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Why Eric Schmidt believes bioeconomy is the next big thing
The former Google CEO is convinced AI and geopolitics will accelerate a post-Internet revolution and bioscience is the key.
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Among the innovations that the bioeconomy might include are compostable dining ware such as edible cutlery.
PHOTO: CRUNCH CUTLERY
Gillian Tett
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(FINANCIAL TIMES) - Google's former CEO Eric Schmidt became one of the wealthiest people in the US by specialising in software engineering. Yet, if he was starting out again today, he says he would not be targeting bits and bytes alone. The 67-year-old thinks the next big thing is the "bioeconomy", not the Internet.
This catch-all label, he explained to me at the Aspen Ideas forum last month, describes "the use of biological processes to make use of things that we consume and manufacture... advances in essentially molecular biology... plus advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have allowed us to do new techniques and grow new things".
