Mobile technology has the potential to be as revolutionary as the car, Facebook’s global head of brand design told venture capitalists.
Paul Adams predicted further personalisation as the internet continued to grow in popularity, and said it was not about the technology, but what it could do.
“We’re obsessed with mobile technology. We’re obsessed with iPhones, iphone 5 and iOS 6, the latest Android, iPads, tablets versus PC versus mobile... And in my opinion if you are thinking about the technology, you’re thinking about the wrong thing,” he said.
“The car changed how we lived. It created suburbia. It completely changed the fabric of many societies in the world. Mobile will do the same thing.”
He highlighted the 4.5 billion around the world who have yet to get online, predicting that they would do so in the coming years and it would be through mobile technology rather than a laptop or PC.
“We will create more and more devices, we will make more and more technology available. None of that really matters,” he said. “So I encourage you to stop thinking about destinations and start thinking about systems: ecosystems; publishing aggregating systems.”
He compared the internet to electricity and noted that younger people who had grown up with the technology viewed it in a similar manner.
“This idea of being online is going away. The internet is permeating everything. It’s already happening fast.”
The Sligo man said Ireland had potential, and called on venture capitals to consider what they would fund.
“From what I see, we have enough here to be inventing this as much as anywhere else in the world,” he said.
Mr Adams was speaking at the InterTradeIreland Venture Capital Conference in Croke Park. The conference was aiming to showcase investment opportunities open to Irish companies looking for funding, with 22 venture capital funds and angel networks attending.
The event was opened by Minister for Research and Innovation Sean Sherlock.
“Our future prosperity depends on our ability to increase and sustain a high value-added, internationally competitive, export-led economy,” he told attendees.
Also speaking at the event was the founder of Global Diagnostics Johnny Walker, who spoke of creating, capturing and monetising value in a business.
Thomas Davies, of FSA-regulated crowdfunding equity firm Seedrs, spoke on the growing movement in this type of funding.
More than 350 delegates attended the event, including the European Investment Fund’s John Holloway.
A total of 2,600 delegates have attended the annual event since it began more than a decade ago.
InterTradeIreland chairman Martin Cronin said it was important that knowledge and resources were shared across the island for the mutual benefit of both economies, particularly in the current economic climate.
