Trends Identified

Smart cities and homes
Known technical solution areas which require innovation to realise their potential and enable scale of deployment: Connected homes, High-efficiency heating, cooling, lighting, and appliances, High-efficiency windows and insulation, Building energy storage, Technology- enabled urban planning and building design, Next-generation commercial building management.
2017
Innovation for the Earth - Harnessing technological breakthroughs for people and the planet
PWC
Sustainable land-use
Known technical solution areas which require innovation to realise their potential and enable scale of deployment: Land-use transparency, Low-emissions agriculture, New-techniques in forest management, Reduced losses in the supply chain, Soil sequestration, Low-emissions sources of protein, Reduced emissions from livestock, Reduced deforestation.
2017
Innovation for the Earth - Harnessing technological breakthroughs for people and the planet
PWC
Aging populations are forcing developed regions worldwide to rely more on waning productivity and greater migration to propel growth
Labor productivity growth has waned and is near historic lows in the United States and much of Western Europe, despite a job-rich recovery after the global financial crisis. Productivity growth averaged just 0.5 percent in 2010–14, down from 2.4 percent a decade earlier. This productivity growth weakness comes as birth rates in countries from Germany, Japan, and South Korea to China and Russia are far below replacement rates and working-age population growth has either slowed or gone into reverse. In some countries with declining populations, such as Japan and Germany, some cities are shrinking. Among their other effects, these demographic trends put a greater onus on productivity growth to propel GDP growth; over the past 50 years, just under half of GDP growth in G-20 countries came from labor force growth, while productivity growth accounted for the remainder. Digitization, often involving a transformation of operating and business models, promises significant productivityboosting opportunities in the future, but the benefits have not yet materialized at scale in productivity data because of adoption barriers and lag effects as well as transition costs. Our research suggests that productivity could grow by at least 2 percent annually over the next 10 years, with 60 percent coming from digital opportunities. However, while crisis-related aftereffects are diminishing, long-term drags on demand for goods and services may persist and hold back productivity, a result of changing demographics, declining labor share of income, rising income inequality, polarization of labor markets, and falling investment rates. In terms of consumption, the aging population in many developed countries (that is, the retired and elderly over 60) are increasingly important drivers of global consumption. The number of people in this age group will grow by more than one-third, from 164 million today to 222 million in 2030. We estimate that they will generate 51 percent of urban consumption growth in developed countries, or $4.4 trillion, in the period to 2030. That is 19 percent of global consumption growth. The 75-plus age group’s urban consumption is projected to grow at a compound annual rate of 4.5 percent between 2015 and 2030. In addition to increasing in number, individuals in this group are consuming more, on average, than younger consumers, mostly because of rising public and private healthcare expenditure. Retirees and the elderly in developed economies today have per capita consumption of around $39,000 per year. In comparison, the 30-to-44 age group consumes on average $29,500 per year. Healthcare spending by those aged 60 and older is projected to grow by $1.4 trillion in the period to 2030. With low fertility in the developed world, migration has become the primary driver of population and labor force growth in key developed regions worldwide. Since 2000, growth in the total number of migrants in developed countries has averaged 3.0 percent annually, far outstripping the 0.6 percent annual population growth in these nations. First-generation immigrants constitute 13 percent of the population in Western Europe, 15 percent of the population in North America, and 48 percent in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. Besides contributing to output today, immigrants provide a needed demographic boost to the current and future labor force in destination countries. Improving the old-age dependency ratio is of critical importance to countries like Germany, Spain, Canada, and the United Kingdom, where most public pensions have a pay-as-you-go structure and worsening dependency ratios threaten to make many plans unsustainable.
2019
Navigating a world of disruption
McKinsey
Reality check
Last year saw a record jump in optimism regarding global growth prospects in 2018, and this exuberance translated across regions. This year, by contrast, saw a record jump in pessimism, with nearly 30% of CEOs projecting a decline in global economic growth, up from a mere 5% last year. CEOs also reported a noteworthy dip in confidence in their own organisations’ revenue prospects over the short (12-month) and medium (three-year) term. If CEOs’ confidence continues to be a leading indicator, global economic growth will slow down in 2019.
2019
22nd Annual global CEO survey
PWC
Edge to Core and IoT Much More
Last year, my first four trends were basically around IoT, AI, Machine Learning and Edge. This year, the four become one because they are so deeply interconnected. As the IoT grows—and the number of connected devices skyrockets—it makes sense that we need more space—and closer space—to process the data it’s working to capture and process. The concepts of Smart Cities and Autonomous Vehicles have zero chance of being realized if data processing has to happen in the cloud. That means we’ll be leading more and more toward edge computing in terms of 2019 digital transformation trends. Analytics and data won’t just be for processing—they’ll be for processing in real-time. And that’s something only the edge can support right now. Now, its important that I emphasize that edge and cloud are not mutually exclusive. Cisco refers to the interdependence of edge and cloud as “The Fog” as they recognize that critical data interactions that take place between the edge and the cloud to maximize data utilization. While their vernacular may or may not become ubiquitous with the connection between edge and core, you can be certain that the two will work together tirelessly to achieve the possibilities being sold to us with AI, IoT and Machine Learning.
2018
Top 10 Digital Transformation Trends For 2019
Forbes
Online harassment
Lawmakers, advocates and social media companies have been looking into ways to curtail online harassment in the wake of high-profile cases concerning cyberbullying and online threats. A January 2017 survey found that online harassment is a fairly common feature of online life: 41% of Americans said they have experienced some form of it, and among those ages 18 to 29, the share was 67%.
2017
Key trends shaping technology in 2017
Pew Research Center
Information Management Finally Goes Enterprise
Leaders expect confident answers to fundamental business questions. Step one is the right foundation. Information is the heart of the business of IT. It’s right there in the name. But the CIO doesn’t own the information – the business does. IT is the caretaker – responsible for enablement, compliance, governance, protection, and optimization.
2010
Depth perception A dozen technology trends shaping business and IT in 2010
Deloitte
The Future of Leadership in Europe
Leadership matters: hundreds of books are published every month with the word leadership in the title. Yet there no universal theory of leadership or agreement on how good, bad, better or great leadership can be evaluated or measured. One the one hand, societies everywhere are searching for leaders and leadership systems that can deliver realistic hope. One the other hand, advances in education, the spread of democracy, prosperity gains and social media have contributed to a diffusion of power and authority within societies and across the world. The turnover of political and business leaders in democratic societies seems to be occurring at an accelerating pace – shaped by and contributing to structural short-termism.
2016
Shaping the future
European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS)
Technological start-ups and lean innovation models becoming mainstream
Lean innovation models are inspiring an increasing number of business start-ups to search for market t through successive cycles of product or service development and testing103. The concept of lean start-up favours experimentation over traditional business planning and is driven by customer feedback and intuitive design103,104.
2017
Surfing the digital tsunami
Australia, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
AI and autonomous systems
Learning from data and developing smart algorithms has become a competitive advantage. Executives from all sectors believe that AI and autono­mous systems will affect the entire industry. Investment in AI is at unprecedented levels from both tech firms and traditional manufacturers. Driverless vehicles are AI’s poster child, but industrial companies are also investing in machine learning and robotics to develop specific technologies related to their core businesses.
2018
Disruptive forces in the industrial sectors - Global executive survey
McKinsey