Rethink Disruption — Emerging Technologies Transforming Business & Society

Janos Veres, Program Manager of the Novel and Printed Electronics area at PARC, a Xerox company, will be an Advances in Manufacturing keynote speaker and panelist at Rethink Disruption. The technology landscape is changing at a frenetic pace. Emerging technologies and technological advances continue to alter the business landscape, disrupting the status quo, and changing the way people live and work. Very few companies can ignore the risk of becoming irrelevant, ending up as mere footnotes of business history. While not every emerging technology will upend established markets, some will, and it is therefore imperative to understand their business potential and social impact. Investments in emerging technologies do not necessarily guarantee success. While Strategy&’s 2015 Global Innovation study reported the ten most innovative companies outperformed the top R&D spenders by 8-percent in revenue growth, as of 2017, this figure has grown to 11-percent. The failure of many organizations to improve R&D performance is not due to lack of effort or commitment but in- stead due to a misconception about the drivers of R&D performance. Research shows that disruption occurs when technologies, processes, and business models are combined in a unique way. Therefore, it is critical to get an R&D strategy in place and determine which technologies have the potential to add value to the existing business or create a brand new market before companies make the decision to invest in them. The Rethink Disruption program has been developed to help senior technology leaders separate the technology signals from the noise, with the goal to provide key insights into emerging technologies that have transformational potential and are positioned to create new waves of innovation across multiple industries. The program also explores the best R&D models to improve innovation performance and drive growth.