Author: Angela Koch, Technology First
June 2010
Ann Gallaher opened the conference with some background on the Technology Landscape 2013 concept. Last summer, during a review of our strategic plan, the Board of Trustees challenged Technology First to find our role in inspiring innovation. This conference, which offers a glimpse of future and emerging technologies that will affect businesses in the region, was the result. Ann mentioned that executives often spend so much time working “in” their business they don’t have time to work “on” their business. The conference’s goal is to give IT executives and professionals a day to think strategically and look to the future, and hopefully assist in some planning for the coming years. Additionally, Ann recognized the planning committee and thanked them for their contributions and the time they devoted to making Technology Landscape 2013 a success.
Paul Moorman, emcee for the day, briefly discussed the ideas the planning committee considered while organizing this year’s event. Paul talked about the committee’s focus on presenting actionable information that would be useful in the very near future, as well as their desire to include presentations that suggest ways to improve productivity, revenue, and services.
Dr. Tom Skill, Associate Provost for Communication and Strategy and CIO of the University of Dayton, presented the first keynote address of the day. His topic, IT Innovations, covered what “the experts” predict beyond 2010 and how those technologies might fate when viewed in the light of market-adoption principles. Dr. Skill discussed form versus function and how predictions for each differ. An analysis of about 30 studies revealed that how users perceive the relative advantage of a new innovation is more important than the tangible advantage, and the less complex an innovation is, the more likely is it to be adopted. Tom reviewed studies by Deloitte and Gardner, which included a prediction that cloud computing integrators are likely to be located in India. Gardner has also predicted that Facebook will to become the hub of all social networking. Other technologies discussed included GPS innovations, gesture-based computing, location and contact sensitive mobile devices, augmented reality applications, Web 3.0, and business leveraging Twitter. Dr. Skill concluded his presentation with some interactive demonstrations and a question and answer session.
Richard Ho of Salesforce.com followed with a keynote on the enterprise cloud. He talked about the benefits of cloud computing as well as software, infrastructure, and platform as a service and how those three things give companies flexibility in how they deploy applications.
Morning breakout sessions included MobiCloud, GIS Mapping and BlackBerry Smartphones, Storage Infrastructure, and more, as well as time to network and visit exhibitor booths.
Arijit Sengupta introduced Dr. Amit Sheth of the Kno.e.sis Center at Wright State University delivered the luncheon keynote: “Semantic Web, Powering Intelligent Enterprise and Web Applications.” Dr. Sheth offered some background on the Kno.e.sis Center, whose purpose is to help make sense out of data in a variety of forms, moving from the “information” age to the “meaning” age. He went on to discuss the growth of semantic web technologies and search engine optimization. Semantic web technology is about ontology, taxonomy, and shared meaning of the data.
Afternoon breakout sessions included Making Virtual an Effective Reality, The Cloud: A New Outlook, Global SWOT and more.
Prasad Kantamneni of Yahoo! delivered a presentation on balancing user experience and revenue, which discussed how businesses can use data to make product design decisions. He explored the definition of a “good user experience” and how subconscious user decisions affect, or should affect, design change. Additionally, Prasad offered a glimpse into the inner workings of Yahoo! and the basis of their marketing and design decisions.
The final keynote of the day was Rob Keefer’s presentation, titled “The Slow Crawl to Innovation: A Realistic Journey to Remarkable.” Rob discussed the importance of talking to “real people” and retrieving raw data from customers. He described mind mapping tools, relative to textbooks, and how the idea was born from live customer discussions and feedback from end users. Rob finished with a question and answer session.
The conference ended with the distribution of door prizes and a reception at Sidebar in the Oregon District. Technology First looks forward to next year’s Technology Landscape Conference, and we would like to thank the sponsors, speakers, exhibitors, and participants for making the 2010 conference a success. We welcome your feedback; if you have ideas on how we can continue to inspire innovation, please contact Andy Hickey at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or Ann Gallaher at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .