Sample abstract that I wrote for EDA keynote for CEO

1. Proposal for Electronic Design Automation (EDA) Industry Keynote
Aart de Geus
Chairman and CEO, Synopsys
The Future of Electronics—Will EDA Hold the Key?
In 500 B.C., the Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, “The only constant is change.”
Nothing could be truer today for the electronics industry. When it comes to designing
electronic products of the future, EDA’s impact will undoubtedly be great. How well the
industry prospers as a result depends on how smart the EDA industry gets and how well
we can serve the companies that need us, not just from the standpoint of design tools, but
also from the standpoint of strategic economic direction.
All semiconductor companies, systems companies, fabless design houses, and foundries
are concerned with the future of technology, including such issues as low power,
embedded software, hardware/software codesign, analog mixed-signal, virtual platforms,
yield enhancement, and the debatable demise of Moore’s Law, to name a few. In his
keynote, Aart de Geus will address these issues and some surprising innovations that he
foresees over the next decade.
But beyond design tools, Aart will share the principles of success that he believes are
necessary for any technology company today—things like understanding where the most
rapid changes will take place in technology, how to predict them, watch for them, and be
able to respond quickly enough to stay ahead of the market.
From an economic perspective, Aart will talk about the most important aspects to
understand about the entire electronics value chain, and how to become a key player in
that chain. He will discuss how the “second billion” users of consumer electronics (in
India and China) will affect the economics of the value chain, especially when optimizing
for cost.
Finally, Aart will talk about some new management principles that must be applied to
survive in a global market. Before project costs soared, technologists did not always have
to make their decisions with an eye to their economic impact, and economists within a
company did not have to make their decisions with an eye to the risk-profile of the
technology. How can management effectively make decisions with both these aspects in
mind—and weighted appropriately? And with market windows shortening all the time,
where does time to market play in these decisions?
Please join us as Aart de Geus, who has accurately read the tea leaves for the last 20
years, shares with us his vision of the future: where EDA is going, where design is going,
where IP and manufacturing are going, and where the entire electronics value chain is
going in light of upcoming technology, economic influences due to globalization, and
new management practices.