Tsuneo Nakahara

Executive Adviser to CEO, Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd.

Most Important Technology of the Last 40 Years:

Global communications networks.

Most Important Technology for the Coming Decade:

The fusion of information technology, biotechnology, and nanotechnology.

Technology That has Evolved in a Surprising Way:

New materials.

"The telephone has mainly been used for domestic communications by people who speak the same tongue. The Internet, on the other hand, is intrinsically an off-line communications tool that allows record keeping through personal computers. This mitigates time and language differences. The mass construction of long-distance optical-fiber communications networks, including advanced optical submarine cable, has greatly reduced the cost of this communication, which has also contributed to the Internet's rapid spread."