Andrew McAfee

Growth does not have to happen at the expense of the environment, says MIT principal scientist and digital economist Andrew McAfee, Ph.D. He and his research team have collected massive amounts of data showing how technology has contributed to increased economic growth and decreased use of energy and natural resources since the 1970s. In this talk, he shares that data and offers up smart strategies for driving profits while taking less from the earth. In the process, participants get a sneak peek at emerging trends and technologies that will help them strike a balance between profit and purpose going forward. They also learn how to understand and address systemic problems within an organization or at the public policy level with solutions McAfee continues to uncover in his research.

The key factor that drives the success of tech giants like Amazon, Google, Facebook and Uber lies in their ability to leverage a digital operating model. Traditional businesses are getting left behind as these digital giants take over the economy, says MIT digital economist and data scientist Andrew McAfee, Ph.D., co-founder of MIT’s Initiative on the Digital Economy. In this talk, he explains why traditional companies must digitally transform their business if they want to survive in the new economy, how they can successfully make the transition, and what they need to do to prepare their workforce for the future.

In 2024, Mario Draghi released a bombshell report on EU competitiveness that made clear the region is falling behind in productivity and innovation. As Andrew McAfee, Ph.D. pointed out at the time, though, the Draghi report actually understated the problem. McAfee created a visualization comparing the size of the U.S. and EU tech sectors; it made clear the enormous gap between the two, and went viral. In this talk, McAfee expands the conversation to show that because Europe is falling behind in tech, it’s also lagging in autos, aerospace and other significant sectors for the EU. His message is that unless Europe makes significant changes in its approaches to regulation and entrepreneurship, it will fall farther behind.

AI is the most powerful technology since the Industrial Revolution. It’s already reshaping industries, companies and competition itself, and the biggest upheavals are still to come. So what’s going to separate the disruptors from the disrupted in the Age of AI? In this talk, Andrew McAfee, Ph.D. explains that in order to succeed and gain competitive advantage with this extraordinary technology, organizations need to walk away from much of the conventional wisdom of the Industrial Era. And do what instead? Embrace what he calls the “geek way:” a new set of practices and philosophies incubated in Silicon Valley and now quickly spreading throughout the economy. The Geek Way yields modular, iterative, responsive, egalitarian, data-driven, fault-tolerant organizations — exactly the kind that succeed at putting powerful new tools to work.

AI is extraordinarily powerful and flexible – it’s the ultimate general-purpose technology. Is it finally going to bring us into a jobless future of highly automated companies? In this talk, Andrew McAfee, Ph.D. will explain why this particular future isn’t coming anytime soon, and in fact, how many of the skills that people already have are going to become even more powerful and valuable in the age of AI. There’s a lot of upskilling, reskilling and work redesign ahead of us, but there are also a lot of jobs that need to be done, by people. McAfee reveals how successful companies will combine digital and human capabilities. AI won’t replace all the workers, but people who know how to work with AI will replace those who don’t.  

In the 21st century so far, more than 60% of all of America’s total stock market gains have come from companies inside the “15×75 box:” founded within 15 miles of Palo Alto since 1975. What’s going on inside this box? Part of the answer, of course, is that it’s the home of the U.S. high-tech industry, which has produced a lot of extraordinarily valuable companies. But the rest of the answer is much more interesting. In this talk, Andrew McAfee, Ph.D. will describe how the most profound innovation to come out of the 15-by-75 box isn’t hardware or software; it’s instead a new and improved way to run a company, in any industry. Companies practicing this “geek way” have already disrupted industries as diverse as automaking, entertainment and space exploration. And as McAfee reveals, they’re just getting started.

Why do some businesses fail? What factors within your organization are creating bad habits and how do you break them? Do stock values reflect the real value of a company? MIT principal scientist and digital economist Andrew McAfee, Ph.D. studies such dynamics within organizations, economies and industries and uses his research to help leaders identify and fix problems. In this talk, he shows participants how to leave behind inefficient and outdated systems and how to shape new business models that can leverage emerging opportunities for growth.