Innovation, Emerging Technology and Opportunity

Only a few years ago, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Eric Schmidt (the head of Google) stated:

"[In the future], the Internet will disappear… you won’t even sense it, it will be part of your presence all the time.”

We are starting to see how this might happen. If you have Google Home, Windows with Cortana, an iPhone with Siri, or Amazon Alexa you are able to interact with the web using your voice, without having to start an app or even open a browser. The "internet of things" refers to the interconnection of devices to the internet and each other to allow them to streamline and enhance our lives. Examples of IoT devices include appliances such as refrigerators that can give you a grocery list, smart door locks, light switches, thermostats, etc. While these devices are connected to the internet and are leveraging the power of the Web in the background, we simply take them for granted and just "use" them.


Innovation, specifically disruptive innovation, has a profound impact on business and our lives. We can name a number of examples of disruptive innovation, but one that should come to mind immediately is the Internet. When the internet was developed however, it was designed and built primarily for exclusive use by the military and research universities. This brings us to and important point: Not every innovative design ends up being used for its original purpose.

If we go back to the example of the evolution of the cell phone, smartphones came about after someone came up with the idea of the personal digital assistant or PDA. People didn't want to have to carry both a cell phone and a PDA around with them, so once the technology allowed it, it made sense to put your calendar, contacts list, and e-mail on your phone. With advances in mobile technology and the availability of Wi-Fi, early smartphones morphed into computers with full operating systems such as Android and iOS. The original idea was combine a PDA and a phone, but as technology evolved, the phone is your PC. This is convergence--innovative technologies combining to form another innovation, the whole much better than the parts.

It is not too difficult to go back and identify an emerging technology after it happened then, is it? But the term "emerging technologies" is really a relative term, After all, what is "emerging" is really a matter of opinion, and that opinion is pretty much guesswork--a prediction of sorts, that may or not come true. If we were excellent at predicting the next big thing, we all would be millionaires, wouldn't we?

Things are a lot different in business today. Most companies now operate in a highly competitive environment and are expected to do more with less. At the same time, companies are expected to constantly increase sales, revenues, and market share. If that isn't enough, they are also expected to find resources and funds to develop new products, services, or to develop and implement innovative technologies.

Information technology professionals in this current environment have a lot to be concerned about. The demands of shareholders and investors and conflicting objectives of profit and the need for innovation are severe. In addition, companies are organized to have a more "flattened" organizational chart. That is, there are less employees each one of which may have more diverse responsibilities then in the old days of compartmentalized structures and narrow job descriptions.

To make matters worse, the incredibly fast pace of technological change, as well as the need for agility in the enterprise create additional pressure on information technology professionals to not simply stay "relevant", but to be able to be ready and anticipate trends and innovation so that they remain indispensable and valuable to the industry.  

Technological innovations have driven major business transformations, provided new careers, and have even lead to entrepreneurial opportunities. Having said that, it is critical for you to not just appreciate that technologies and business problems interact, but to understand at a meaningful level how they interact. Your understanding of how these interactions work will allow you to more deeply participate in the company you work for, as well as to become more valuable to the company. This ability to understand the interactions between business and technology will also give you increased agility and forethought regarding your career path. A technical skill set is certainly important, but a wider breadth of knowledge both in IT and in business is also valuable.

In addition to technical skills, a successful professional in any area of business needs to also have very good "soft skills". In my other article about having a job verses having a career I discuss the importance of soft skills.

Wake Forest Innovation Quarter 

I don't want to talk about emerging technologies in a vacuum however.  After all, this article attempts to tie emerging technologies to the IT profession.  I want to expose you to the real world of innovation and startups. If you are my student I want to introduce you to some local innovation and startup resources that you can explore and even connect with. If you are located somewhere else, do some web research for innovation communities, shared spaces for startups, etc. In Winston-Salem there is the Innovation Quarter and an organization called "Flywheel Coworking" that you should become familiar with.  Note that Flywheel has regular events that typically are free to showcase some of their startup members.  Attending some of them can give you some insight into how these startups work and how innovation lives in our area.  

The Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship

The Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship, Inc. operates a business incubator located in the heart of Greensboro. The Center provides modestly priced office and light manufacturing space along with shared support services such as the EASE Program, business counseling, copier, fax, mail boxes, and data entry. It’s mission is to attract, advise and house start-up and early stage growth entrepreneurs.

I cannot stress enough how important it is to get a perspective of both the work environment and the "social network" of innovation and technology.  It is not too early to start connecting and interacting with this world.  The sooner you are comfortable interacting in this environment and associating with the people working in this environment, the less difficult it will be for you to land a job and be successful as an IT professional (or any other professional in business for that matter).

There is no magic formula for a successful and fulfilling career in information technology.  But the resources provided in my IT blog will give you an overview of the considerations when preparing to pursue a career, as well as to stay essential and relevant.  One of the major reasons I publish this blog is to provide you with information on careers, and to help you connect the dots between innovation, emerging technology and your future as an IT professional!