Sponsored by Offit | Kurman, Attorneys at Law, KatzAbosch, CPAs & mindgrub

Click here for Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 & Part 6

Forecasting the next decade of global opportunities and challenges in emerging technology

Alec Ross is a technology policy expert, former Senior Advisor for Innovation to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and author of the New York Times bestselling book The Industries of the Future. Drawing on its author’s years working in both the private and public sectors on issues involving innovation, public policy, international relations, and communications, The Industries of the Future maps out the sweeping global changes we can expect to see over the next ten years, addressing opportunities, challenges, and difficult questions along the way. Now in its sixth printing, the book covers emerging technologies in fields such as robotics, cybersecurity, genetics, banking, and defense. The New York Journal of Books lauded it as “a riveting and mind-bending book,” and Google CEO Eric Schmidt called Alec “one of those very rare people who can see patterns in the chaos and guidance for the road forward.” Alec is also currently distinguished visiting fellow at Johns Hopkins University.

Alec Ross spoke with citybizlist publisher Edwin Warfield for this interview.

EDWIN WARFIELD: When you think of emerging economic forces, where are they situated? Where’s the next Silicon Valley?

ALEC ROSS: Everywhere I travel, people say the same thing to me: “We want to create our own Silicon Valley.” The God’s honest truth is what I want to tell people is “Don’t bother.” Don’t try. They’ve got a decades long head start. Silicon Valley in many respects won the internet. They did everything right to position that 30-mile long, 15-mile wide area to overwhelmingly capture a high percentage of the trillions of dollars of wealth that was created through the internet. When people say they want to create the next Silicon Valley, I say, “No, no, no—create the next center for the industries of the future.”

The internet in and of itself—that ecosystem has already been well established, and sure, there will be internet-based businesses that grow up everywhere that create jobs and wealth; but, when I think about genomics, when I think about big data, when I think about artificial intelligence and robotics, I do think that there can and will be more geographic spread for these industries than there has been for the internet. The principal virtue that is going to be necessary for this is openness. You’ve got to create places that lend themselves to imagination, to invention, to very early stage high-risk investing.

It has to be places that I believe are overwhelmingly welcome for women. I think that any states or societies that treat women like second-class citizens—guess what folks? You’re not going to be the HQ for one of the industries of the future. I do think that there have been some cultural norms that have been established among today’s innovators and the people who I think are going to create the Google of robotics or the Amazon of big data or the Cisco Systems of life sciences and genomics, and I think that it’s really rooted in openness. You’ve got to be radically rights respecting and welcome people of all backgrounds, religions, ethnicities, races, sexual preferences.

I also think that you’ve got to be as anti-prejudice as possible. Don’t judge people on their age. Don’t judge people on where they’re coming from. The societies that are most radically open and welcoming and then lend themselves to the most frictionless communication, collaboration, and commerce are going to be those places that are the headquarters for the industries of the future.

Q. Where does a city like Baltimore fit in?

A. Today, I think that there are probably just south of 15 alpha cities in the world—you know, places that are economies unto themselves: New York, San Francisco/Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, London, Dubai, Singapore, Tel Aviv, Tokyo, Beijing, Sao Paulo. And most of the Fortune 100 CEOs travel the world in a circuit of sorts.

By the same token, there are also beta cities: cities that are strong, but within the context of a regional fabric. I think of Munich, for example, as a beta city. I think of Cambridge in the U.K. I think of Baltimore as one of these cities. It’s got strong roots in intellectual property, has good researchers, but is much more strong as a regional player than as a place that people come from around the world just to live and work there and to do business there. What I do believe, though, is that when I think of the industries of the future, when I think of cybersecurity, when I think of genomics, I do think that Baltimore could emerge as an alpha city, as long as it becomes the most entrepreneur- and investment-friendly place possible. It already has a lot of the cultural characteristics that lend themselves to young people wanting to come and spend 20 or 30 years of their life there.

The last thing I will say is that we have to remember that innovation comes from the edge. It doesn’t always come from a central authority or for somebody commanding things from on high. The impulse for control from central authorities, from traditional hierarchical figures, creates conditions that are sort of anti-innovation. The 21st century is a terrible time to be a control freak. And when I think about those control freak leaders, from Vladimir Putin in Russia to dozens of others around the world, you can spend all the money you want, but if you’re going to be autocratic and if you aren’t going to allow innovation to emerge from the edge—from improbable places—then you better click your heels together like Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz and say, “There’s no time like the 1950s.”

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Founded in 1969,  KatzAbosch is one of the largest CPA and business consulting services in the Mid-Atlantic region. Our mission is to provide the highest quality accounting, tax, financial and management consulting services to our clients. We understand the needs and challenges of our clients and we have made it our obligation to create, grow and protect asset value. The experts at KatzAbosch offer a full service solution while maintaining a tradition of ethics and incorporating the latest technology and unique business practices. Excellence in an industry often begins with how those closest to the company—its clients and employees—feel about it. For these individuals, KatzAbosch is a place where people and businesses excel and prosper. Our advisors can meet all of your service needs including; Audit & Accounting, Business Valuation & Litigation Support, Consulting, Estate Planning & Administration, Financial Institution Services, Forensic Accounting & Fraud Examinations, State and Local Tax (SALT), Taxes & Planning.

Mindgrub was founded in 2002 by a teacher-turned-technologist, and since then we have devoured every project to come across our plate. We are a team that solves client challenges by harnessing the newest technologies. We are not here to churn out code and pixels, we are here to pioneer new methods of learning and user interaction. You can see us leading the way at conferences like SXSW, TEDx, and NAB.

Edwin Warfield, CEO of citybizlist, conducts the CEO Interviews.

If you're interested in reaching CEOs, please contact edwin.warfield@citybuzz.co

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