On September 11 and 12, 2018, I attended the 22nd edition of the SAP Forum in São Paulo, Brazil, the largest technology and business event in Latin America, with superlative numbers: more than 15,600 participants, more than 9,600 unique participants, 81 sponsors and 423 presentations. It was two intense days, with a lot of technology and innovation, which showed the importance of digital transformation for business. At the opening session of the event, SAP Brazil president Cristina Palmaka set the tone for what would be the event, talking about the interaction between man and machine, being aligned with SAP's purpose of making companies better, impacting the society. And she asked the following questions for reflection: What is the purpose of the company you work for? What would happen in society if tomorrow your company ceased to exist, or if your employment ceased to exist?

Google will invest in the development of its São Paulo-based startup fostering center to widen its footprint in founder communities in Latin America in 2018.

A Brazilian businessman flies over São Paulo, Brazil. Helicopter services offer an alternative to São Paulo's heavy car traffic. Could air taxis be developed to operate like Uber rides? A Brazilian businessman flies over São Paulo, Brazil. Helicopter services offer an alternative to São Paulo's heavy car traffic.

We consider Virtual Assistants (VAs) to be artificial conversational entities capable of engaging in human-like conversation, designed to convincingly simulate how a human would behave as a conversational partner. VAs are typically software incorporating natural-language processing, dialogue control and domain knowledge. They adapt according to the content and context of the dialogue. They can exhibit goal direction (i.e. For the sake of this Pit Stop, we consider VAs to primarily engage through speech-to-text (e.g. as a gateway to a visual experience) and speech-to-speech methods.

Promo If adversity is the mother of invention, the last year and a half should have fostered a whole slew of software innovation. But is your organization ready to not just cope with the seismic changes we've all had to endure, but to use them as a launch pad for new directions and innovations? If it is, do you know where and how to begin? Whatever your starting point, signing up for the NextStep conference on November 16 will put you on the path to thrive – not merely survive – in today's rapidly changing business environment. The NextStep event from OutSystems will show you how a modern application development platform will turbo charge your digital transformation, helping you deliver agile applications that evolve with your business and customers, and wipe out technical debt.