Amidst a gloomy backdrop of the current economic woes of investors, entrepreneurs and high tech startups, Tim O'Reilly delivered an inspirational Keynote address at the European Web 2.0 Expo this Tuesday.
Illustrating the deep trends behind Web 2.0 such as internet-as-platform and harnessing collective intelligence, O'Reilly asked the rhetorical question, "Do you really think that we're done yet with exploiting this huge change...?"
Winners in this new era, O'Reilly claims, are in the areas of:
- Cloud computing
- Software as a Service applications like Google Apps
- Open Source software
- Companies delivering valuable services to business or consumers
- Breakthroughs in collective intelligence
- Entrepreneurs who believe so much in what they are doing that they stick to it.
Using the example of the PC industry, he cited the times when there were thousands of PC companies, but a natural consolidation reduced this number. He then made the conclusion that the current economic difficulties simply accelerate this inevitable winnowing process.
Bringing the "big picture" back into focus, O'Reilly reminded the audience sharply about the "real" issues facing the world today, such as income inequality, oil price shock, global warming and water scarcity to name just a few.
In the face of extreme situations, O'Reilly advocated robust scenario planning, concluding with the strategy:
"Work on stuff that matters"
Citing the inspirational example of the Berlin Airlift and the innovative efforts required to achieve it, he stressed that his point that:
"Great challenge = Great opportunity"
O'Reilly finished the keynote with the appeal to use innovations from Web 2.0 to address these important issues. Judging by the reaction of the audience, it is a vision that many people would like to share.
Posted by Jason Soo
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