We need world changers. Not incrementalists.

In case you haven’t heard yet: We’re in a deep recession. We’re in the middle of a structural transformation of our economic system. Ok, I won’t bore you: We have major problems. Bailouts, global debt crisis, nature pillaged – our future is at stake.

Many influential people have told us technology will be the savior: It will pull the economy out of its misery, improve our lives, the way we connect with each other – you heard all this before.

Which brings me to TechCrunch Disrupt.

I watched the majority of Battlefield presentations where startups pitched their products/applications. And I was utterly disappointed.

A lot of clones, bandwagon riders and way too many companies relying on advertising revenue. (99.9% of companies basing their business model on advertising revenue shouldn’t be funded and close the doors now. The last thing we need is more advertising impressions. We have plenty of those. We need innovation in advertising, not new platforms using the current digital advertising model.)

And, I’m not alone. Even Scobleizer, the biggest fanboy of digital innovation, communicated his disappointment with the chosen companies:

“Silicon Valley needs to be sent a message that we need real innovation and interesting new ideas.”

Mahatma Ghandi said famously: “Be the change you want to see in the world.” Looking at the innovators at TechCrunch Disrupt, our future will be filled with badges, more advertising, more clutter and more applications we need to download. I didn’t see anything revolutionary that questions the Status Quo. Nothing that improves our broken educational system. Nothing that improves our broken political system. Nothing that helps improve communities or our daily lives.

At one point, Silicon Valley used to have a feel for developing stuff that helps change the world. Nowadays, Silicon Valley is more concerned with flipping.

Instead, we need to question our priorities. Questioning the current society constructs and finding new ways to evolve our world into a livable, sustainable and fair community. How can we care more about others and less about material products? How can we develop communities that are less centered around “me” and more centered around a common purpose? How can we make this beautiful world a better place?

We need visionary ideas. Revolutionary products. Companies with missions focused on changing the world, not valuations. I saw a lot of small steps at TechCrunch Disrupt. The big dreams didn’t show up.