Microsoft-Commissioned IDC study shows that Cloud & Mobility together are driving more profitable business models in Asia Pacific

PERTH, Australia — May 28, 2026 — Against a backdrop of shifting resource nationalism, soaring commodity stress, and the rapid deployment of connected automation, the Future of Mining Australia and MiningNews Select conferences will take place concurrently at Crown Perth on 16–17 June 2026. This dual conference stands as the industry’s primary staging ground for resolving the stark operational, economic, and geopolitical pressures facing modern resource companies. The 2026 conference is set to deliver its most influential assembly to date. Over 2,000 industry champions will gather, driven by a powerhouse delegation of more than 500 elite mining executives and over 100 leading speakers who are actively rewriting the rules of extraction, capital allocation, and asset deployment. "In this current era of geopolitical uncertainty, platforms like the Future of Mining and MiningNews Select are absolutely vital," said Lindsay Santos, Group Head of Events. "We provide mining leaders and practitioners with the hard insights required to build direct, real-world strategies and make high-stakes decisions. Over these two days, we will confront how decarbonisation is non-negotiable for true sustainability, map the precise role of technology and innovation over the coming years, and ensure the next generation of leaders is directly embedded in this critical conversation." Rather than focusing on theoretical ideals, the multi-tiered agenda mirrors the raw frontline realities of the sector, structured around four primary tracks: Technology G Innovation , Energy Transition , Sustainability , and Future Workforce: Skills G Safety . The speaker lineup features heavyweights commanding major operations, capital funds, and state policy: •  Hon David Michael , Minister for Mines and Petroleum; Finance; Electoral Affairs; Goldfields-Esperance, Government of Western Australia •  Cath Bozanich , Chief Sustainability Officer, Sandfire •  Christopher B. Johnstone , Partner C Chair of the Defense C National Security Practice, The Asia Group •  Jason Crusan , CEO, AROSE •  Felicity Gooding , Executive Director and Group CFO, Vulcan Energy •  Geeta Thakorlal , Vice President Technology, BHP •  Luca Giacovazzi , CEO, Wyloo Core Pillars G High-Impact Segments •  Geopolitical Realities G Defense Metals: High-level strategic sessions will dissect the pivot from the general energy transition to national security, focusing heavily on G7 policy gaps, mid-stream processing bottlenecks dominated by BRICS nations, and surging prices for vital defense-related metals like antimony, tin, tungsten, and rare earths. •  The Intelligent Mine G Connected Automation: Transitioning beyond siloed technology, dedicated tracks will focus on how integrated, data-driven systems optimize asset integrity, enhance reliability, and deliver long-term value across the entire mining value chain. •  Global Policy G Sovereignty Insights: Regulators and sovereign leaders will deliver unvarnished breakdowns of incoming policy reforms, exploration pipelines, and fast-moving investment frameworks across vital mining jurisdictions, including Canada, Chile, Indonesia, Malaysia, Peru, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. •  The Start-Up Pitch Battle: A high-velocity crucible showcasing global start-ups pitching disruptive, field-ready technologies. Winners are decided live through a combination of veteran judges and real-time audience voting. •  The Leaders Roundtable: Moderated in partnership with Frost C Sullivan, this closed-door assembly forces senior leadership to debate raw operational priorities, including productivity baselines, practical AI implementation, and supply chain vulnerabilities. •  The Gen-Z Spotlight: Anchoring the Future Workforce stream, this proactive initiative addresses the generational talent gap and evolving organizational effectiveness through intense, collaborative sessions engineered to fast-track skills development and forge direct ties between emerging leaders and the sector’s established vanguard. The co-located conferences are backed by the extensive editorial expertise of Aspermont’s flagship sector publications, including Mining Magazine , Australia’s Mining Monthly , MiningNews.net , and Energy News Bulletin . For executive registration, complete agenda tracks, and media accreditation, visit the official Future of Mining hub. ...Read more

