Conference

Keynote title

Digital Convergence in a Digital Economy: an Economist’s Perspective

Abstract

The future that FCN anticipates is one of pervasive computing. That is an end-to-end and top-to-bottom transformative evolution of the enabling technologies that may proceed along separate trajectories that need to converge to produce economic effects. We are at the beginning of the convergence of several major technological developments that together jointly contribute to significantly expanding the frontiers of what may be automated with potentially profound implications for the digital economy. For thirty years, I have been actively engaged in a range of research efforts focused on the intersection of technical innovation, markets, and policy associated with the continued evolution of the Internet ecosystem. Key elements of that evolution have depended on softwarization, the rise of standards-based "open" architectures, and expansion of wireless of all kinds. In this talk, I will speculate about what the economic implications are for the digital economy transformation underway and what this may mean for the future evolution of technology, industry/market economics, and policy.

Bios

Dr. William Lehr is a telecommunications and Internet industry economist and consultant with over thirty years of experience. He regularly advises senior industry executives and policymakers in the U.S. and abroad on the market, industry, and policy implications of events relevant to the Internet ecosystem and wireless. He is a research affiliate in the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and at the Weizenbaum Institute at the Technical University of Berlin. Dr. Lehr's research focuses on the economics and regulatory policy for digital infrastructure industries and the implications of IT technologies such as AI, Smart Contracts, and Wireless.