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The Future of Technology summit was hosted on April 8th-9th in Washington D.C. The summit included speakers from many of the major government agencies; also, corporations such as Microsoft, Amazon, IBM, and many more. The purpose was to highlight emerging technologies that will have a greater impact on society moving forward such as artificial intelligence, robotics, 5G, and security. Since the conference was held in D.C, there was a big government presence and a focus of data privacy and security throughout many keynote discussions and panels.
Security and defense are and forever will be the main concern of governments around the world, and in some discussions, it was evident that the current rate of technological advancements is making that very difficult. Andre Iancu is the current director of the USPTO (United States Patent Office) and mentioned how the privacy of intellectual property can be strengthened but as a nation, we are global competitors, something Americans tend to forget about. Iancu brought major concerns on how “in the U.S women inventors only held 12% of patents created in 2016. Increasing innovation with young women and people of color can assist in bringing a surge of innovation and invention by an alarming amount”. These concerns are due to how in the past 10 years the growth of patents in America is 4%, while China has surpassed that due to their 25% increase on patents. As the world is rapidly changing, so is innovation. This shed light on many interesting topics such as the growth of innovation and who is playing a role.
Paul Misner is the Vice President for Global Innovation Policy and Communications at Amazon, and during his panel, he spoke about how Amazon has been able to keep up with societies demands. Shifting/redirecting focus is what made Amazon so successful, and throughout his presentation, Misner pointed out many different examples of successes and failures that provided an end product or sector amazon developed. As 19 year veteran at Amazon, he witnessed how “customer-obsessed innovation, particularly in the context of Amazon’s Leadership Principles” assisted Amazon to dominate many sectors in business today.
In the Future of Technology and Government panel, Anna Wheeler (Vice President of Federal at Qualys) and Jenna O’Steen (Accenture’s Justice Account Lead) lead the conversation on how the government will play a role in regulating technologies for security purposes. One of the main topics were, are regulations going to hinder innovation to come. This was a very interesting discussion because the panel also held speakers representatives from Microsoft and the Department of Defense. Michael Vannatta is the Chief Technology Officer Microsoft National Intelligence and he spoke about how innovations in cloud computing shifted the focus for many tech-based companies and there is a consistent competition to being the best, on the other hand, it opens doors for attacks because it is a developing area. When asked a question related to blockchain and cryptocurrencies, there was a wide range of comments and concerns. Many believed that blockchains role in helping supply chains be transparent and developing trust is a great feature, while others mentioned how bitcoin has become infamous for claiming to be an anonymous way of sending money. Frank Konieczny represented the Department of Defense and mentioned how regardless how we think bitcoin is going to work or not, other countries will and some have already started using it as a national currency. He added how cryptocurrencies and blockchain may not fail due to how it can assist the developing world and provide seamless transparency.
In another keynote, Jerry Luftman Former CIO at IBM mentioned how corporations are rapidly growing and changing positions in the ranks. He brought historical references of major companies that have not been able to catch the shift in their industry. He mentioned how the top 10 companies in 2001, are not in the same position now. Kodak was a great example of not being able to lead the digital revolution when they had the chance. He mentioned how innovation is consistently lead by those who are developing, while big companies tend to get comfortable. Luftman states how Amazon is a trailblazer because they have been able to dominate the space with some many innovative projects that helped them shift their focus.
Overall the conversations that were held did bring out many great ideas and connections, but the most important note I’ve taken is that innovation never stops. One great example of that is Amit Dhingra
Professor of Genomics and biotech at Washington state university. He explained the role of genetics research in farming and how it has changed the lives of humans throughout history. Dr. Dhingra mentioned how his company MultiPHY TM, created a proprietary production process for rootstock, soil building, and rapid plant breeding. Using phonemics and rapid and non-invasive screening of desirable plants to be able to scan stressed plants to see what is causing problems. These methods are what will bring solutions to our growing populations.
Before attending the Future of Technology summit, I did not know what to expect. Looking at the speaker list I learned very quickly that it was an event nobody in the tech space would want to miss out on. Learning and engaging with AI models from Estonia, connecting with leaders in technologies and policy helped me have a clearer view of what the future holds.
