Plenary Talk 3 : The Generations of Computing and the Coming Data Age

Summary form only given. If you look carefully at the development of computing, you can see clear generational cycles. These cycles are marked by a sharp change of technology and a group of young leaders taking advantage of those changes. There is clearly a period of 20 years in which these leaders rise to prominence in the field before passing command to the next generation. We can point to the mainframe generation of the Fifties, the Software/PC Generation of the 70s, and the Internet/Mobile Generation of the 90s. We are clearly nearing the end of the 90s cycle and need to start asking what follows and who will be the next generation. This talk considers the extent to which data will be the next driving technology and the extent to which we are already shifting towards the data generation of leader.