At Microsoft there are lots of brilliant ideas but the image is that they all come from the top - I'm afraid that's not quite right.

The tool that's most associated with the recent progress against malaria is the long-lasting bed net. Bed nets are a fantastic innovation. But we can do even better. We can invent new ways to control the mosquitoes that carry the malaria parasite.

Innovation is moving at a scarily fast pace.

I'm an investor in a number of biotech companies, partly because of my incredible enthusiasm for the great innovations they will bring.

Innovation is a good thing. The human condition - put aside bioterrorism and a few footnotes - is improving because of innovation.

Software innovation, like almost every other kind of innovation, requires the ability to collaborate and share ideas with other people, and to sit down and talk with customers and get their feedback and understand their needs.