This week, world advisory and accounting community HLB Worldwide hosted its inaugural Innovation Symposium within the coronary heart of considered one of London’s key tech hubs, Shoreditch.
The occasion got down to give skilled providers a first-hand have a look at what innovation means of their ecosystem, gathering key companions to discover key developments that ought to be tailored to and ready for.
Colin Nelson, innovation advisor to HLB, provided his personal definition of the occasion’s buzzword:
“Innovation is change with function that thrives finest in collaboration”
Skilled providers has a popularity of being resistant to vary and slower to undertake the newest applied sciences which have the potential to revolutionise the sector.
This can be a popularity Nelson was eager to dispel when he addressed the viewers. “I used to have the ability to get up at these conferences and ask who can think about what their trade will seem like in 10 years’ time.”
“Now we don’t know what is going on in three months’ time […] that’s the reason we have to innovate.”
Motion-led perception
For all of the speak about innovation, HLB have been eager to broaden past dialogue. The symposium moved away from typical panels and lectures and as a substitute provided interactive periods designed to get folks pondering by doing.
Amongst these was the 5 Ideas of Utilized Improvisation, a session hosted by Sarah Kelly, a former Liberty World innovation supervisor turned skilled coach, that utilized the artwork of improv comedy to skilled providers.
From energetic listening, ideation periods and the foundational improvisational tenant of “Sure, and”, attendees discovered how ineffective communication was deadly to productiveness and the way improvisation can assist.
The symposium’s Prepared, Set, Innovate problem noticed attendees positioned in working teams to use their studying within the type of 90 second worth proposition pitches that had the occasion’s judges keen to listen to extra.
Outdoors of the workshops and periods, attendees had the chance to get their arms on rising know-how instantly on the HLB Future Café, a collection of interactive tech cubicles designed to reveal how advances in know-how may reshape companies.

From real-time agentic helpers and avatars to a dwell facial recognition show, the symposium provided a step above in interactivity.
Skilled providers within the age of AI
Any occasion centred round innovation could be incomplete with out discussions round AI, arguably essentially the most transformative know-how in at present’s world.
AI is disrupting each sector, and its potential affect on skilled providers was demonstrated on the HLB Innovation Showcase, a session that noticed three finalists of the HLB Innovation Award current their visions for innovating the trade.
“There’s a variety of change and disruption coming to the accountancy career”
Graeme Finnie, chairman of FD Intelligence in his AI and Management in Difficult Instances speak
The viewers was wowed by presenters from HLB South Africa, HLB Macedonia and HLB Man Judd in Sydney who offered improvements that included an AI platform skilled on skilled requirements and tax legal guidelines, offering the capabilities for an accountant to carry out complicated monetary evaluation in a matter of minutes.
The gang additionally obtained to listen to from AI specialists together with the enigmatic chief govt of TrendOne, Nils Müller (pictured), who tasked attendees with envisioning the world in 2030, a time when AI can have basically reshaped the trade.


Innovation ecosystem
HLB’s first Innovation Symposium efficiently proved the purpose that collaboration is one of the best supply of innovation.
“That is the ability of the community,” mentioned John Toon, HLB Worldwide’s newly appointed head of know-how.
“We’ve so many individuals doing unbelievable issues. If we are able to share these achievements extra successfully and construct on one another’s strengths, we gained’t must compete – we are going to transfer ahead collectively.”