Thank you to all who participated in the Technology Leaders Forecast Survey that we posted last month. As posted earlier, on October 7, DLA Piper hosted its 2014 Global Technology Leaders Summit, where technology leaders, influential innovators and policymakers convened to discuss the future of innovation. In connection with the Summit, DLA Piper released the results of the survey, which was developed with PitchBook. The results concluded that: “With a thriving tech economy, ballooning valuations and an IPO market humming at a level unseen since the dot-com boom of the late 1990s, headlines have lately, inevitably been raising the specter of another tech bubble — and asking whether a corresponding collapse is at hand. The answer, according to technology leaders, is a resounding no.”
Other key takeaways from the survey results included:
- 83% of respondents expected moderate economic growth over the next 12 months.
- Many respondents were bullish about their own business prospects, with more than a quarter reporting that they expect significant growth in the next year. Another 69% believe sales will grow at a moderate pace.
- 67% of respondents believe that China will be a major source of innovation in the near-term, a drastic change from the 2012 survey results when 9 out of 10 respondents didn’t view China as a serious contributor to global technology development.
- Attracting and retaining talent continues to be a major concern among technology leaders.
- Another primary concern among technology leaders is protecting their intellectual property and proprietary data, specifically data security.
- Executives eye mobile, big data and cloud computing as the three most promising sectors of the technology economy. Respondents were less bullish on social media and digital currencies such as Bitcoin.
If you are interested in more detail, a copy of the full survey results can be found here.