Economist Will Give Prognostications at Breakfast on Wednesday

The North Shore Technology Council will host Robert A. Gough, Jr., Ph.D., economist, educator, on-air personality and president and CEO of G-enovation, Lexington, for its March breakfast from 7 to 9 a.m. Wednesday, March 26 at the Danversport Yacht Club, 161 Elliott Street, Danvers, MA.

Networking and a continental breakfast will start at 7 a.m., with the program beginning at 7:45 a.m.

Gough will give his economic prognostications, including that while economic growth will be volatile during 2014, social media is poised to present a wide range of growth opportunities to an expanding spectrum of businesses.

“The last five years have retaught us an important and oft forgotten lesson about free enterprise: technology, market dynamics, and innovative opportunities march forward regardless of the ineptitudes of government. 2014 will be a year of extremes and interesting opportunities: shackled policy options for Washington, no new solutions as a result, and more volatility; but exciting new business paradigms, promising growth niches, and opportunistic market and investment options, particularly for high tech.

“One space rich with opportunities is the rapidly growing communications platform on which most industries and almost all demographic groups now participate: social media. At the epicenter of this vast expanse of life in virtual space are the Millennials – 80 million tech-savvy, hyper-connected social media addicts between the ages of 18 and 33 with $600 billion in retail spending power this past year. They alone are reinventing retail. Closely following are the near 80 million Baby Boomers who now comprise the fastest growing user segment of the social media world. Combined, these two groups pose a gamut of exciting possibilities so grand that new product advances that will impact almost all aspects of life from technology and entertainment to nursing home life and service are limited only by the imagination," he says.

Register for this event at www.nstc.org. The registration fee is $25 for NSTC members and $50 for non-members. E-mail: events@nstc.org for more information. Sponsored by Good Leads.

The North Shore Technology Council (NSTC) is a non-profit, volunteer-led organization with a mission to be the leading collaborative for fostering technology businesses in Massachusetts' north-of-Boston region. The council's mission is to build a strong ecosystem for the success of technology businesses North of Boston by facilitating collaboration, networking, professional growth and economic development in a collegial fashion. The NSTC welcomes the participation of technology businesses, senior executive and employees of technology businesses, entrepreneurs, companies that support technology businesses, academic and governmental units and nonprofits. The council is on the Web at www.nstc.org. Its office is at the Cummings Center in Beverly.