"One of the great things about working in the technology industry is you get to change the world, and innovation creates that change," said James. Intel has had its share of innovations, James noted. The company's Centrino technology helped spread the use of wireless technology, although Wi-Fi had existed for six years prior to Centrino mobile notebooks, James said. The company also had a team in Israel focus on improving battery life instead of speed, she said.

"As a result, today mobile technology is becoming ubiquitous," James said.

An audience member concurred with James's assessments about innovation.

"To me, business models are a big part of innovation," said Daniel Proctor, founder of Passport Health Communications (http://www.passporthealth.com/), which provides administrative data to hospitals over the Internet.

James also cited technology trends lending themselves to innovation: