UCI | Center for Digital Transformation

Is AI on the verge of driving the next productivity boom? History suggests we might be on the precipice of transformative change. As Tiffany Wilding, Managing Director and Economist at PIMCO, shared during CDT’s Digital Leadership Agenda, periods of significant productivity gains often follow waves of major capital investment. The 1960s saw government funding for the space race, while the 1990s tech boom followed investments in infrastructure like early internet technologies. Today, AI could be the next driver—but not without substantial infrastructure investment, such as building data centers and modernizing grids, to support its full potential. This pattern underscores a critical insight for business leaders: productivity improvements don’t happen overnight. They require long-term investment and the right conditions to unleash transformative gains. As companies and economies lay the groundwork for AI, those who act strategically will be poised to lead the next wave of innovation. ?? Watch this session from CDT’s Digital Leadership Agenda conference to learn how capital investments in AI and infrastructure are shaping the future of business and the global economy. Watch here: https://lnkd.in/g-UXxhyR #CDT #DLA25 #AI #Productivity #DigitalTransformation #FutureOfBusiness #Leadership #TechInvestment #InnovationLeadership #GlobalEconomy #AIInfrastructure #EconomicImpactOfAI #AIInvestmentTrends #TechCapitalAllocation #AIProductivityInsights

Companies will win by developing unique AI-related intellectual property (IP) - new ways to do something important - that creates value for the customer. But how do you protect your IP and prevent your rivals from copying your innovation? In emerging technologies like AI, protecting innovations requires a delicate balance. As Ramin Mousavi, CEO of CathWorks, explains, securing AI-related IP is more complex than in traditional fields. If you remain abstract—avoiding specifics to safeguard your innovations—it’s harder to get a patent. Providing more details makes it easier to acquire IP protection, but also makes it simpler for rivals to learn your secrets, which means you have to ensure that you innovate rapidly to stay ahead of the competition. At CathWorks, this meant adapting IP strategies to do both: choosing to keep some innovations concealed from the public eye and applying for IP protection in other cases, a calculated approach that requires anticipating moves three to four steps ahead—a capability every frontier firm must possess in today’s fast-paced market. ?? Watch this session from CDT’s Digital Leadership Agenda to hear more about navigating the complexities of AI, innovation, and IP management. Gain actionable insights on how to develop and protect your own breakthroughs in AI. Watch here: https://lnkd.in/g6hEu9ca #CDT #DLA25 #AI #IntellectualProperty #InnovationLeadership #TechStrategy #DigitalTransformation #IPManagement #BusinessGrowth #AIIntegration #FutureOfBusiness #TechPatents #IPManagement #EmergingTechnologies

Artificial intelligence has the power to reshape industries just as electricity and the internet once did—but only organizations with the right strategy will realize its full potential. AI belongs to a rare category of technologies known as general-purpose technologies—innovations that transform industries by creating widespread use cases and rapidly evolving capabilities. However, these technologies don’t operate in isolation. To truly unlock AI’s full potential, companies must take deliberate steps to integrate it effectively into their business. This requires going beyond mere adoption and focusing on adaptation. Adoption introduces AI into the organization—applying the technology to improve existing processes. Adaptation, however, ensures AI is embedded into the fabric of the business. This means upskilling teams, redefining roles, reshaping workflows, and even creating entirely new processes that align with AI’s emerging capabilities and your company’s unique needs. Companies that approach AI with this holistic mindset will capture its strategic value and win in the new era of business. ?? Explore actionable insights from this keynote session at CDT’s Digital Leadership Agenda to learn how to implement AI as a transformative force. Discover how to position your business at the forefront of innovation. Watch here: https://lnkd.in/gS23HwQR #CDT #DLA25 #AI #DigitalTransformation #FutureOfBusiness #Leadership #AIImplementation #TechLeadership #InnovationLeadership #StrategicAI #Upskilling #AIInfrastructure

What’s the real barrier to harnessing AI’s full potential? According to Ganesh Bell of Insight Partners, it’s not just access to talent or resources—it’s a lack of imagination and creativity. When discussing AI’s potential with visionaries at OpenAI and Google, one thing stands out: they’re building with a mindset that goes far beyond today’s capabilities. Rather than limiting themselves to current model strengths, they imagine what’s possible if those models were 100x more powerful in the near future. This approach—the strategic mindset to think beyond today’s limitations—is what will separate the frontier firms as AI reshapes industries. This conversation at CDT’s Digital Leadership Agenda highlights an essential message for leaders: AI’s value doesn’t lie only in what it can do now, but in its potential to redefine what’s possible. Those who can imagine the future of AI, and prepare for it, will be the ones who truly innovate and lead. ?? Watch the full session with Ganesh Bell of Insight Partners and Gajen Kandiah of Hitachi Digital, on how the next wave of AI innovation will be driven by imagination, creativity, and bold thinking. Explore more insights on our YouTube channel and learn how your organization can harness AI for long-term growth. Watch here: https://lnkd.in/gsQ-SD_Z #CDT #DLA25 #AI #DigitalTransformation #AIInnovation #FutureOfBusiness #Leadership #TechStrategy #BusinessGrowth #AIEngineering #EnterpriseAI #AIInnovation #MachineLearning #AIModels #FutureOfTech #AIApplications #DeepTech #AIProductDevelopment #DataEcosystems #AIResearch

