Will the United States remain a world leader in technology and science amid growing global competition?
That question was a recurring one at Google"s headquarters, where the heads of influential technology companies, including Sun Microsystems, Intel, Cisco Systems, Yahoo and Monster.com, gathered on Monday to discuss the direction of their industry.
The TechNet Innovation Summit panel discussions, organized by lobbying group TechNet, were moderated and taped by TV talk show host Charlie Rose. He plans to air the discussions on his show this week.
Several panelists, including venture capitalist John Doerr, Sun Microsystems co-founder Bill Joy, and Monster.com Chief Executive Jeff Taylor, expressed optimism about new Internet-related business opportunities. Those opportunities, they said, include wireless Internet access, miniature computing devices, voice recognition, computer security and electronic medical records.
Sun"s Joy suggested much work lies ahead in making information on the Net easier to find and organize.
"The Web as we know it is largely impersonal," Joy said. "We"re overwhelmed by the information that"s out there. So, that will be the next great wave--something that not only takes an index of the Web, but something that organizes the Web for us in real time."