"The Death of Distance" was predicted to be the logical outcome of the spread of technologies like the Internet and email. But who would have predicted that those same technologies would be used to bring people together face to face in real time and in real neighborhoods?

Scott Heiferman is co-founder and CEO ofÊMeetUp.com, and he has just been named "Innovator of the Year" by Technology Review. MeetUp.com is replacing traditional civic organizations with software and a database that allows people with common interests to organize themselves.

MeetUp.com is a web site dedicated to "going online to go offline," as Scott puts it. His "Innovator of the Year" is timely in this election year, since it was MeetUp that gave the early candidacy of Howard Dean momentum. Not only did Technology Review judges for the award find Scotts work genuinely innovative, but they were also impressed with the swiftness of his influence and how genuinely disruptive his idea was.

Also on the program is Frans Johansson, author of "The Medici Effect" about what's driving innovation today.

Frans Johansson is a consultant who writes and speaks about intersections of all types. Frans was founder and CEO of Inka.net, a Boston-based enterprise software company, and vice president of business development of Dola Health Systems, a health care company operating in Boston and Sweden. Born and raised in Sweden, he currently lives in New York.