Dyson tells Fast Company’s Co.Design:

“Talented young minds want to be the next Mark Zuckerberg or Larry Page. But with the world abuzz with digital, we are losing sight of real engineering. Hardware is profitable. Don’t be fooled, Apple’s success as a technology company is built on hardware. The current fixation with digital is misplaced. Long-term it is unlikely to generate jobs, growth, and exports. Instead, we need to encourage more young engineers to commercialize their technologies.”

First of all, I think it is a great idea. There are so many product categories that are in need of reinvention and re-imagination, as the consumers of today are very different from the consumers of say, 25 years ago. How we use physical objects today is very different.

Dyson’s bet on a physical products incubator comes at a time when digital and physical are getting increasingly closer. The rise of devices such as Nest shows that physical objects of tomorrow will need to embrace software, connectivity and services.

PS: We will be discussing the role of design in shaping our connected future with folks such as Ev Williams (Twitter co-founder), Tony Fadell (Nest co-founder) and others at our RoadMap conference on November 5th in San Francisco.