David Smith

David Smith: Profile

“Plan for the future by looking out the windshield…not just the rear view mirror.”

A noted futurist and technologist with over 30 years of experience David Smith combines these disciplines to deliver thought-provoking presentations that provide the vision of the futurist with the down-to-earth judgment of the technologist. He is highly regarded as a speaker on subjects relating to the technology trends that affect organizations now, in the near future, and in the distant future. His dynamic keynote presentations are popular at conferences and leadership meetings around the world. He also regularly presents and teaches at university, industry, and conference events.

Mr. Smith's forward-thinking presentations focus on the future technology picture and/or how these trends relate directly to the more specific industries and organizations of individual clients. His presentations can also focus on the how these technology trends are actually developed. On the methodology side, this might include a description and discussion of technology forecasting methods or road mapping techniques used to forecast the trends. On the application side, descriptions and discussions might be about strategic/technology planning or technology transfer.

David Smith has worked extensively during the last 30 years in the private and public sectors, offering consulting expertise in technology transfer, strategic and technology planning, communications, road mapping, consortia startup and management, and collaborative alliances. He has assisted in creating and implementing plans for such organizations as Bank of America, Boeing, CIA, Coca-Cola, Compaq, DOD, Embraer, Hughes, Intel, Kodak, Kyocera, Lockheed Martin, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (formerly NIMA), National Security Agency, and Sun Microsystems.

Mr. Smith's recent presentations include keynote speeches for the U.S. Senate Conference on Emerging Technology, Information Management Forum--CIO Leadership Conference, 7-11, Chevron-Texaco Visioning Conference, and Lockheed Martin Technology Leadership Conference. Newspapers and industry publications regularly quote him as a noted futurist. Recent broadcasts on National Public Radio (NPR) and issues of Business Week, American Demographics, and Intel's Circuit News have prominently featured his views on technology trends.

David Smith was on the start-up teams and held key positions in two of the largest and most successful consortia in the United States--SEMATECH and the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation (MCC). He served on the three-person coordination committee and the steering and implementation committees for the highly respected SIA Technology Roadmap Workshop. He also served on the CSIS steering committee drafting proposals for a new mission for the federal labs and worked on consulting projects with several national laboratories.

David Smith has served in elected offices of professional associations on the local, regional, and international levels. He has been accepted into the membership of the Association of Professional Futurists. He is a recipient of the SEMATECH Eagle Award for the 1993 Strategic Plan and the Council of Consortia award for Extraordinary Contributions and Achievement in Technology Transfer. He is a senior research fellow at UT's IC2 Institute, and holds a bachelor degree in Radio, Television, and Film from the University of Texas at Austin.