Black Swan Summit Australia

Black Swan Summit is more than a conference - it is grounded in continuous research and strategic foresight that examines the forces reshaping global systems.

We curate original research reports and expert insights on frontier technologies, systemic risk, and long-term economic shifts. These perspectives inform the Summit’s agenda and provide deeper context to the discussions taking place on our stages.

For Black Swan Summit Australia, our reports bring global research into regional focus - highlighting how technologies such as AI and quantum computing, alongside energy transition and critical infrastructure, will shape Australia’s role in the next economic cycle.

Discovering the Edge of Tomorrow

September 2025

This report compiles the core arguments and key takeaways from the select roundtable discussions held at the Black Swan Summit 2025, which served as a forum addressing the novel challenges of digital transformation across financial and industrial landscapes. The volume distills insights from debates covering sustainable AI innovation, cyber resilience in the quantum era, and the transformative potential of tokenization.

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When the Unthinkable Happens: Financial Stability and Decentralised Infrastructure in a Post-Nuclear Conflict

September 2025

The report exposes the fragility of traditional financial infrastructure, which, optimised for efficiency, remains unprepared for catastrophic systemic shocks like Electro-Magnetic Pulse (EMP) attacks or severe infrastructure failures. Drawing lessons from the successful use of Decentralised Ledger Technology (DLT) specifically the Stellar network and USDC to deliver humanitarian aid efficiently and resiliently in war disrupted Ukraine, the volume urges an immediate shift toward hybrid financial systems. This balanced approach blends DLT's inherent resilience (avoiding single points of failure) with traditional governance structures, supported by mandatory resilience testing, to ensure financial continuity against future global crises.

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Humanity, Machine and Money of the Future - A Black Swan Summit 2025 Report

June 2025

The Black Swan Summit is a multi-sector ecosystem strategically located in Perth, Western Australia, that connects research, industry, and policy to navigate systemic risks, build resilient economies and uncover high-growth opportunities through innovation, collaboration, and foresight. The Black Swan Summit is hosted by the Global Finance & Technology Network (GFTN) in collaboration with Western Australia Web3 Association and the City of Perth.

The inaugural Black Swan Summit was held from 24-26 March 2025 as a global foresight forum, convening leaders from industry, academia, and policy across three integrated formats:

Main stage panels exploring novel and disruptive ideas
Interdisciplinary roundtables offering multi-perspective, in-depth discussions on key topics, and
Workshops showcasing applied solutions to the challenges raised

The most forward-thinking and provocative ideas from the Summit are distilled into Black Swan Insight, which is carried forward to other international forums - such as the Point Zero Forum in Zurich - for further validation, cross-market dialogue, and policy stress-testing.

This report captures the key insights and emerging trends discussed on the Summit Stage, and sums up the highlights from roundtables and workshops at the Black Swan Summit 2025.

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Transformative Technologies to Navigate A World of Black Swans

March 2025

The inaugural Black Swan Summit, took place from March 24-26, 2025, in Perth, as a pioneering foresight and research and development forum that will brought together the world’s boldest thinkers to shape the frontier of innovation and the next era of human progress, to challenge conventional thinking by exploring the transformative power of disruptive technologies.

The summit’s theme, "At the Edge of Tomorrow: Machine, Money, and Humanity," encapsulated its forward-thinking approach.

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In a Superposition: Disentangling Quantum Computing

March 2025

This century has been marked by an increasing understanding of quantum mechanics, with our knowledge being continuously refined and complicated. As such, the quantum computer's potential for drug discovery, decryption and financial optimisation has gained increasing traction. With the United Nations declaring 2025 as the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, the advent of the quantum technologies has drawn closer than many have prepared for.

As the global community continues to approach the brink of quantum revolution, exciting opportunities and serious challenges have presented themselves to us. Quantum computers have evolved beyond the technological experiments locked in quantum science laboratories, they have become real, including the experimental creation of room-temperature quantum computing technologies at the Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre in Western Australia, the radical streamlining of quantum algorithms which calculate the ground state energies of orbital electrons by Nicole Holzmann and her colleagues, and the optimism by firms in their capacity to provide useful commercial applications of quantum computers in less than a decade's time.

As quantum computing continues to gain momentum in its rapid evolution, gaining progress in its abilities, the technology presents great possibilities which can further the endeavours of the global scientific and mathematical communities. However, the risks that quantum computers pose to cryptography, security and privacy, as well as financial assets cannot be ignored.

There has been great debate about the timeline that quantum technology will occupy, whether quantum computers will be a commodity within the next 5 years, or if it will take decades before a fully functioning machine is made. It is constantly too early, yet too late to react to quantum technology. Ultimately, while it is hard to predict when exactly a quantum revolution will take place, it is necessary to acknowledge the slow yet inevitable progress being made in this industry.

As such, this whitepaper aims to investigate the fundamentals of quantum computing, giving an overview of the generalised risks and opportunities of quantum computing, based on insights gathered at the Insights Forum held at the Singapore FinTech Festival in November 2024. This is supplemented by specific opportunities and risks present in the finance and banking industry. Finally, this article discusses the specific preparations and preventative measures that companies can take to ensure that they are ready for a post-quantum future.

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Black Swan Summit Insights