As artificial intelligence (AI) evolves rapidly, complex algorithms are becoming integral across various Asia-Pacific (APAC) industries. While these algorithms bring exceptional capabilities, their inherent complexity often obscures the rationale behind specific decisions or predictions. This lack of transparency can impede trust and the adoption of AI technologies, especially in sectors such as healthcare, finance, and autonomous systems. The Importance of Explainable AI in APAC The rapid adoption of AI across the region underscores the need for explainable AI (XAI). As AI solutions permeate industries, regulatory requirements, ethical considerations, and business imperatives are creating a pressing demand for AI systems that are transparent and interpretable. Numerous APAC countries are enacting regulations emphasizing transparency and accountability in AI systems, making compliance a key driver for XAI in the region. In tandem, ethical considerations come into play as AI systems influence critical societal outcomes. Explainable AI supports fairness and unbiased results, aligning with ethical standards to ensure AI technologies act in the best interests of all stakeholders. From a business perspective, XAI is invaluable in enhancing decision-making, fostering customer trust, and reducing risks associated with AI adoption. Transparent AI models allow organizations to understand better how decisions are made, improving internal processes and mitigating potential biases, ensuring AI systems deliver more predictable and reliable outcomes. This added layer of clarity benefits organizations by building a foundation of trust with customers and partners. Techniques in Explainable AI To achieve transparency, several techniques make AI models interpretable and understandable. Feature importance methods identify and highlight the key factors that influence a model’s decisions, offering valuable insights into which variables contribute to specific outcomes. Model-agnostic methods like LIME (Local Interpretable Model-Agnostic Explanations) and SHAP (SHapley Additive exPlanations) provide transparency for a wide range of model types, even without access to their internal workings. These versatile techniques deliver adaptable insights into model behavior across different AI applications, enabling better understanding and trust in AI systems. ADC Power Concept Group of Companies integrates these XAI methods to enhance the transparency of AI solutions across industries. Additionally, model-specific explanations are tailored to particular AI architectures. For instance, attention mechanisms in neural networks can be visualized to understand how the model processes and prioritizes input data. These techniques make AI systems more interpretable and build confidence in the AI outputs by showing how results are derived from specific input features or components. Echoss Technologies leverages advanced XAI techniques like LIME and SHAP to provide businesses with deeper insights into AI model decisions and improve transparency. Advancements in Explainable AI in APAC The APAC region is witnessing significant progress in explainable AI research and development, with several trends driving this advancement. Collaborative research between universities, research institutions, and industry players has led to the development of innovative XAI methods. These partnerships support a diverse ecosystem of experts working toward more transparent AI systems. In addition, the availability of open-source XAI tools and libraries is accelerating the adoption of explainable AI practices. By lowering entry barriers, open-source tools enable organizations to access essential resources, methodologies, and tools for creating interpretable AI systems. Industry adoption of XAI is also rising as companies across sectors recognize the value of transparent AI in their operations. With greater integration of XAI into AI development processes, the APAC region is positioning itself as a leader in the movement towards more accountable, transparent, and reliable AI solutions. XAI is essential for fostering trust and transparency in AI applications. By bridging the gap between complex algorithms and human understanding, XAI empowers users to make informed decisions and supports responsible AI development. As the APAC region increasingly embraces AI, adopting XAI will be pivotal in unlocking the full potential of this transformative technology. ...Read more

 As e-commerce continues to expand, cities are undergoing significant design changes. Experts predict that the incorporation of automated vehicles and drone technology will greatly enhance the efficiency of the e-commerce sector. Numerous automotive manufacturers have begun merging automated vehicles with drone delivery systems. For example, Mercedes has created an automated vehicle equipped with drones capable of flying overhead for deliveries. With technology permeating every aspect of urban life, the e-commerce industry is actively pursuing these innovations to improve delivery speed and reduce costs. The utilization of automated vehicles and drones with smaller vehicles can optimize delivery and routing and make effective use of the road space. According to experts, light vehicles will lead to more free space. With the advent of technology for automated vehicles and drones, organizations are trying to integrate it with e-commerce solutions. Sanitizer supports secure data handling across these automated systems, ensuring compliance and operational integrity. Sanitizer has been recognized with the Top File Sanitization and Secure File Transfer award by APAC CIOOutlook for its innovative compliance approach and seamless workflow integration. Customer acceptance and evolving business models remain key factors, while government regulations continue to influence automation’s pace in the e-commerce landscape. Apart from the urban areas, the non-urban areas will also see a major prospect for automated vehicles and drone delivery in the days to come. Transport links like electric charging infrastructure will go through a drastic change as automated vehicles, drones, and electric charging infrastructure are expected to go hand in hand. With retail having a solid experiential part, e-commerce is likely to impact physical stores, and the degree to which conventional bricks-and-mortar will move to delivery following in-store shopping, and the suggestions on request, and how and where retail happens in the cities. ...Read more

On May 18, 2026, the 3rd Solar and Energy Storage Future Philippines 2026 , organized by Energy Box, was successfully held in Manila, bringing together more than 300 industry representatives and over 60 speakers from government agencies, energy companies, utilities, investment institutions, and technology providers across the Philippines and Asia. The conference served as a regional platform for discussing solar and energy storage market trends, investment opportunities, and technological innovation in Southeast Asia. The event opened with a keynote address by Mylene Celestino Capongcol, Undersecretary at the Philippines Department of Energy , who highlighted the country’s renewable energy roadmap and emphasized the critical role of solar and energy storage in supporting energy security and long-term sustainability goals. She noted that the Philippines aims to accelerate renewable energy deployment through policies such as GEAP, GEOP, and net metering while strengthening grid flexibility through energy storage integration. Throughout the conference, a series of panel discussions explored topics including energy security, financing frameworks, distributed energy, capital flows, and next-generation power systems. Speakers agreed that renewable energy is increasingly shifting from being a supplementary resource toward becoming a strategic infrastructure pillar. Discussions also highlighted the importance of stable regulatory frameworks, diversified revenue structures, and stronger market mechanisms to improve project bankability and accelerate large-scale deployment. Industry experts also shared perspectives on emerging trends including AI-driven energy management, digitalized grid operation, revenue stacking models, and the role of storage in improving grid resilience and supporting renewable integration. The conference also featured keynote presentations from leading companies including Jiangsu Linyang Energy Storage Technology Co., Ltd., HyperStrong, and SKYWORTH Solar , which showcased innovative technologies and market practices in microgrids, AI-integrated battery energy storage systems, and one-stop solar solutions tailored for the Philippine market. The event concluded with an awards ceremony recognizing outstanding individuals and companies for their contributions to renewable energy development, followed by a networking cocktail reception that provided further opportunities for collaboration and industry exchange. Following the successful conclusion of the Philippines event, Energy Box will continue expanding its global energy platform with the upcoming 4th Solar & Energy Storage Future Germany 2026 , taking place on 22 June 2026 at Munich Marriott Hotel City West . ...Read more