Amazon.com CTO Werner Vogels, left, and Microsoft's Windows Azure engineer Yousef Khalidi at the OVP Technology Summit.

Amazon.com CTO Werner Vogels, University of Washington computer science professor Ed Lazowska, Institute for Systems Biology President Lee Hood and others gathered today in downtown Seattle for the annual OVP Venture Partners Technology Summit. And while the attendees came from a wide range of industries and sectors, there was one concurrent theme that emerged from the event. The future of computing, drug research and other industries revolves around one word: "data."

OVP's Rick LeFaivre noted at the conclusion of the summit that the partners once debated whether it made sense to bring the biotech and the IT folks together in one room to discuss their respective industries. However, he said that's no longer a debate. "The world is becoming data driven," he said.

Of course, managing data whether in advertising, biotechnology or cloud computing sits right in the sweet spot of the Kirkland venture capital firm's investment thesis. So, in that regard, it was not surprising to hear the panelists discuss the topic in detail.

However, it was interesting to hear experts such as ISB's Hood discuss what he believes is the coming "digitalization of medicine" or Amazon.com's Vogels wonder how we will access all of the digital content now being created fifty years from now.

Here are some video highlights of their talks.

The UW's Lazowska talked about how better understanding data will change everything from transportation to medicine to fitness to national security. And he noted that the holy grail is moving from "data to knowledge to action." He provided the example of a car mechanic knowing more about your car than a doctor does about your body. "It bothers me a lot that ... my wife's car at least is much better instrumented than I am. You go to the mechanic and they plug in a computer and they get a diagnostic read out of everything that has been going on for the last six months. On those rare occasions when I manage to drag myself in to visit a doctors, it starts with sort of: 'Where does it hurt.'"

I was hoping for some more fireworks between Amazon.com CTO Werner Vogels and Microsoft distinguished engineer on the Windows Azure team Yousef Khalidi. The rivals in cloud computing sat right next to one another on a panel, which promoted moderator Mark Ashida of OVP to joke: "I should have seated them far apart." But no brawls broke out and the two cloud computing experts actually echoed each others points on several occasions. Here are Khalidi and Vogels talking about how cloud computing is a real transformation in how people view their IT infrastructure. "Just trying to meet the goals of 1980s software is not the goal of the cloud at this moment. It is to drive forward and to figure out 21st century architectures," Vogels said.

The UW's Lazowska also discussed how companies and universities essentially got out of the computer center business. "At some level, the cloud has come around at just the right time," he said.

The ISB's Hood discusses how managing data has moved biology into what he termed "big integrative science."