Internet pioneer has Midas touch

Esther Dyson's image is somewhat daunting: she is hailed widely as an Internet guru but also as being notoriously odd - someone who operates on a short fuse.

Nor is describing what she does particularly simple, though Upside Magazine probably came closest when it ranked her twelfth in its Elite 100. Her stature, it said, "is based entirely on her ability to influence others with her ideas rather than directly control companies or huge amounts of capital".

Ms Dyson comes to Dublin next month to deliver the keynote speech at Internet World '98, the national Internet exhibition at the RDS. Her participation is a considerable coup for the organisers, because she is very much in demand. She either chairs or is a member of the board of some of the world's most influential computer industry organisations. She has also advised President Bill Clinton and many global leaders and members of government on the evolution of electronic commerce over the Internet.

At 47, Ms Dyson maintains a punishing schedule, beginning each day with a 4.30 a.m. swim - regardless of where she is. In any given week she will pass through several time zones either in her capacity as chairman of her own venture capital firm, EDventure Holdings - an information services company focusing on emerging global technologies - or as a public speaker at industry events.

She chairs the Electronic Frontier Foundation and occasionally writes for magazines and newspapers. She also runs PC Forum, one of the most exclusive US industry conferences.

However, in an interview with The Irish Times this week, she displayed none of the tough qualities normally attributed to her. Instead, she delivered rapid-fire responses on everything from the make-up of today's Internet to the Republic's growing image as an electronic commerce hub.

Asked if she still adheres to her onetime contention that the Internet would "redefine our destiny", she laughs the comment off as "somewhat grandiose", but sticks to her guns. "The Internet is a tool, it's just all about what you use it for, be that for work, getting closer to your family, or finding girls. It enables countries and people to no longer be just on the periphery but at the heart of things."

Ms Dyson has always displayed a natural capacity to bring order to chaotic situations, and is widely recognised as having an eye for the missing ingredient in company and business strategies.

Through her activities she has access to a lot of start-up Internet businesses at a very early stage, and has financed a number of very successful companies. What sets her apart from other entrepreneurs is a zealous approach to the spirit of the Internet. She is ever vigilant of its power, and though an advocate of free speech, believes that some element of social responsibility must be applied.

Her work in central and eastern Europe seems to have brought her most reward. A fluent Russian speaker she says she was drawn to the huge challenge these regions offered and the opportunity to be a pioneer.

She says: "Things in the US are too easy almost. I don't like being the 10th person to do something. I realised there was nobody noticing the computer industry in central and eastern Europe. Nobody was doing their public relations for them, so I took this odd combination of things I was interested in and tried to fill the vacuum."

In 1996, Ms Dyson was awarded Hungary's von Neumann Medal for "distinction in the dissemination of computer culture". She has invested in a number of successful Russian start-up companies including DPI, TerraLink and Softsteppe. She sees the growing capabilities of these countries as an indicator of the way the Internet can change the traditional order of power. "The Internet takes away America's advantage of being a central authority. Even in Ireland now we're seeing how you can compete with anybody on a level playing field."

Her interest in Ireland has been fuelled by the State's efforts to be at the forefront of electronic communications. "That's really why I'm coming to Dublin, I'm hoping to learn a little more on the back of what I've been reading in the media and hearing."

Already she has received a number of approach emails from Irish Internet companies hoping to make the most of her visit to Dublin, and perhaps convince her to extend her Midas touch to their enterprises.

"It's pretty neat what Ireland has achieved. You just have to look at the growth statistics to see that it has done very well. The recent digital signing [of a joint electronic commerce communique by President Clinton and the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern] is a very good indicator of Ireland's enlightened approach in this area. The US could learn a lot from the Irish."

As the daughter of Freeman Dyson, a world famous astrophysicist and one of the principal architects of quantum electrodynamics, and Verena HuberDyson, a mathematical logician, Ms Dyson is imbued with the mindset to comprehend the dynamics and uncharted territory of the Internet.

When she took a pay cut to leave her job as an analyst on Wall Street in the 1980s to work with Ben Rosen, publisher of a newsletter about the computer industry, she says she was drawn towards the companies she had been analysing.

"I'm not trying to get rich quick, I just see profits as a sign of what is interesting. I'm driven by what I think should happen next, and that's why the European Hi-Tech Forum [the European arm of Dyson's PC Forum] is aimed at companies who want to operate in the world at large. It targets entrepreneurs and those who want to build a business on the Internet."

Ms Dyson's book Release 2.0: A De- sign for Living in the Digital Age, offers one of the most readable explanations of the Internet's potential. She says she targeted it specifically at a new audience to pass on the message that the Internet is about the empowerment of individuals, not just commerce.

By achieving this balance between the aspirational and practical application of the Internet, Ms Dyson continues to steal the march on those who offer a myopic balance sheet approach to its future.