Communication, innovation linked

Communication has come a long way since cavemen painted on rock walls, but the languages of the future will be those consisting of only two and four letters, the founder of Salt Lake-based Zars Pharma Inc. said Thursday.

Larry D. Rigby told a crowd of about 300 that digital communications, based on binary code; and genomic language, with four letters, will continue their rise to importance.

"I think that a great future of innovation lies in a mastery or support of these two languages, or a combination of both," Rigby said during the keynote presentation at the Utah Innovation Awards luncheon.

Rigby went through a litany of innovations in humankind's history and noted that the speed of change is a far cry from having stone tools 2.5 million years ago to the next big development, the bow and arrow, about 40,000 years ago.

The Gutenberg press in the mid-1400s was a huge development, and from that we now have a digital world in which telephone lines move more digital data than actual spoken conversations, he said. In two decades, people progressed more than in a 2,000-year period before Gutenberg's innovation, he said.

"Innovation is growing exponentially in the countries that know two languages (digital and genomic)," he said. "Opportunities are richer than ever. This is the best time in the history of man to start a company."

Rigby said an important element for future companies will be having large teams that master those languages. They will include people versed in business and finance, marketing and sales, regulations and quality assurance, university research and technology and intellectual property, he said.

"One future of innovation then is diverse teams of members cross-pollinating each other. ... I should add that maybe a psychiatrist should be in there, because to deal with people like this, such strong personalities, sometimes the line between genius and insanity is very thin."

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. noted Utahns' involvement in many innovations, from the transcontinental railroad to television, from artificial hearts to hearing aids, from traffic lights to electric guitars.

He noted that the University of Utah launched 20 companies last year and is on pace for about the same number this year. The resulting innovation improves lives, "makes our communities completely livable" and allows people to afford health care and improvements in the education system, he said.