I’m catching up on the reading pile, mostly looking at strategic directions in knowledge management technologies for a client report, and came across a couple of articles my friend David Hartzband (VP for collaboration at EMC/Documentum/eRoom). He summarizes the Software 2004 conference managed by Sand Hill associates, and one of the insights he reports from the conference is: “…the need to look to models outside of technology development for ways to focus on innovation,” and “…that non-technical issues would be as important as technical ones over the next decade.”

Uncertainty in economic models, the trend for innovations to come from small groups working at the margin, and the globalization of knowledge work are all pointing to the line of thought that it’s not going to be new technology so much as new ways of bringing technology to people.

Through networks, presumably.