Innovation has never taken place in a vacuum: inventors and entrepreneurs have always had patrons and providers of the infrastructure needed to dream up new technologies and bring new products to market. The internet might never have been possible without the Pentagon; DNA was discovered in a Cambridge University lab; and Bell Labs remains famous for the technological advances that it spawned. The sociology of innovation—how we can best arrange people and platforms to encourage breakthroughs—has become a hot topic, examining the ideal role of government, corporate and university spinouts, incentives and rewards, and the other factors needed to spur economic growth in the most efficient, sustainable way. In this panel we bring together innovators, policymakers, public intellectuals, and new organizations to help us understand how genius should best be organized to benefit us all. 

Moderator

Simon Radford

Director, European Policy and Programming, Milken Institute

Speakers

Jano Costard

Challenge Officer, SPRIND

Steffi Czerny

Co-Founder and Curator, DLD Conferences

Thomas Fink

Director, London Institute of Mathematical Sciences

Andre Loesekrug-Pietri

Chairman, JEDI

Albert Read

Author, "The Imagination Muscle"; Former Managing Director, Conde Nast Britain