2014 ended with a flurry of technology conferences in Europe and the Middle East. In November, the European Commission's (EC) annual Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Conference addressed how to make the EC a 21 Century organization. In December, the International Telecommunications Union Telecommunications Standardization Sector ( ITU-T) hosted a meeting in Doha, Qatar for CTOs. Among the issues discussed were updates on the Global Standardization Landscape, status of Internet of Things Standardization and next generation video technologies and standards. Also in Doha, at the same time The ITU hosted World Telecom whose theme was "Future in Focus: how disruptive developments in technology, business and society are transforming the ICT industry." All the meetings gave us much to think about for 2015. Gunther Oettinger , European Union Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society kicked-off the ICT DIGIT-IT conference by outlining his strategy for achieving a digital transformation within the European Union. He went on to detail specific areas he thought needed the most attention including:
As Commissioner Oettinger concluded his presentation, I was struck by how similarhis concerns are to the concerns Cisco is hearing from many of our customers; namely, the importance of Big Data, the Internet of Everything, Cloud Computing and the intersection of privacy, data retention and cybersecurity. The Commissioner also challenged the participants to think about the talent required to address these topics in a rapidly changing environment. He asked the audience, "What does a millennial strategy look like?" And, "What does an agile organization look like?" The ITU conference Leadership Summit of the Future was quite a provocative experience as we explored the question,"What does 2020 look like for YOU?"Here are some of the more striking visions for the future:
My overalltakeawaysfrom the meetings are:
Which of the takeaways discussed do you think will have the most impact on how we live, work and play in the future?
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