The Future According To Megan Smith

Jessica Stillman | Forbes | July 19, 2013

Women 2.0 conference keynote speaker and Google[x] VP Megan Smith gives us a glimpse of her 2020 vision — and it’s pretty inspiring.

What will the world look like in the 2020?

Most of us will get the answer to that question by waiting and watching the future unfold. But as a VP at Google[x], the company’s lab for advanced projects like Google Glass and driverless cars, Megan Smith actually helps to shape the future when she goes to work every day.

So how does she see the rest of the decade unfolding, and what insights can she share about how the world will be different in seven years time? We spoke to her to find out.

What industries do you see being really transformed by 2020?

The thing that’s going on is affecting everything. I call it network effects. People have had great ideas all over the world for all time, they just haven’t always had access to communicate them to each other and collaborate, and so I think we’ll see profound disruption and innovation across many different sectors.