Donald Trump is the new JFK says Bill Gates

Bill Gates says the world could be vulnerable to a pandemic in the next 10 years. Photo / AP

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates suggested that Donald Trump could be Kennedy-esque, if the president-elect played his cards right.

Talking to CNBC's Becky Quick on the network's Squawk Box show, Gates suggested that Trump could establish "American leadership through innovation."

"In the same way President Kennedy talked about the space mission and got the country behind that," Gates mentioned.

Gates relayed that he and Trump had spoken over the phone.

"I had an opportunity to talk to him about innovation," Gates said.

"A lot of his message has been things, he's seen things not as good as he'd like," the billionaire continued.

But Gates suggested Trump could tack on a hopeful message to this too.

"I think that whether it's education or stopping epidemics, other health breakthroughs, finishing Polio," Gates said.

"And in this energy space, there can be a very upbeat message that his administration is going to organize things, get rid of regulatory barriers, and have American leadership through innovation," Gates said.

Gates said it was natural for innovation to be the central theme of the two billionaires' talks.

"Of course, my whole career has been along those lines," Gates told Quick.

"And he was interested in listening to that," Gates continued. "And I'm sure there will be further conversation."

There was - and it happened just a few hours later.

Trump hosted the tech tycoon around lunchtime at Trump Tower today, who arrived at the president-elect's home office several hours after rapper Kanye West, whose appearance turned heads.

Gates didn't speak to reporters when he entered the Manhattan skyscraper.

The pool reported that Gates was wearing a winter coat and that his hair was tousled, leading the reporter to believe he had just taken off a ski cap.

Gates did speak to the press as he exited his meeting with Trump.

"It was a good time," the Microsoft head honcho declared.

"We had a good conversation about innovation, how it can help in health, education, the impact of foreign aid and energy, and a wide-ranging conversation about the power of innovation," he said, using the buzzword once more.