The 20th century saw great leaps forward in technology and innovation - from the mass production of cars to nuclear power to moon landings - and ended on something of a high with the internet. Can we expect even more from this century or have we reached a technological plateau? Were those breakthroughs just ‘low hanging-fruit’, as economist Tyler Cowen has argued, and are we going to have to work a lot harder to get ahead from now on? Certainly we have been waiting a good twenty years for long-heralded leaps forward in growth and productivity. Are there prototype innovations that just don’t reach a mass market because the costs are prohibitive? Would innovation be liberated if it was freed from the necessity of making a profit or, conversely, do we need the discipline of the market to weed out the mad inventors and pipe-dreamers and reward the genuine entrepreneur? Is the state be standing in the way of innovation, suffocating it with too much red tape and regulation and stifling dynamism with rules about health and safety or minimum wages? Do we need to free the market before it can deliver the goods?

Conversely, is the state failing to invest enough in long-term basic research? Was it always naïve to imagine that privatised innovation could do the business? Don’t we need scientists organised into research squads to a central plan? Do scientists even know what to look for, or have they become so specialised they can’t see the big picture? Do we need some real external stimulus to put us to work? A Cold War-style arms race or a threat of planetary annihilation? Or have we just fallen out of love with the science fiction dreams of yesterday like personal jetpacks? Do they feel like hubris now? What is the future for technology and innovation?