Welcome to INNOVATE2016, a weekly interview series focusing on how new technology and innovation is influencing the upcoming Presidential election.
Guests will include candidates, pundits and start-up entrepreneurs with special insights into the political process.
Most of the interviews will take place at the Innovation Hangar at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco – the ideal place to talk about innovation. (Many thanks to Dan Shine at the iHangar for lending us his spectacular space. And thanks also to Mike Montgomery at CALinnovates for helping with the production of the show.)
And to begin, let’s not talk about The Donald. Fortunately, the 2016 Presidential election won’t just be about Trump, Trump and Trump.
No, instead of blaming everything on Fox News television anchors or Mexico, the serious candidates in the upcoming election will focus on the role of technology and innovation in kickstarting the US economy. Indeed, according to Josh Ginsberg, the co-founder and CEO of the real-time analytics start-up Zignal Labs and my first guest on INNOVATE2016, the 2016 election is likely to be determined by social media and new digital technologies.
That’s why, Ginsberg says, entrepreneurs should really “care” about an election that will not only be shaped by their products, but will also shape the regulatory future of Silicon Valley.
So which candidates does Ginsberg – once a senior aide to both Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mitt Romney – think will prosper in 2016? Carly or JEB2016? Hillary or Bernie? For all the talk of the election being an insurrection against traditional parties and ideologies, Ginsberg has some counterintuitive predictions about the kind of candidate that will win in 2016.