Guest blog: Robin Spinks RNIB, looking forward to TechShare Pro 2018

Over the past couple of years we've seen a transformation in the way that people are interacting with technologies. There's a great sense of excitement and anticipation in the realm of enabling technologies.

As a low vision person, I'm constantly using smart technologies to help me live a more fulfilled and independent life, at work, at home, as a parent and in my leisure time. And TechShare Pro 2018 has me excited about a whole range of interconnected possibilities across the piste.

Since 2000, TechShare events have provided a unique platform for learning and collaboration. This year I'm particularly keen to explore the approach taken by Google with their new Lookout app. I'm also very really interested in tracking the latest developments in conversational interfaces.

Accessible mainstream products are one absolutely crucial element of our smart connected future. But TechShare Pro highlights the fact that collaboration and partnership are key to enabling new possibilities.

Our future world will be one where accessible mainstream technologies seamlessly combine with thoughtful bespoke solutions in hardware, software and services. Artificial intelligence and machine learning clearly have an enormously important role to play in realising this aspiration.

Technology is a great liberator and for me personally, it's the biggest single catalyst for more inclusive living. But in all of this we mustn't forget the human element. The true realisation of the benefits that tech can bring requires us to collaborate, learn, exchange and inspire one another.

The powerful combo of feature-rich, capable AI-driven tech and real human understanding will ultimately enable so much more than technologies can in isolation. Yes, the future is bright, exciting and filled with possibility.