Trends Identified
The man in the cardboard castle
‘Amazonification’ has become the watch word of 2017. The retail giant has subsumed more than just Whole Foods this year. It has its eye on the whole economic enchilada, the appetite to create an ecosystem and the ambition to build an empire. And as Jeff says, it’s still Day One.
2018
Most contagious
Contagious
Edge Computing to Fast Track the IoT
‘Investment into Edge Computing or ‘Fog Computing’ will fast track the IoT (Internet of Things)’. Faster speeds and lower latency enabled by the placing ‘micro’ data centres at the edge of the mobile network. Will play a vital role in the delivery of IoT services, which require low latency or are data intensive. New architecture will necessitate new network security features at both network and device level.
2018
Top Tech trends 2018
Juniper Research
Live and kicking
‘Live’ moments are very much alive and kicking, as technology brings us together to share our experiences in real time.
2019
Trends 2019
Mindshare
Smog-reducing technologies
‘Smog’ refers to visible air pollution resulting from a mixture of high concentrations of moisture (fog) and smoke that stagnate over a specific area, creating respiratory health hazards.355 The smog- reducing technologies covered in this Technology review come in a number of different forms, but all share a common focus on treating air pollution after it has been created or cleaning air after it has been polluted rather than finding alternative non-polluting technologies, or promoting non-polluting actions or behaviours. The three technologies covered in this report are catalytic converters, photocatalytic oxidation materials, and smog-reducing towers, all of which are at different stages of maturity and perform different functions in relation to reducing smog.
2016
Ten Frontier Technologies for International Development
Institute of Development Studies (IDS)
The American family continues to change.
"A growing share of parents are unmarried. Among parents living with a child, the share who are unmarried increased from 7% in 1968 to 25% in 2017. Part of this increase is due to a growing share of unmarried parents cohabiting, as 35% of unmarried parents were in 2017. Over the same period, the share of U.S. children living with an unmarried parent more than doubled, from 13% in 1968 to 32% in 2017. Stay-at-home parents account for about one-in-five parents (18%), which is roughly similar to 25 years ago, despite some fluctuation in the intervening years. For some parents, caring for a child isn’t their only responsibility: 12% of all parents with a child younger than 18 at home are also caring for an adult. Lifetime fertility for women is ticking up. The share of women at the end of their childbearing years who have ever given birth is rising and is now similar to what it was in the early 1990s. While American women are having their children later in life than in the past, they are still doing so earlier (and have more children) than women in many other developed nations. Americans generally see change on the horizon when it comes to the future of the family, according to a Pew Research Center survey. A majority of Americans (53%) say that people will be less likely to get married in the year 2050, and 46% say people will be less likely to have children than they are now. Even today, 71% of parents younger than age 50 say they are unlikely to have more kids in the future, while 37% of childless adults of the same age say they are unlikely to ever have kids, according to another survey by the Center."
2019
6 demographic trends shaping the U.S. and the world in 2019
Pew Research Center
Data minimalism
"Data’s headline appearances throughout 2018 distorted people’s understanding of the value exchange between data owner (you) and data user (organizations). Expectations around how much people’s personal data is worth became falsely inflated, and the mystery surrounding how it’s used became a cause for concern. Moving forward, organizations must design for transparency, so that consumers can trust that they’re pursuing only the data they need to build new products and services, and that they’re using and storing that data responsibly. "
2019
Fjord trends 2019
Fjord
Don’t even try to guess the price of oil.
"Here’s a prediction for 2019: Energy markets are going to remain wildly unpredictable. One realization I came to when I worked on my last book was that most everyone who makes predictions about the future of oil prices is alike in one remarkable respect: They are wrong. "Remember M King Hubbert’s famous prediction of peak oil back in the 1970s? He looked roughly right — until the shale revolution changed everything. Now, the shale revolution is supposed to ensure a mammoth and growing supply of U.S. oil for the foreseeable future. 'Lower for longer,' meaning oil prices in the $50 range, has become something of a mantra on Wall Street. But skeptics suspect there may be fewer wells that are profitable at $50 oil than executives would have you believe. If so, and if the dearth of long-term projects over the past decade results in less supply than expected, there may be price spikes in the future. Or not. I think this is the ultimate truth about the oil market: It defies people’s attempts at predicting it, much less controlling it."
