ForumOxford: Future Technologies Conference 2008

(The next ForumOxford conference will be on 24 April 2009 - Click here for details)

Forum Oxford Conference 2008 Review: Even better than last year (by Tomi Ahonen)

Those supporting this year's event are:

Platinum Sponsor
Gold Sponsor

Our thanks to Nokia for its continued support of ForumOxford and education.


About the Conference

The Technology Programme at the Oxford University Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Centre is pleased to announce the second ForumOxford: Future Technologies Conference to be held on 18 April 2008 at the University of Oxford Department for Continuing Education.

This one-day conference will explore emerging technologies with an emphasis on Mobile / Web 2.0 innovations.

Unlike many of the large impersonal conferences, this conference aims to facilitate discussion between the audience and speakers. This informal event has been designed to allow time for Q&A and also for further discussions of the conference topics during breaks and over lunch.

What people said about last year's conference:
‘Thanks for a great day - this ranks in the top ten of any industry networking event I have attended over the past 20 years. Excellent profile and mixture of attendees and presentations, and discussion at internet speed - vibrant and engaging...’
Martin Davis, CEO, Mobiya
‘I came away with ideas to activate immediately, relationships which I know I can work with in the future and a ready-made support network of brilliant individuals I can share and work with. I’ve never attended a one-day event of this kind of value.’
David Cushman, Network Engagement Director, Emap

Pre-conference meeting

There will be an informal pre-conference get-together on the evening of Thursday 17 April starting from about 20:00. As with last year, we are meeting at the Royal Oak pub, 42 Woodstock Rd, Oxford, OX2 6HT, which serves a fine selection of real beers and pub food. The Royal Oak is a short walk from the conference venue and the centre of Oxford (Map here). If the weather is good, we'll be in the garden at the back, if not, we'll be indoors (you should be able to find us OK as it's a small pub).

Conference Speakers and Schedule

Morning (09:00 start)

  • Morning keynote - Mark Selby, Vice President Industry Collaborations, Nokia
  • User-generated Mobile Advertising - Jonathan MacDonald, Blyk
  • Browser Extensions (DOM extensions) and Accessing Device APIs - Ajit Jaokar, OpenAjax Alliance and David Pollington, Senior Manager - Terminals Research, Vodafone Group R&D

Morning coffee

  • How to Integrate Facebook with IMS - Niklas Blum, Deputy Director, Next Generation Network Division, Fraunhofer Institute FOKUS
  • iPhone Applications - William Volk, CEO, MyNuMo
  • Youth and Mobile and Music and TV - Luciana Pavan, MTV




3-course lunch in dining room (12:15 - 13:15)




Afternoon

  • Delivering a Global Mobile Service - Cameron Doherty, CEO, Mobile Concierge
  • Social Marketing Intelligence, the Black Gold of the 21st Century - Alan Moore, Xtract
  • The great mobile debate: Will the future of the Internet be shaped by mobile, or is the PC still in control?

    Dean Bubley, Founder & Director, Disruptive Analysis (supporting the PC)
    vs.
    Tomi T. Ahonen, Independent 3G Strategy Consultant and Author (supporting mobile)

Afternoon tea

  • Mobile Initiated Financial Services in the Developing World - Simon Cavill, Director, Mi-Pay Ltd
  • An Example of Mobile Search in Poland, the Implementation of Google Search Appliance on Plus.pl - Krzysztof Proczka, Brand Manager, Marketing Strategy Department, Polkomtel S.A., Poland (supported by Matt Landeg, Google)
  • Mobile Social Networking - Antonio Vince Stabyl, CEO and Co-Founder, itsmy.com (Gofresh)
  • Dawn of a New Mobility - Casual Computing: Thoughts on the Future of Mobiles, Service and Their Adoption - Christian Lindholm, Fjord

Drinks reception in Common Room bar (17:00)

Note: The sessions will end at around 17:00 and will be followed by the drinks reception until 19:00, which will be held in the Common Room bar and courtyard at Rewley House.

Free wireless internet access will be available throughout the day.

We have a number of meeting rooms which will be freely available to those attending if required.

Who should attend?

Web and mobile technology experts and visionaries, telecoms leaders and anyone who has an interest in future mobile technologies with an emphasis on Mobile / Web 2.0 innovations.

Venue

Rewley House, Department for Continuing Education, Oxford, OX1 2JA.

First day registration from 08:30 when event materials will be distributed.

Refreshments from 08:30 on the first day plus two 30 minute breaks during the day and a one-hour lunch break.

The event will begin at 09:00 and end at approximately 17:00. This will be followed by a drinks reception at Rewley House.

Free wireless internet access will be available during this event to all those attending.

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Travel Information

Oxford is 52 miles (83 km) from London and travel between the two is very easy and services run 24 hours each day.

Rail Travel
The railway station lies to the west of the city centre and it is only a short 5-minute walk or taxi ride to the venue. Journey time London-Oxford is approximately 1 hour and trains are frequent. There is a taxi rank at the railway station and a bus service to the centre.
For train times to/from all parts of the UK, visit www.nationalrail.co.uk/

Bus / Coach Travel (London-Oxford)
There are two excellent, 24 hour, non-stop motorway express services between Oxford and London which provide a substantially cheaper alternative to rail. These run approximately every 15 minutes day and night. Journey time is about 1 hour 30 minutes (depending on traffic).

