Professor William E. Halal

William E. Halal, Ph.D. is President, TechCast LLC, Cofounder and Trustee, Institute for Knowledge & Innovation, George Washington University, and Professor Emeritus of Science, Technology, & Innovation, George Washington University. Macmillan’s Encyclopedia of the Future listed him among “The World’s 100 Most Influential Futurists”, which included H.G. Wells, Arthur C. Clarke, Alvin Toffler, Daniel Bell, and Leonardo da Vinci.
 
An authority on the knowledge revolution, emerging technology, strategic management, and institutional change, Bill has consulted for General Motors, IBM, AT&T, MCI, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, SAIC, International Data Corporation, the U.S. Air Force, foreign companies, and various government agencies.
 
His work has appeared in journals such as Nature/Biotechnology, The California Management Review, Business in the Contemporary World, Strategy & Business, Knowledge Management Review, The Academy of Management Executive, Human Relations, Systems & Cybernetics, and Technological Forecasting, as well as popular media including The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, Advertising Age, Executive Excellence, and The Futurist.
 
Bill has authored seven books including Beyond Knowledge: How Technology Is Driving an Age of Consciousness, which provides a wealth of evidence showing how a “global consciousness” is emerging to help humanity grow up, transform social institutions to meet this historic challenge, and develop a sustainable civilization — or face disaster.
 
He also authored The New Capitalism, which outlines the system of business and economics for the Information Age; Internal Markets: Bringing the Power of Free Enterprise Inside Your Organization, which describes how dynamic organizations replace hierarchy with internal market economies; The New Management: Bringing Democracy & Markets Inside Organizations, which shows that democracy and enterprise are transforming organizations; The Infinite Resource: Creating and Leading the Knowledge Enterprise, which includes chapters by 20 corporate CEOs and politicians on leading knowledge organizations; and 21st Century Economics, which explores the emerging global economy.
 
His latest book is Technology’s Promise: Expert Knowledge on the Coming Transformation of Society. With the onset of a knowledge economy, modern nations are hard at work using ever more sophisticated information systems to power a “technology revolution” that is transforming our lives. This book is based on the work of the TechCast Project, conducted over the past decade at the George Washington University. Pooling the knowledge of 100 high-tech CEOs, scientists, engineers, academics, consultants, futurists, and other experts from around the world, the resulting book is the best forecast data ever assembled, covering the entire span of scientific and technological innovation.
 
His articles include The Coming Conflict between Science & Spirit, Institutional Change: Transforming the Structures of Society, The Life Cycle of Evolution: A Macro-Technological Analysis of Civilization’s Progress, The Intelligent Internet: The Promise of Smart Computers and E-Commerce, Socio-Economic Model of the Corporation, The Logic of Knowledge: Making Sense of the New Principles that Govern Organizations and Economics, Facing Economic Reality, A Constructive Approach to Terrorism, Recognizing the emerging “Third Way”, Knowledge: The Infinite Resource, and From Hierarchy to Enterprise.
 
For the past decade, Bill has been developing the GW Forecast, and its commercial outlet, TechCast. The project is an electronic network that pools the knowledge of experts around the world to forecast technological breakthroughs in all fields. It can be thought of as “A Virtual Think Tank Tracking the Technology Revolution”.
 
He studied engineering, business and economics, and the social sciences at Purdue and Berkeley. Before becoming an academic, he was an Air Force major, an aerospace engineer on the Apollo Program, and a Silicon Valley business manager. He serves on the advisory boards of the World Future Society, AMD Corporation, and other organizations. His work has received prominent recognition. One paper, “Beyond the Profit-Motive”, won the Mitchell Prize and an award of $10,000 and he received the Freedom Foundation’s award for excellence in the study of enterprise.