Lane Fox captivated a capacity audience of senior executives from the Communications industry at Stationers’ Hall on 15 March, promoting the enormous rewards to be gained from a fully inclusive online society. The whole country would benefit through cost savings, new business opportunities and more efficient social services.
“The internet can be a weapon in fighting poverty. It can save lives and it can change lives. For the disabled, the homeless and the hopeless, it offers exciting possibilities for self-help and education. It can build personal skills, encourage entrepreneurship and create new businesses. Technology is at the heart of it all.” she declared.
Listing the challenges to each sector, Lane Fox called on the financial community to make it easier for young entrepreneurs to find start-up funding, the government to streamline its online services for citizens, and the charitable sector to improve its efficiency through IT systems.
Answering questions from an audience of media professionals, Lane Fox said the future of media, particularly digital media, would depend on the quality of its content. Trusted brands would survive, she predicted, although not necessarily in traditional paper form.
Martha Lane Fox and her business partner, Brent Hoberman, launched lastminute.com in the 90s, one of the internet's biggest early successes, through a process, she said, of “education, education, education.” She is still pursuing this goal both as an entrepreneur and as the Government’s Digital Champion, campaigning for a networked nation.
