Techonomists Weigh in on Tech’s Future at Our San Francisco Salon

Techonomy hosted a salon dinner in San Francisco, in partnership with BlackBerry, and we took a few guests aside for further insight. We asked them, among other things, our usual—how is tech innovation changing society? Michael Chui of McKinsey Global Institute celebrated having such conversation in the Bay Area, noting its world-class universities and venture capitalists, adding up to a “cauldron of interpersonal connections” that spur innovation. But with more and more people coming online, Chui foresees developing countries playing an increasing role in a more global cauldron of innovation. BlackBerry’s John Chen thinks the future is in the machine-to-machine interconnectivity, as software and devices help make our lives “more automated, more information driven.” Sony’s Satjiv Chahil sees tech as not just a business efficiency tool or a mere platform for consumer connections. Tech, he says, “is creating social change everywhere, and it’s affecting political systems, medicine … everything in our life.” EBay’s Devin Wenig calls technology “the transformative force of our generation, maybe of the last several generations.” He argues that increasingly “tech is the economy.” We found it all exhilerating, and plan more such dinners in the near future.