2018
50 Big Ideas for 2019: What to watch in the year ahead
LinkedIn
Bendable Devices Make Their Debut
"Hone up on your origami because 2019 will see the launch of foldable phones with flexible screens, replacing convertible or detachable devices. These devices are expected to be lightweight, unbreakable and compact. Several companies—Apple, Motorola, LG, Huawei and Samsung—are in a race to launch first generation foldable phones with flexible screens in 2019. In the meantime, LG has stolen a march over its competitors by unveiling its rollup, ultra high definition TV earlier this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Royole debuted its FlexiPal bendable tablet at the same venue."
2019
Top 10 Trends For 2019
Forbes
Automation will disproportionately impact women’s jobs.
"New technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning are changing the way work gets done all over the world. The automation trend is especially challenging for women because they tend to be employed in more routine tasks than men across all sectors and occupations, making them more prone to automation. New IMF research estimates that 26 million women’s jobs in 30 countries are at high risk of being displaced by technology in the next 20 years. This means 180 million women’s jobs globally!We don’t have much time to act, so 2019 is the year to make important inroads in tackling this challenge. How? We must help women get the skills they need to succeed. Education and training will be key — including greater emphasis on lifelong learning and STEM. Think, in particular, of coding programs like Girls Who Code in the U.S. or developing tax deductions for training as they do in the Netherlands. We also need to close gender gaps in leadership positions across all sectors, while doing more to help men and women combine work and family life. Finally, we need to do a better job at bridging the digital divide and ensure women have equal access to finance, bank accounts and connectivity. 2019 is the year we should take a leap forward in leveling the playing field between men and women."
2018
50 Big Ideas for 2019: What to watch in the year ahead
LinkedIn
Geopolitics: 'Rivals will take greater risks against the US'
"No balance of power lasts forever. Just a century ago, London was the centre of the world. Britain bestrode the world like a colossus and only those with strong nerves (or weak judgment) dared challenge the Pax Britannica. That, of course, is all history, but the Pax Americana that has taken shape since 1989 is just as vulnerable to historical change. In the 1910s, the rising power and wealth of Germany and America splintered the Pax Britannica; in the 2010s, east Asia will do the same to the Pax Americana. The 21st century will see technological change on an astonishing scale. It may even transform what it means to be human. But in the short term – the next 20 years – the world will still be dominated by the doings of nation-states and the central issue will be the rise of the east. By 2030, the world will be more complicated, divided between a broad American sphere of influence in Europe, the Middle East and south Asia, and a Chinese sphere in east Asia and Africa. Even within its own sphere, the US will face new challenges from former peripheries. The large, educated populations of Poland, Turkey, Braziland their neighbours will come into their own and Russia will continue its revival. Nevertheless, America will probably remain the world's major power. The critics who wrote off the US during the depression of the 1930s and the stagflation of the 1970s lived to see it bounce back to defeat the Nazis in the 1940s and the Soviets in the 1980s. America's financial problems will surely deepen through the 2010s, but the 2020s could bring another Roosevelt or Reagan. A hundred years ago, as Britain's dominance eroded, rivals, particularly Germany, were emboldened to take ever-greater risks. The same will happen as American power erodes in the 2010s-20s. In 1999, for instance, Russia would never have dared attack a neighbour such as Georgia but in 2009 it took just such a chance. The danger of such an adventure sparking a great power war in the 2010s is probably low; in the 2020s, it will be much greater. The most serious threats will arise in the vortex of instability that stretches from Africa to central Asia. Most of the world's poorest people live here; climate change is wreaking its worst damage here; nuclear weapons are proliferating fastest here; and even in 2030, the great powers will still seek much of their energy here. Here, the risk of Sino-American conflict will be greatest and here the balance of power will be decided."
2011
20 predictions for the next 25 years
The Guardian