Efficiency gains from AI are only the beginning. The real competitive advantage lies in how companies reallocate resources for proprietary innovation—building unique solutions that create long-term value. Generative AI can deliver impressive returns, including thousands of developer hours saved and substantial reductions in operational costs. However, the true value emerges when these savings are strategically reinvested. In software, by redirecting skilled talent to focus on proprietary code development, organizations can enhance competitive differentiation and maximize their return on AI investment, and attain leadership positions in their industry. This approach to AI investment goes beyond immediate cost savings. It’s about transforming AI into an asset for sustained growth—leveraging it to build exclusive capabilities and accelerate innovation in a way that standard efficiency improvements cannot achieve. ?? Watch this keynote session to see how your organization can go beyond efficiency and use AI to gain a competitive edge. This talk is part of CDT's Digital Leadership Agenda, designed to empower business leaders with actionable strategies to capture the full potential of AI. Watch here: https://lnkd.in/g328GSib #CDT #DLA25 #AI #DigitalTransformation #FutureOfBusiness #AIinBusiness #CompetitiveAdvantage #StrategicAIInvestment #TechInvestment #AILeadership #ExecutiveInsights #ProprietaryInnovation #EnterpriseAI #DigitalEconomy #AIImplementation #CIO #CTO #TransformationLeadership #GrowthThroughInnovation #AICompetitiveEdge #BusinessStrategy?

The future of business demands a bold shift: AI isn’t just a tool—it’s a strategic partner reshaping how organizations operate. Imagine a business that can process information in real time, where AI acts as a core driver of decision-making, productivity, and growth, much like labor today—but with the capacity to scale even further. As AI advances toward superhuman intelligence, organizations that treat it as an integral part of their business model, rather than an enhancement, will be the ones positioned to lead. Embracing AI as a true “partner” challenges us to rethink workflows, redefine roles, and empower teams for a future where rapid, data-driven responses are the new norm. Are we prepared to evolve our business models to this reality? Embracing AI’s full potential requires a mindset shift—one that aligns with the speed, power, and intelligence this technology brings to the table. ?? This talk is part of CDT's Digital Leadership Agenda 2025, setting the stage for an impactful series on AI's role in the modern enterprise. Watch this keynote session on YouTube and explore the full playlist to stay updated on the ideas and strategies shaping the future of business. Watch here:?https://lnkd.in/ghcSN7VY #CDT #DLA25 #AI #DigitalTransformation #FutureOfBusiness #AIPartner #Leadership #Innovation #ExecutiveInsights #AIRoadmap #ScalingAI

A heartfelt thank you to Rockwell Automation, one of our generous benefactors, for their continued support of the Digital Leadership Agenda 2025! ?? We’re truly appreciative of Patrick Dey, VP of Data and Digital Innovation, for moderating the session on "Building and Navigating Your AI Roadmap: Becoming a Market Leader." His discussion, along with insights from other panelists, emphasized the shift from isolated use cases to a strategic, vision-driven AI approach, the importance of fostering excitement for new ways of working, and the need for a focused investment strategy that prioritizes high-impact AI initiatives. Together, these real-world insights, drawn from current experiences of leaders in the field, offered today’s executives practical guidance for driving meaningful AI adoption and transformation. ?? #DLA25 #CDT #UCIMerage #AI #DigitalTransformation #RockwellAutomation #GenerativeAI #TechInnovation #BusinessGrowth #FutureOfWork #AIInsights #LeadershipInTech #StrategicPlanning #AIUseCases #DataLiteracy #UpskillingForAI #AIRoadmap

My talk on "Artificial Insecurity" at the UCI | Center for Digital Transformation's phenomenal conference on Recoding Business at the Speed of AI in Irvine, California organized by Vijay Gurbaxani https://lnkd.in/eVRmrG6U I posed three questions to organize the major issues that will hold back the adoption and integration of AI: - Can we trust AI? - Does AI increase inequalities? - Can we tame AI by regulating it? ...and a fourth that each organization needs to answer: What is the ROI for us to invest in AI? I hope you find it useful as you consider where AI fits in your future. #AI #artificialintelligence #innovation #digitaleconomy The Fletcher School at Tufts University

????Check out this very insightful fireside chat from the UCI | Center for Digital Transformation’s recent flagship conference with our very own Professor Vijay Gurbaxani and Tiffany W., Managing Director and Economist at PIMCO on #ai and the #globaleconomy. In addition to sharing a US and global economic outlook for 2025, Tifanny highlights three major transformations that are happening right now: ?? Brown to Green Transformation ?? Geopolitcal Transformation ?? Digital Transformation Centered on AI

It was a pleasure to discuss the story of our team's journey at CathWorks with my friend Vijay Gurbaxani at UCI | Center for Digital Transformation annual conference, The Digital Leadership Agenda 2025: Recoding Business at the Speed of AI. Vijay's kick-off talk was one of the best and most insightful ones I have ever seen on the topic of digital leadership.