The 8th edition of the FII brought together world leaders for three days of intense discussions, focusing on Africa and the rise of artificial intelligence. CEO Richard Attias shared his vision of handing over the presidency to a younger generation, while participants expressed their expectations in the face of today’s economic challenges.
After three intense days of B2B meetings, signed agreements and innovative proposals in the fields of robotics, artificial intelligence, education and health, as well as a special pre-summit dedicated to Africa, called ‘The New Africa Summit’, the eighth edition of the FII has, according to its CEO Richard Attias, fully lived up to its promises. A number of agreements were signed, and panels led by leading figures such as Elon Musk of Tesla, Nigeria’s Tony Elumelu of UBA and Sim Tsha-ba-la-la of Standard Bank enriched the discussions, adding to the impact of the event.
My assessment is that, together with the teams, we have achieved something fantastic. This conference did not exist seven years ago. Today it has become the world’s leading geo-economic conference. I’m not the one saying this, it’s the participants. The quality of the content, as you yourself have seen. The quality of the participants shows that we can be proud of what has been achieved, because today all the economic and political leaders want to come to the challenge every year and include it in their annual agenda.
RICHARD ATTIAS, CEO of FII institute
Africa, which is forecast by the African Development Bank to be the world’s second fastest-growing region, with 41 high-growth countries in 2024, took centre stage at the IFI. According to PwC estimates, artificial intelligence could generate up to $15.7 trillion dollars in the global economy by 2030. Artificial intelligence (AI) was also a major theme, with a strong call from world leaders for the continent not to miss out on this rapidly.
Artificial intelligence has come up in every conversation. Artificial intelligence is going to create a huge amount of disruption in all economies and industries. I think that all the conversations have enabled us to understand the impact that this is going to have on all industries, including governments. I don’t think Africa should miss out on this revolution, which is more than just a revolution. We missed out on the Internet revolution for a number of reasons, including technology, lack of electricity and lack of access to technology. Africa must and will play a very important role in artificial intelligence.
RICHARD ATTIAS, CEO of FII institute
At this year’s FII, Richard Attias expressed his ambition to hand over the chairmanship of the Future Investment Initiative to a new, younger and more dynamic generation. The discussions also revealed a strong concern among the world’s populations about the high cost of living, with the hope that leaders will put in place measures to improve their purchasing power.
