David Rowan is one of the world’s leading technology speakers and thought leaders.
He is founding UK Editor-in-Chief, of the highly respected WIRED magazine, author of Amazon #1 business bestseller Non-Bullshit Innovation: Radical Ideas from the World’s Smartest Minds (Penguin). David Rowan has delivered over 600 keynote talks around the world and event moderator for governments, WIRED, TED and the World Economic Forum
Elsewhere he is technology columnist on The Times, GQ and Condé Nast Traveller.
Not just a speaker, David Rowan practice’s what he preaches, being an active adviser to & investor in 60+ tech startups to date.
David Rowan explains compellingly how emerging technologies will impact business — and how leaders should prepare now. As founding Editor-in-Chief of WIRED magazine’s UK edition, David came to know the founders of WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Google, Didi, Spotify, Xiaomi, Nest, Twitter and countless other ambitious startups from Tel Aviv to Shenzhen.
David Rowan has since invested in more than 60 early-stage tech companies, including two that became billion-dollar “unicorns”, and is an adviser to Lakestar, one of Europe’s largest venture-capital funds.
Buy David’s book on Amazon HERE
David’s Amazon #1 business bestseller Non-Bullshit Innovation: Radical Ideas from the World’s Smartest Minds (Penguin, 2019) has been published in Japan, Korea, Russia, Ukraine and beyond. The book, a 20-country quest for bold corporate innovation in the face of technology-led disruption sets out sixteen proven strategies for future-proofing a successful business — helping leaders build resilience in a post-COVID-19 world.
To the right: Hear David Rowans talk on the topic of Non Bullshit Innovation at USI
David has been a technology columnist for The Times, GQ, Condé Nast Traveller and The Sunday Times, and hosts a new podcast series about tech founders called Walks With Founders. He has been asked to give more than 600 keynotes in recent years and has received repeat requests to present for clients such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Google, KPMG, McKinsey, Chanel and Unilever.
David has moderated events for the World Economic Forum and the UK and French governments and is increasingly in demand to host webinars and virtual conferences.
David Rowan deconstructs tech trends in real-time, unpacking how major innovations like artificial intelligence, quantum computing, autonomous vehicles, and more, are changing businesses and consumers. He focuses on how technology-led innovation can build prosperity even in economic downturns and amid the COVID-19 crisis.
He delivers fascinating and knowledgeable presentations full of insight into the future of technology together with lively examples and engaging video clips which reveal that, in some cases, the future is already here.
He’s typically asked to speak about how innovation and technology are likely to impact a particular sector (from manufacturing to motoring), and what incumbent companies can do to protect themselves. He customizes every talk, and in recent months has addressed audiences in finance, fashion, utilities, television, insurance, shipping, travel, real estate and business software.
He also speaks a lot about changing business models, and how companies can develop a culture of innovation.
And he is still searching for the future.
Hear David speak below at Internetdagarna Stockholm
David Rowan is in international demand as a keynote speaker, event host and moderator, after-dinner speaker and webinar presenter. He travels frequently, and has a home studio at his London base for online presentations and moderating. His current keynote topics include:
Technology offers hope for optimism as we emerge from the coronavirus crisis.
Here are the growth opportunities — from re-inventing supply chains to rethinking education to building new brand heroes.
COVID-19 has forced business leaders to move insanely fast to adapt. But how do you build a culture of effective innovation? Here are the lessons from David’s 20-nation quest for non-bullshit innovation.
Below is a talk by David, “How Smart Companies are innovating”
David Rowan travelled across the world to understand what it takes for businesses and governments to leverage digital transformation in exciting ways. He shares ten lessons from his new book Non-Bullshit Innovation that can be applied to all sorts of organisations.
David researches and prepares bespoke presentations for client meetings.
David has moderated events for the UK and French governments; World Economic Forum; Pictet; Royal Academy of Engineering. He has hosted numerous awards ceremonies, frequently interviews CEOs on stage, and is often asked to host multi-day events.
“I wanted to thank you for your time to moderate the G8 Innovation Conference. You set the tone for the day perfectly, engaging the audience and steering the presenters through a very full agenda. The feedback from the day has been overwhelmingly positive, which is largely due to your dynamism, good humour and professionalism.”
UK Prime Minister David Cameron, G8 Innovation Conference
“A stellar moderator – insightful and challenging to the speakers, witty and engaging for the audience, and very positive to work with.”
World Economic Forum
“Your contribution at the event was terrific. The content was highly relevant & extremely interesting. We also appreciated that you took on board the detail discussed on the briefing call ahead of the event. Your talk received the highest audience review on the feedback application.
The level of your professionalism is unrivalled.”
Mercer, Hong Kong
“The team was blown away and they are a hard group to impress.”
Google
“I can’t thank you enough for your truly inspirational talk. We’ve had wonderful feedback and it set the day up perfectly.”
Warner Bros
“David was fantastic. The content was perfect. The talk was fast paced, interesting, relevant and accessible. It set up the innovation session of our
agenda really well and I was delighted with the result.”
Sky
“David Rowan was awesome, lots of amazing feedback.”
Salesforce
“David was incredible and we’ve had some great feedback already from our analysts and leadership team that were there. We were engaged, inspired and enjoyed every minute of his keynote.”
Accenture
“Thank you so much for an excellent session. You left the team in no doubt about the risks of disruptive factors and how they can impact any
industry. Ours more than any is wide open here. Totally the right way to end the conference.”
JP Morgan
“It was a fascinating presentation and we all enjoyed it.”
Goldman Sachs