How will we adapt to the changing nature of work? Is the prospect of cyberwar sparking the next arms race? How can the world’s rising nations hope to match Silicon Valley in creating their own innovation hotspots? And what can today’s parents do to prepare their children for tomorrow?

While Alec Ross was working as Senior Advisor for Innovation to the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, he travelled to 41 countries, touring the latest advances coming out of every continent. From start-up hubs in Kenya to R&D labs in South Korea, he has seen what the future holds.

He reveals what changes are coming in the next ten years, highlighting the best opportunities for progress and explaining why countries thrive or sputter. He examines the specific fields that will most shape our economic future, including robotics, cybersecurity, the commercialisation of genomics, the next step for big data and the coming impact of digital technology on money and markets.

Speaker biography:

Alec Ross is currently a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at John Hopkins University and the author of The Industries of the Future. He recently served at the US State Department as Senior Advisor for Innovation in the office of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Previously, he served as the convener for technology, media, and telecommunications policy for Obama for America, and as a member of the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition Team where he focused on technology, innovation, and government reform. In 2000 he co-founded One Economy, a non-profit, three-person basement operation which, until 2008, he helped lead and grow to a global organisation that connects low-income people to the tools of the digital age. Follow him on Twitter @AlecJRoss.

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