Xconomy: Top 20 Under-the-Radar Trends in Innovation
Summary
We at Xconomy reached out across our national network of innovation leaders (the Xconomists) to get some answers to this question, and to spur some intercity discussion.The Xconomists—who are a mix of entrepreneurs, executives, investors, and researchers—answered our innovation-trend question on several interesting levels: Some chose to focus on high-level trends in areas such as global competitiveness, investing for the short or long term, and collaboration between startups and big companies.Their topics ranged from tech sectors like connected hardware to fracking to renewable chemicals and agriculture; from artificial intelligence and brain science to personal health portals; and from biomaterials and network science to vaccines for tropical diseases.Several Xconomists lamented the short-term thinking and incrementalism of many of today’s entrepreneurs and investors; they sounded warning bells about the future impact on U.S. competitiveness and society in general.We hope you enjoy the 20-odd Xconomist perspectives (edited for length) in the slideshow above, and that it will lead to productive discussions—and actions—in your circles.