ANDREW WARD The founder of Google’s top secret X Labs, and creator of its Glass headset, is moving to Amazon as the industry’s leading companies battle to secure the bright minds who will help them discover the next breakthrough technology.

Babak Parviz, who led the development team on Google’s high-tech spectacles, announced his move in cryptic fashion, posting Amazon’s logo on his Google+ page, with the comment “status: super excited”. He has not revealed what projects he will work on at the Seattle-based retailer.

Amazon’s coup in poaching one of Google’s leading lights underlines efforts made by the industry’s biggest companies to prepare for the “next wave” of technologies. All are investing heavily in futuristic concepts in an effort to predict what ideas may disrupt their core businesses.

Mr Parviz was also the brain behind Google’s “smart contact lenses”, which help diabetics track blood-sugar levels and communicate them to mobile devices. Google yesterday announced a deal with pharmaceutical company Novartis to develop them commercially.

“It’s about these companies working out what’s the next new thing,” said Sucharita Mulpuru, a technology analyst at Forrester Research. – Copyright Financial Times