Finance Minister Edward Scicluna today said that most people did not think it was possible for the Labour party to govern with such success back in 2013.

He was delivering one of three opening speeches during the Malta Institute of Accountants  Biennial conference 2016, with the theme: ‘Disruptive innovation: adapting for your tomorrow’.

The Finance minister said that in 2013, a party which was described as being half formed by dinosaurs, and half formed by inexperienced persons, upset a 25-year incumbent government.

He described the disruptive situation in the current international political sphere. Referring to the Brexit referendum, Professor Scicluna explained that most people outside the UK thought it was madness, yet the idea of leaving the EU appealed to a new market within the UK electorate which wanted a divorce.  “They managed to get majority and they will upset the system if they manage to get through”.

The same thing happened in the USA, he said, referring to President Elect Donald Trump’s victory over Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton. He warned that there could be more to come, with worries of Marine Le Pen gaining a majority in France.

He spoke of new technologies that change the dynamics of business, with a particular focus on smartphones and tablets.

“All young persons are in favour of innovation, but it changes our behaviour as well. The new techs with which we associate change our behaviour.  He explained that incumbent business giants within their sector some times get overthrown by small ideas which grow, yet nobody would think would succeed”.

He described the 2008 financial crisis as a disruptive situation. “It was not so much innovative, but we are reeling from that.  The reaction to it needs to be innovative.  We have banks that have to forgo their past practices”.

Also addressing the conference, PN MP Claudio Grech said that disruptive innovation is shaping the global economic future.

“Protect your reputation as a profession and lead by integrity and not numbers,” he told those present. “You should work hard to influence other professions to follow the path you are leading.  This is more relevant in the post-truth era. I forsee your profession will become a corrective factor that will be a lifeline for many sectors”.

“Former UK Prime Minister David Cameron had said that more of same will produce more of same. Less competitiveness, less growth, fewer jobs.  Over the last decades, innovation has been at forefront of all economic giants. Traditionally, we were becoming accustomed to sustaining innovation focused on enhancing current markets, but over the years most business models transformed into the definition of disruptive innovation, where power of disruption arises out of its effortless ability to reshape, re-engineer and transform a stable and evolving market”.

“The advent of personal computing and mobile devices are two such disruptive technologies that have marked the disruption. Smartphone and tablets disrupted the same personal computer market itself due to their mobility. Digital publishing has overhauled traditional publishing systems, and digital photography have wiped out traditional film based photography”.

He mentioned digital storage, explaining that years ago, 1 gigabyte of storage would cost half a million euros, yet today with cloud storage costs just a few cents.

“In healthcare, most governments struggle with the ever increasing costs of national health services. We saw radical shifts in insurance frameworks, in the way healthcare services are delivered, in private-public-partnerships, through the balancing act between the cost of providing services and increasing patient demands which is difficult to attain. “There is a global drive to address these challenges”.

Malta Institute of Accountants President Franco Azzopardi focussed his introductory speech on Bitcoin.

“In 2009, the first genesis block of bitcoin was released, allowing bitcoin mining to take place. It was later given a traditional value compared with currencies. It gained institutional legitimacy.  By 2014, tech giant Microsoft began accepting bitcoin.  The EU central bank realised detailed reports on these currencies.”

“Bitcoin is based on blockchain technology. It promises a world where all transactions can be locked in and viewed in real time”.