These buses travel from London (Marble Arch, Victoria Coach Station and Grosvenor Gardens) to Oxford Gloucester Green bus & coach station (between Beaumont St and George St.). From Gloucester Green bus station it is a 2-minute short walk venue.

Heathrow/Gatwick Airport buses to Oxford
For delegates arriving from Heathrow or Gatwick there are also reliable coach services run by the Oxford Bus Company.

  • Heathrow: – average journey time: 1hr 10mins with buses running every ½ hour.
  • Gatwick: – average journey time: 2hrs 10mins with buses running every hour.
Both services terminate at Gloucester Green, the main bus station in Oxford. From Gloucester Green it is a short walk or taxi ride to the venue. See www.oxfordbus.co.uk/airline1.html

For delegates flying to London Stanstead or Luton Airport there are less frequent coach and rail connections with Oxford. See the National Express Airports web site for more information: www.nationalexpress.com/destinations/airports.cfm

Bus / Coach Travel
For bus / coach travel to/from all parts of the UK see www.nationalexpress.com

Oxford Taxis
Radiotaxis + 44 (0) 1865 242424, Oxford City Taxis +44 (0) 1865 794000/201201

Car Travel
Please note that Rewley House does not offer any car parking facilities.

Motorcycle parking is available adjacent to Rewley House on the residential parking bays with no requirement for a permit. For those who require disabled parking please notify us in advance to enable us to make the necessary arrangements.

In common with other historic cities Oxford was not built with motor transport in mind. There is a one-way system and parking, especially overnight parking, is a serious problem. If you are driving to Oxford on the day of the conference it is advisable to use the park & ride service. There are 5 large park & ride areas on the city approaches with free parking and frequent bus services into the city centre.

For further information on the park and ride please see www.parkandride.net.

If you are staying in Oxford for the conference, it is not advisable to leave your car overnight in the park & ride car parks, so we recommend you check parking availability with your accommodation.

How to Register

Please read our terms & conditions, including details of our registration procedure and payment methods, before registering.

£205 including refreshments, three-course lunch and post-conference drinks.

Register Now

If you would like to pay using a company purchase order / bank transfer, note that we cannot confirm any registration until payment has been received. Click here for details.

If you have any questions about this event please contact the Course Administrator on +44 (0)1865 286958 or email Technology@conted.ox.ac.uk

Hotel Information

If you would like information about accommodation in Oxford, click the link below and we will send you further information:

Please send me information about accommodation in Oxford.

ForumOxford, the web-discussion forum of the Technology Programme, was established to bring together the best thinkers in the telecoms industry to enable the sharing of ideas on all aspects of mobile applications with other like-minded members of the community. ForumOxford has been a huge success and now has nearly 2000 members with participants from over 60 countries and from six continents.

The lively online debate within ForumOxford's online environment resulted in numerous approaches asking for a face-to-face event to capitalize on this success. ForumOxford: Future Technologies Conference is the answer to these requests. Furthermore, participation in the ForumOxford: Future Technologies Conference will provide access to the leading bloggers in the emerging web and mobile technology fields and as all those attending last year discovered, a great place to meet others who are leading the way in the world of mobile applications. In a poll by the leading New York publication Fierce Wireless, the top 20 mobile blogs worldwide included as many as six blogs belonging to ForumOxford members.

Ajit Jaokar, conference co-chairperson and moderator of ForumOxford, is an author and telecoms specialist and has recently taught the 'User-Generated Content and Web 2.0' CPD course at Oxford University. Ajit also founded Futuretext, which is an innovative publishing and consulting company focused on mobility and digital convergence - he is perfectly positioned to comment on the conference: 'Creating ForumOxford along with Tomi Ahonen, and watching it grow so rapidly has been a fascinating experience. The high-level sponsorship of our event only goes to emphasise the quality of our membership and discussions. I am thankful for the foresight and support provided by the Oxford University in setting up ForumOxford'.

Tomi Ahonen, conference co-chairperson and independent 3G strategy consultant and author, who teaches the 'Mobile Social Networking' and '3G/MobileTV' Oxford University CPD courses, comments 'I am very proud of the high level of professional discussion we maintain within ForumOxford. It makes me very proud to promote the Forum and to recruit new members. I personally keep on learning constantly from the various discussion topics.'

The University of Oxford's Technology Programme has met the needs of the industry by doubling the number of courses offered in the past year, particularly in emerging fields in the industry such as Web 2.0 and mobile technologies.

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Our Sponsors

Please click the images below to visit our sponsors' websites.

Mobile Concierge Colorado

Mobile Concierge Colorado Mobile Concierge Colorado brings an iPhone-like experience to Blackberry and other smart phones. Specifically targeting the executive and pro-sumer markets, our first service enables golf tee-time reservations, with more to follow soon, including: dining, wine, show/event ticketing, and travel.

Our intent is to engage in discussion with the ForumOxford group vis-à-vis our vision surrounding privacy, and to explore with you any specific needs that should be addressed in delivering a global mobile service.

Mi-Pay

Mi-Pay provides mobile initiated payment services for mobile operators, financial services providers and media owners amongst others from our offices in the UK, Romania, UAE and Pakistan. In addition to providing an indemnified top-up service and stored value accounts, Mi-Pay are also building full domestic and international money and airtime transfer services for operator groups in four continents using the existing pre-pay top up street sellers and vendors as financial service providers. This places Mi-Pay at the forefront of one of the major evolutions in mobile phone services deploying financial services through phone-based agent networks throughout the developing world…

Our thanks to Nokia for its continued support of ForumOxford and education.