David Rowan
- Founding UK Editor-in-Chief, WIRED
- Author of Amazon #1 business bestseller Non-Bullshit Innovation: Radical Ideas from the World’s Smartest Minds (Penguin)
- 600+ keynotes around the world
- Technology columnist: The Times, GQ, Condé Nast Traveller
- Event moderator for governments, WIRED, TED, World Economic Forum
- Adviser to & investor in 150+ tech startups
David Rowan's videos
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- English
David Rowan's 2024 biography
Meet David Rowan
David Rowan explains compellingly how emerging technologies will impact business — and how leaders should prepare now. As founding Editor-in-Chief of WIRED magazine’s UK edition, David came to know the founders of WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Google, Didi, Spotify, Xiaomi, Nest, Twitter and countless other ambitious startups from Tel Aviv to Shenzhen. He has since invested in more than 150 early-stage tech companies, including two that became billion-dollar “unicorns”, and is an adviser to venture-capital funds, the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, and numerous tech businesses.
David’s Amazon #1 business bestseller Non-Bullshit Innovation: 17 Proven Ways to Transform How You Work (Penguin) has been published in Japan, Korea, Russia, Ukraine and beyond. The book, a 20-country quest for bold corporate innovation in the face of technology-led disruption, sets out 17 proven strategies for future-proofing a successful business — helping leaders build resilience in an uncertain world.
David has been a technology columnist for The Times, GQ, Condé Nast Traveller and The Sunday Times. He has been asked to give more than 600 keynotes in recent years, and has received repeat requests to present for clients such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Google, KPMG, McKinsey, Chanel and Unilever. David has moderated events for the World Economic Forum, WIRED and the UK and French governments, and is increasingly in demand to host virtual conferences.
David deconstructs tech trends in real time, unpacking how major innovations like artificial intelligence, quantum computing, autonomous vehicles, and more, are changing businesses and consumers. He focuses on how technology-led innovation can build prosperity even in economic downturns and amid market crises. He delivers fascinating and knowledgeable presentations full of insight into the future of technology together with lively examples and engaging video clips which reveal that, in some cases, the future is already here. He’s typically asked to speak about how innovation and technology are likely to impact a particular sector (from manufacturing to motoring), and what incumbent companies can do to protect themselves. He customises every talk, and in recent months has addressed audiences in finance, fashion, utilities, television, insurance, shipping, travel, real estate and business software. He also speaks a lot about changing business models, and how companies can develop a culture of innovation.
And he is still searching for the future.
David Rowan's 2024 talks & topics
Why this is AI's "Netscape moment" — and what that means for your business
How to understand the impact of ChatGPT and other generative AI tools. What they mean for business resilience, the job market, process automation.
AI may be the future — but what does it mean for your business today?
How to be human in the emergent era of transformative AI, neural interfaces, simulated realities and planetary chaos
What AI means for the data centre
How exponential tech forces retailers to think like startups
The impact of AI on operational real estate
How exponential tech could impact aviation cybersecurity
FINDING OPPORTUNITY AMID THE CRISIS
Technology offers hope for optimism as we enter an era of uncertainty and financial fragility. Here are the growth opportunities — from re-inventing supply chains to building new brand heroes.
WHY BUSINESS INNOVATION HAS NEVER MATTERED MORE
COVID forced business leaders to move insanely fast to adapt. But how do you build a culture of effective innovation? Here are the lessons from David’s 20-nation quest for non-bullshit innovation.
TEN LESSONS FROM THE NON-BULLSHIT INNOVATORS
David Rowan travelled across the world to understand what it takes for businesses and governments to leverage digital transformation in exciting ways. He shares ten lessons from his new book Non-Bullshit Innovation that can be applied to all sorts of organisations.
WHAT TECHNOLOGY MEANS FOR THE FUTURE OF YOUR INDUSTRY
David delivers bespoke presentations for client meetings. Recent subjects have included the future of food and drink (clients including Unilever, Coca-Cola, Barilla); the future of aviation (IATA); the future of real estate (CBRE, Leading Real Estate, Cushman & Wakefield); the future of media (Sky, Schibsted, BBC); the future of healthcare (BUPA, Vitality, Kaiser Permanente); the future of financial services (Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan).
THE FUTURE OF THE WORKPLACE
How to attract talent, and motivate your team to perform its best work, in a fast-changing world when the “workplace” is more fluid than ever before.
FINDING OPPORTUNITY AMID THE CRISIS: Technology offers hope for optimism as we enter an era of uncertainty and financial fragility.
Here are the growth opportunities — from re-inventing supply chains to building new brand heroes.
THE TEN NEW RULES OF BUSINESS
HOW TO OPTIMISE CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT
WHY PURPOSE PLUS PROFIT IS THE NEW MANTRA
EVENT MODERATING
David has moderated events for the UK and French governments; WIRED; World Economic Forum; Pictet; Royal Academy of Engineering. He hosts awards ceremonies, frequently interviews CEOs on stage, and is often asked to host multi-day events.
David Rowan's 2024 speaking fees
- United Kingdom
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