease.
It’s the physical social network .
Internally, so your people can bump into
each other and connect, and externally, so they can bump into new people
and ideas. The office is to your company
what a city is to a society—“where ideas
have sex,” to borrow from legendary VC
Steve Jurvetson.
Amol Sarva, Ph.D. is the founder of
Knotel, Knotable, and Halo Neuro.
@amol
“Pitch Clinic”
10/10 @ 6:00 pm
Knotel, Battery Park
FinTech By the Numbers
T
he rise of Canada’s FinTech sector is backed by the world’s most
stable financial services sector,
a world-class technology sector, and a
creative hub for new and emerging technologies. Technology spending by the
Canadian financial sector was $12B in
2013 and expected to increase to $15B
by 2018. Growing collaboration between
financial institutions and technology
companies is spurring innovation and
competition—resulting in new business
models, new revenue streams, and better
products/services for clients. According
to a March 2016 report by PwC, “The
main banks in Canada are laser-focused
on responding to both threats and collaboration opportunities presented by
FinTech companies.” PwC estimates that
there are currently over 80 FinTech companies in Canada, which have attracted
investments of about $1B.
Robert Antoniades, general partner
and co-founder of Information Venture
Partners, a spin-out of RBC Venture
Partners from Royal Bank of Canada,
will take part in the FinTech session on
October 12.
Invest in Canada Background
Whether you are considering business
expansion or new North American investment opportunities, Canada should be at
the top of your mind as an investment destination of choice. Let Invest in Canada
and our global network of professionals
show you why Canada should be the strategic choice for your next business opportunity. Invest in Canada is responsible for
ensuring that foreign investors have the
information and assistance they need to
make successful investments in the country. We work closely with partners across
Canada to deliver the market intelligence,
connections and support business investors need to identify and capitalize on opportunities. We offer a comprehensive,
confidential and free of charge service.
To learn more about Canada’s
investment advantage, please visit
www.investincanada.com or
www.international.gc.ca.
“Banks + FinTech: Exploring
global lessons for cooperation on
consumer-focused innovation”
10/12 @ 8:30 am
Rise NYC
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