Michael Nelson
- Former IBM Director of Internet Technology and White House IT advisor
- Advises decisionmakers global across governments and corporations to help them understand and address the impacts of emerging technologies including digital technologies, biotechnology, and artificial intelligence
- Senior fellow in the Carnegie Asia Program
- Former Georgetown technology professor
Travels From
District of Columbia
Michael Nelson Speaker Biography
For almost 25 years, Michael Nelson has been shaping the evolution of the Internet and helping businesses and governments realize its full potential.
Mike Nelson is a senior fellow in the Carnegie Asia Program. He helps decisionmakers understand and address the impacts of emerging technologies, such as digital technologies, biotechnology, and machine learning. Prior to joining Carnegie, he started the global public policy office for Cloudflare, , a startup that has improved the performance and security of more than 10 million websites around the world. Nelson has also served as a principal technology policy strategist in Microsoft’s Technology Policy Group and before that was a senior technology and telecommunications analyst with Bloomberg Government. In addition, Nelson has been taught courses on the future of the internet, cyberpolicy, technology policy, innovation policy, and e-government in the Communication, Culture, and Technology Program at Georgetown University.
Before joining the Georgetown faculty, Nelson was director of internet technology and strategy at IBM, where he managed a team helping define and implement IBM’s next generation internet strategy. He serves as a trustee of the Institute for International Communications and was selected to be a “Global Leader of Tomorrow” by the World Economic Forum. From 1988 to 1993, he served as a professional staff member for the Senate’s Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space and was the lead Senate staffer for the High-Performance Computing Act. In 1993, he joined Vice President Al Gore at the White House and worked with President Bill Clinton’s science adviser on issues relating to the Global Information Infrastructure, including telecommunications policy, information technology, encryption, electronic commerce, and information policy.
THE CLOUD, THE EXAFLOOD, AND THE INTERNET OF THINGS: REALIZING THE FULL POTENTIAL OF THE NEXT GENERATION INTERNET.
The world has seen less than 20% of the impact potential of the Internet. The Cloud is the third phase of the Internet and will be even more disruptive–and powerful–than the World Wide Web. How can companies harness the power of the Cloud? What are the key technical, organizational, policy, and cultural challenges they need to address? For almost 25 years, Michael Nelson has been shaping the evolution of the Internet and helping businesses and governments realize its full potential.
CREATING A CULTURE OF INNOVATION
Innovation is much more than just invention. It requires much more than just a good idea. It requires finding new ways to combine existing ideas, products, and services into something that customers (or citizens) will want. Organizations that foster innovation foster collaboration between employees with different backgrounds, skills, and viewpoints. They provide the information infrastructure and tools needed to “harness the wisdom of crowds” and tap into the knowledge scattered throughout the organization. They motivate employees, encourage life-long learning, and encourage them to take risks inherent in trying new things.
There’s evidence that America may be losing its edge and that its “innovation engine” is sputtering. What can be done to address these problems? What can organizations do to foster collaboration and innovative thinking? What are the obvious (and not-so-obvious) barriers to innovation? How can countries adopt policies that will provide the building blocks of innovation? What can individuals do to promote innovation among their co-workers and colleagues?
Dr. Nelson’s perspective on innovation has developed over the last 20 years: 5 years on Capitol Hill, 4 years at the White House, a year and a half at the FCC, almost 10 years at IBM, and the past four years at Georgetown University.
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