Abstract

"Opportunities for Innovation in the IT Industry"

Dr. Mark Dean, Dorector, IBM Almaden Research Lab

Over the past half century, few industries have created and thrived on innovation as much as information technology. But signs of change loom on the horizon. For example, the exponential Moore's Law decrease in circuit feature sizes is approaching atomic limitations. Also, some perceive that many basic tasks have already been adequately "computerized." I believe that these successes have expanded -- not depleted -- the wellspring of future innovation. I will describe in some detail those areas in which we at IBM Research see bright prospects for valuable IT advancements over the next several decades. Indeed, we are working together with CITRIS in several of these areas, most notably in the emerging field of Services Science, Management & Engineering I will also touch on the expansive ways in which the industry's pursuit of innovation has also evolved to become more wide-ranging, inclusive and productive.