Why the future of tech has more to do with creativity than innovation

Some have argued that the coolest gadgets we can’t live without like Smart phones will in the near future be obsolete and pass like museums antiques.

Others rightly argued that we are currently in the age of information and computers and therefore technology is here to stay.

It is a fact though that technology cannot survive on its own past this century without it either merging or riding on another industry with totally different players with a different set of skills to make it, simply put techies themselves cannot guarantee the future of tech.

So during the just concluded African women in Technology conference held in Kenya, I decided to pop up the question, what is the future of tech? to a non-techie with a business background who spends her days and nights interacting with women in technology and opening up gates of communication between the tech industry and the business world in the process.

Kandia Johnson, is a motivational speaker and founder of kandid conversation.

She is also the director of communications for the African women in Technology, (AWIT)

Also read: 5 AFRICAN FEMALE FOUNDERS WHO ARE CALLING THE SHOTS IN THE AFRICAN TECH SPACE

So first things first, how did she end up in tech?

“I am not a techie, but for me I came from a place of wanting more women to be visible in technology, all around the world there is a low percentage of women in technology and I know women are brilliant, innovators and creators so my role really is to help women get noticed and get the spotlight that they deserved” she told Business Insider at the sidelines of AWITKenya, 2017 held at Michael Joseph center in Nairobi.

“Technology is increasingly becoming this cool thing because people want everything on demand right now” she added.

In her assessment, she reckons the future of tech lies in it merging with the multi-trillion fashion industry since it has the capacity to create the right excitement and ordinary folks can also see the sense and economics behind it, just what the tech industry needs right now.

“What is interesting right now in tech is that you are seeing creative field merge along with technology, so fashion and tech is huge right now, so you have a lot of fashion designers who are trying to make clothing’s like jackets with USB ports, and I was talking to someone the other day who is working on a line of shoes that could kinda help runners track their steps so fashion and tech will be huge going forward” she said.

case in point is the manufacture of 3D printed dresses and shoes, while the 3D technology was revolutionary in itself, it was only until it 3D technology had been incorporated into everyday gadgets that the ordinary man and woman on the street really appreciated the technology.

“Beauty and tech is huge too what more, right now on the digital side more and more people are starting businesses with social media, like youtube and Instagram etc. so there is all lots of creative industry being fueled by this technology and it is really cool to watch”

Also read: 5 LITTLE KNOWN BUT EXTREMELY INNOVATIVE AFRICAN STARTUPS TO WATCH OUT FOR

Billionaire investor Mark Cuban agrees with this perspective and recently offered a perhaps bleak prediction on the future of jobs especially in this age where the risk of robots replacing humans is but a reality.

“I personally think there's going to be a greater demand in 10 years for liberal arts majors than there were for programming majors and maybe even engineering, because when the data is all being spit out for you, options are being spit out for you, you need a different perspective in order to have a different view of the data. And so having someone who is more of a freer thinker.” He said during an interview with Bloomberg's Cory Johnson at the NBA All-Star Technology Summit in New Orleans.