Innovations are disruptive because they can affect a wider range of entities than most people realize, Tesla’s Keith Witek said in his keynote presentation at the Badger Startup Summit held Monday at the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery.

For example, autonomous vehicles are expected to reduce road deaths, but they also will affect municipalities that are dependent on traffic tickets for revenue.

Businesses need to keep up because innovation makes greater and greater impacts and market adoption rates keep accelerating, Witek, who serves as Tesla’s director of business development and associate general counsel, said.

Witek also shared examples of how innovation will disrupt industries such as genetics and virtual reality. He deems wearable healthcare as the most important, as “no other inventions matter if we’re perishing early.”

Environments that generate disruption typically have cross-discipline collaboration, reduced barriers and open sharing of information, Witek said.

Prior to Tesla, Witek worked at AMD. He holds degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of Wisconsin.

The fourth annual Badger Startup Summit also featured a two-part “Disruptive (r)Evolution Showcase,” which included presentations on augmented reality, drones and wearable technology.