The 2024 WCLD successfully took place in January 2024 with 36 delegates and over 35 Thought Leaders from Stanford University, Microsoft, Zoom and JPL (NASA).

The 2024 West Coast Leadership Dialogue (WCLD) was held in Palo Alto and Pasadena, California from 15 to 18 January 2024.

The 2024 WCLD was co-chaired by AALD stalwarts – Chris Hancock AM, CEO of AARNet and AALD Board Director; and Glenn Gaffney, Chief Strategy Officer of NobleReach Foundation and former Director of Science and Technology for the CIA.

36 delegates took part in the program, including both Australian and American industry leaders in politics, tertiary education, health, enterprise, and technology.

The program was delivered in close partnership with Stanford University, Microsoft, Zoom and JPL (NASA).

The theme for the Leadership Dialogue was “Humans, Data & Space Shaping Our Future, The Augmented Experience”.

The dialogue began with a presentation by senior Stanford University professors regarding the key geo-political trends and indicators shaping Australia and the United States’ engagement with the globe.

Viewing Stanford University’s state-of-the-art facilities, WCLD delegates then turned their attention to future technologies, including how the metaverse can be used to train future surgeons, and discussing the privacy and security challenges of utilising data as a key tool in healthcare. WCLD Delegates also explored food security and agricultural technologies, as well as the growing intersection between business and politics, and its implications for security in the Asia Pacific.

WCLD Delegates undertook site visits to Microsoft’s Silicon Valley Campus and Zoom’s headquarters in San Jose on day three of the program. Here, WCLD delegates were briefed by Microsoft and Zoom executives on Artificial Intelligence, cyber security, and the future of workplaces, granting an understand to delegates of both the challenges and opportunities the growth of technologies present to them and their respective fields.

On the final day, the dialogue moved to Pasadena for a site visit at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where WCLD delegates toured the Space Museum, viewed the ongoing NASA missions, and spoke to JPL Senior Leadership about the future of US-Australian Cooperation in Astrobiology.