Steamboat Springs For a company to keep a competitive edge, it must know what lies ahead in the future of the industry, according to futurist Thomas Frey.

It's about having an understanding of what's coming next, said Frey, who is one of several speakers in Steamboat this week for Friday's Steamboat Economic Summit, a conference put on by the Steamboat Springs Chamber Resort Association.

Frey is the executive director and senior futurist for the DaVinci Institute futurist think tank and is the author of Communicating with the Future, a 2011 book about measuring and controlling the future.

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Industries are changing rapidly, and businesses must look ahead to stay successful, Frey said.

As our economies are changing and everything is happening very quickly, the old industries that have been generating most of the wealth for years they're constantly having people do more with less, Frey said.

This equates to fewer jobs in old industries and more positions in startup companies and in new technological industries, he said.

It's important for us to look at this new technology, Frey said. This is where our future jobs are.

The 20th annual Steamboat Economic Summit begins at 8 a.m. Friday at Colorado Mountain College's Alpine Campus, 1275 Crawford Ave.

Also presenting will be K. C. Conway, former chief economist for Colliers International. Conway has 30 years of experience in the commercial real estate field and is currently the senior vice president of credit risk management for SunTrust Bank.

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Steamboat Economic Summit kicks off Friday