Trends Identified
The Internet of Bodies (IoB)
IoT and self-monitoring technologies are moving closer to and even inside the human body. Consumers are comfortable with self-tracking using external devices (such as fitness trackers and smart glasses) and with playing games using augmented reality devices. Digital pills are entering mainstream medicine, and body-attached, implantable, and embedded IoB devices are also beginning to interact with sensors in the environment. These devices yield richer data that enable more interesting and useful applications, but also raise concerns about security, privacy, physical harm, and abuse.
2018
IEEE Computer Society Predicts the Future of Tech: Top 10 Technology Trends for 2019
IEEE Computer Society
No End in Sight of Middle East Instability
Iraq and Syria are unlikely to be put back together. difficult reform efforts in Saudi Arabia and Gulf states are potentially destabilizing in the short term. Radical Islam and terrorism are not decreasing. A nuclear Iran remains an open question as Sunni-Shia tensions continue to escalate.
2016
Global risks 2035- the search for a new normal
Atlantic Council
Industry redefined
Is every industry now your industry? Industry — the concept and the reality — is being rede ned and reinvented. In the pre-internet era, the competencies, assets and knowledge necessary to participate in any given industry sector were unique and varied significantly from industry to industry. Hard and fast industry boundaries (and high barriers to entry) arose as a result. With digital innovation and other forces acting as solvents, industry boundaries are melting and disappearing.
2018
What’s after what’s next? The upside of disruption Megatrends shaping 2018 and beyond
EY
Innovating communities
Is there a big future in small cities? The majority of humanity will live in cities by 2050. But, in what kind of cities? The conventional urbanization narrative holds that big cities will only get bigger and economic benefits will continue to accrue disproportionately to hotbed regions, such as the San Francisco Bay Area or Shenzhen in China. However, as we highlight in our “Remapping urbanization” megatrend, the future of cities is not more of the same. A counter-narrative to this urbanization story is arising as global megacities and hotbeds begin to experience the limits to growth, and the forces of disruption continue to drive change that creates new opportunities for legacy cities and smaller cities. The result will be a more distributed, inclusive and resilient global cityscape.
2018
What’s after what’s next? The upside of disruption Megatrends shaping 2018 and beyond
EY
When robots feel your pain
Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Gene Roddenberry and their futurist kin all expected robots one day to play a pivotal part in the realm of medicine. It is safe to say that systems as complex as the heart surgeon in Asimov’s “Segregationist” and the Emergency Medical Hologram from Roddenberry’s “Star Trek: Voyager” are not going to become reality in 2017. However, artificial intelligence is now in a position to transform psychiatric hospitals for the better in the year ahead.
2016
World in 2017
The Economist
Social commerce: take 2
It has often been assumed that social commerce will transform the way we shop online. As we enter 2018, however, it’s a trend that has gained traction in parts of Asia but is yet to take hold in the West, where online shopping is still rmly rooted in traditional online retailers.
2018
Trends 18
GlobalWebIndex
Agricultural biotechnology will create a “gene revolution”
It is contended that by 2060, the Green Revolution will be supplanted by a Gene Revolution. Since the early 1980s, modern biotechnology has led to increasing knowledge of the scientific procedures needed to utilise gene-based techniques to improve agriculture. Agricultural biotechnology has the potential to transform African agriculture by raising agricultural productivity and farmers’ incomes. The potential benefits include yield increases in the staple food crops produced in tropical and semi-tropical environments, the creation of drought- and pest-resistant varieties, and shorter harvesting cycles, enabling the planting of several crops per season. Genetic engineering also enables cost-saving techniques, such as nitrogen fixation.
2011
Africa in 50 Years’ Time
African Development Bank
The global population is aging
It is expected that by 2050, 22% of the world’s population (about two billion people) will be aged over 65 years.
2017
Surfing the digital tsunami
Australia, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
Philosophies
It is hard to deny that the past few centuries have been Western centuries—the economic power and military might of the US and Europe were, and still are, unparalleled. Some of the philosophies characteristic of the modern West—globalisation, free trade capitalism and liberal democracy— have become the de facto organising principles of the world. These three organising principles have advanced science, raised the standards of living of hundreds of millions, and freed many from tyranny, oppression, sickness and poverty. While some hope that these principles will gain further traction, it is growing apparent that they may be threatened by the consequences they are producing. Even as adherence to these philosophies have benefited many, some appear to have benefitted far, far more than others. This inequality, along with growing awareness of it, has in recent years blossomed and borne strange fruit. The votes for Brexit in the UK and for President Donald Trump in the US were arguably expressions of a deep anger at the elite few who have hogged the rewards of progress. But alternative organising principles are emerging. As the UK and US enter a period of political turbulence, the “China model” appears to offer political stability. Political philosopher Daniel Bell argues that the rise of China and Beijing’s resolve to tackle longer-term challenges, for example, make the Chinese model of political meritocracy more attractive. This involves rigorous selection of top leaders based on performance over decades, at provincial and national levels, and on virtue. Oman and the UAE are Gulf states ruled by monarchies whose legal systems extensively incorporate Sharia law. Yet they are widely reputed for high levels of modernisation and thriving economies. Others seek to smooth the rough edges of liberal democracy and free-market capitalism: inequality and marginalisation. Sitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund, for example, is developing a “New Democracy” to bolster inclusion—by providing more information to citizens so they can take part in decision-making. Which way the world will turn is uncertain.
2017
Foresigth
Singapore, The Centre for Strategic Futures
One-touch Health Check Service
It is highly likely that remote health check services can be applied to our daily lives, owing to the development of communication technologies and mobile information devices. For example, using a smart phone connected patch-type diagnostic module attached to the palm, an application that analyzes the received bio signals and blood results and sends the results to the doctor, can be developed. In addition, real-time diagnosis of high-risk patients could be provided.
2011
KISTEP 10 Emerging Technologies 2011
South Korea, Korea Institute of S&T Evaluation and Planning (KISTEP)