David Rowan

  • Editor-at-Large and Founding Editor-in-Chief, WIRED UK
  • Author of 'Non-Bullshit Innovation: Radical Ideas from the World's Smartest Minds'
  • Renowned Tech Journalist, The Sunday Times
  • Founder, VOYAGERS - non-profit community solving health & climate problems

David Rowan is today’s leading speaker on how emerging technologies will impact business — and how leaders should prepare now. He’s given more than 600 keynotes around the world, and has moderated events for the World Economic Forum, the biggest global companies, and governments. As founding Editor-in-Chief of WIRED magazine in the UK, David came to know the founders of WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Google, Didi, Spotify, Twitter and countless other ambitious startups from Tel Aviv to Shenzhen. His best-selling book, Non-Bullshit Innovation: Radical Ideas from the World’s Smartest Minds (Penguin), is a 20-country quest to identify genuine innovation in the face of technology-led disruption. The book sets out 17 proven strategies for future-proofing a successful business — from “Turn products into services” to “Build an ecosystem.” David spends his time at tech’s cutting edge: visiting university research labs and startup clusters to meet the people building the future. He’s invested in more than 150 early-stage tech companies and runs venture funds that invest in health-tech and climate-tech. David has been a technology columnist for The Times, GQ, Condé Nast Traveller, and The Sunday Times, and at WIRED he built a conference and a consulting business. And he is still searching for the future.

David will customize a talk for your meeting or will moderate your event in his accessible journalistic style. His recent themes include:
• 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 exponential technologies mean for the next five years in retail/real estate/finance/media/healthcare, etc
• What a 20-country quest taught me about building an authentic culture of innovation
• What carbon accounting will mean for every business
• Where AI, data analytics and blockchain should fit into your strategy planning
• What talent wants in the new world of work
• Why purpose plus profit is the new business mantra

 

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Past Hosts Include:
  • Terrapin
  • Unilever
  • Totaljobs
  • OpenRoom
  • David Cameron, Prime Minister, for G8 Innovation Conference
  • Broadband World Forum
  • BrainScape, Dubai
  • Sky
  • HereEast
  • Beco Capital, Dubai
Rave Reviews About David Rowan
David was incredible and we’ve had some great feedback already from our analysts and leadership team that were there. We were engaged, inspired and enjoyed every minute of his keynote.

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Talks & Conversations with David Rowan
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Business, Tech, & Climate Change

Innovative tech journalist DAVID ROWAN leads a grand adventure onstage for individuals and organizations looking to see, experience, and change the world. Referencing his sustainable ecosystem of impact-driven communities, Voyagers.io, Rowan brings insights specific to your industry and regulatory c ...

Innovative tech journalist DAVID ROWAN leads a grand adventure onstage for individuals and organizations looking to see, experience, and change the world. Referencing his sustainable ecosystem of impact-driven communities, Voyagers.io, Rowan brings insights specific to your industry and regulatory concerns, planting the roots for future-proofing.  

Why this is AI's "Netscape moment" — and what that means for your business

Netscape transformed what was an obscure academic and governmental hypertext network and opened the door to what became the multi-trillion-dollar internet economy.  DAVID ROWAN is convinced this is the Netscape moment in the Artificial Intelligence era: the very beginning of a massive series of disr ...

Netscape transformed what was an obscure academic and governmental hypertext network and opened the door to what became the multi-trillion-dollar internet economy.  DAVID ROWAN is convinced this is the Netscape moment in the Artificial Intelligence era: the very beginning of a massive series of disruptive industry upheavals built on AI that will create vast new wealth — and punish any business that underestimates the speed and depth of the shift to the new AI economy. You can already see the signals: from deepfakes, to ChatGPT, to medical AI’s reading patients’ CT scans, and more. So where do we go from here — and how should you prepare? David will translate how AI is being applied today in top university labs and in the most ambitious startups, and help you understand what is about to happen in your industry. Because you can't assume it will be business as normal.

Thought Leadership Topics in Fully Customized Keynotes

DAVID ROWAN is in-demand with groups Microsoft, Goldman Sachs, The World Economic Forum, TED Global, Google Zeitgeist, Fortune 100 businesses, and more. David’s recent presentations include: how smart companies are innovating, how to embrace transformative in an exponential era, how utilities will c ...

DAVID ROWAN is in-demand with groups Microsoft, Goldman SachsThe World Economic ForumTED GlobalGoogle ZeitgeistFortune 100 businesses, and more. David’s recent presentations include: how smart companies are innovating, how to embrace transformative in an exponential era, how utilities will change in the decade ahead, the future of the customer experience, and actionable strategies and lessons from the world’s fastest innovators.

The New Rules of Business

In this compelling talk, renowned tech journalist DAVID ROWAN shares the ten technology megatrends you can’t afford to ignore – and how they’ll transform manufacturing, hospitality, finance, insurance, entertainment, and travel industries. With a breadth of expertise and insider secrets from the wor ...

In this compelling talk, renowned tech journalist DAVID ROWAN shares the ten technology megatrends you can’t afford to ignore – and how they’ll transform manufacturing, hospitality, finance, insurance, entertainment, and travel industries. With a breadth of expertise and insider secrets from the world’s tech titans, Rowan reveals how to survive, prosper, and embrace transformation in a world of exponential technologies and what your business can learn from startup thinking.

Non-Bullshit Innovation: Radical Ideas from the World’s Smartest Minds

In this eye-opening, actionable, and engaging talk, DAVID ROWAN takes audiences behind the scenes of the years of travel and research that went into his new book Non-Bullshit Innovation. Rather than innovate through jargon – with talk of change agents and co-creation gurus, ideas portals and webinar ...

In this eye-opening, actionable, and engaging talk, DAVID ROWAN takes audiences behind the scenes of the years of travel and research that went into his new book Non-Bullshit Innovation. Rather than innovate through jargon – with talk of change agents and co-creation gurus, ideas portals and webinars, make-a-thons and hackfests, paradigm shifts and pilgrimages to Silicon Valley – he reveals the companies and leaders that are truly and successfully thinking outside the box. From the bank that performs surgery to the country that’s an app store, Rowan’s talk is chock-full of engrossing stories collected on his 20-country journey from Peru to China. Packed with practical tips on radical ways to adapt and thrive in the digital age, Rowan’s talk reveals how to create genuine innovation regardless of your industry.

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Biography

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: Radical Ideas from the World’s Smartest Minds (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 customizes 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.