Professor David Lane attends The Times round-table on Disruptive Technologies

"Do you know a disruptive technology when you see it?  The answer is no..."

ECR Director Professor David Lane was invited to London to participate in a round-table discussion on the implications of disruptive technologies, and how best to embrace them. The discussion took place on 6th May, and was in association with defence technology industry leader BAE Systems.

The backgrounds of those invited to the panel ranged from business strategists to academics, and this diversity made for a lively discussion.  The debate touched on how we define disruptive technologies, and how this affects various stakeholders' positions on them - are they pioneering, fresh and exciting or simply unsettling, for consumers and the economy alike?

Are disruptive technologies the product of the fast-moving start-up culture and unrestricted innovation and or do they in fact play into the hands of venture capitalists and giants like Google?   

In the UK because of our society we are able to create technologies which are disruptive but inclusive and ethical.  That is our USP; to fight against the Silicon Valley giants to create technologies that will be trusted.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     - Jeni Tennison, Technical Director and Deputy CEO, the Open Data Institute 

Professor Lane touches on the very different challenges facing both larger companies and SMEs in relation to funding cutting-edge university research:

The companies that have the financial ability to sponsor research in universities tend to be larger companies.  But those larger companies are not the most agile and able to adopt the really leading edge technology or the idea that comes out of the research.

A shorter online version can be found here.