Trends Identified

Future of work
When machines become workers, what is the human role? When EY first wrote about the future of work in our 2016 Megatrends report, the topic was just starting to attract attention. Skeptics doubted predictions about massive disruptions of labor by AI and robots. Now, we are overwhelmed with analyses of the future of work from the mainstream press, business literature and consultants. Predictions that seemed distant two years ago are entering the real world — from the live- testing of autonomous ride-sharing in key cities to the opening of the world’s first fully automated retail outlet, the Amazon Go store in Seattle.
2018
What’s after what’s next? The upside of disruption Megatrends shaping 2018 and beyond
EY
Tackling Uncertainty Head-on
When planning for any organisation’s future, decision makers are faced with an increasingly complex and dynamic external environment. For some elements of this environment, such as demographics, it is possible to identify broad trends; while others, such as the turbulent geopolitics, are more challenging to predict. In considering an uncertain future and how best to position the organisation, scenario planning is a useful tool. By creating a series of ‘different futures’, based on the most significant but uncertain forces shaping our environment, decision makers are encouraged to re-examine their own assumptions about the future. The process results in individuals stepping away from the so often reactive, incremental strategic planning – a natural response to uncertainty – in favour of a more forward looking, proactive approach.
2016
Shaping the future
European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS)
New arenas of state competition
When projecting long-term trends in international affairs, it is important to consider the possibility that the major conflicts of 2035 will be centred on issues that barely register in the international arena today, or are secondary matters at best. Over the next two decades, these will likely include: the space market; new weapons systems like unmanned vehicles; policing rogue states; cyberwarfare and internet governance; and the Arctic Ocean.
2017
Global trends to 2035
European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS)
What will matter at work is your humanity.
When robots take all our jobs, what do humans have left? Precisely that — our humanity. Creativity and so-called soft skills are becoming all the more important to your career because that’s what can’t be automated. In fact, LinkedIn data shows the fastest-growing skills gaps — the difference between what employers seek and what workers bring to the table — are related to soft skills: oral communication tops the list, followed by people management, time management or leadership. Employers who want to make the most of their human employees make sure to look after them as whole people, not just task performers, says Susan Cain, author of "Quiet" and CEO of Quiet Revolution. “I'm increasingly seeing employers having a goal of facilitating the entire life of an employee,” Cain says. “I don't mean it in a Big Brother type of way, but being an aid in the entire life of an employee as opposed to just the part that shows up to make wages.”
2018
50 Big Ideas for 2019: What to watch in the year ahead
LinkedIn
Global Trade
When the global economy grows, and the majority of major economies participate in that growth, a significant backlash against trade liberalisation is unlikely and international trade will grow.211 However, trade growth may be temporarily reversed in response to periodic economic, resource or financial crises. Moreover, environmental crises and rising transportation costs, linked to climate change and high energy prices, may lower, or even reverse trade growth, especially in manufactured goods.
2010
Global strategic trends - out to 2040
UK, Ministry of Defence
Open Secrets
When the huge resources being devoted to quantum research lead to large-scale quantum computing, many of the tools that form the basis of current digital cryptography will be rendered obsolete. Public key algorithms, in particular, will be effortlessly crackable. Quantum also promises new modes of encryption, but by the time new protections have been put in place many secrets may already have been lost to prying criminals, states and competitors. A collapse of cryptography would take with it much of the scaffolding of digital life. These technologies are at the root of online authentication, trust and even personal identity. They keep secrets—from sensitive personal information to confidential corporate and state data—safe. And they keep fundamental services running, from email communication to banking and commerce. If all this breaks down, the disruption and the cost could be massive. As the prospect of quantum code-breaking looms closer, a transition to new alternatives— such as lattice-based and hashbased cryptography—will gather pace. Some may even revert to low-tech solutions, taking sensitive information offline and relying on in-person exchanges. But historical data will be vulnerable too. If I steal your conventionally encrypted data now, I can bide my time until quantum advances help me to access it, regardless of any stronger precautions you subsequently put in place.
2019
The Global Risks Report 2019 14th Edition
World Economic Forum (WEF)
Why Tech Innovators are Poised to Save the World
When trying to understand the societal impact of tech entrepreneurs on modern society, we need to look back, back to hippie culture and the San Francisco music revolution of the sixties, the birthplace of tech entrepreneurship in its current form. The common and strikingly new belief at that time was that we are responsible for the future of our planet, that an inclusive and networked society is more balanced and likely to be more sustainable; that race, gender and sexual orientation do not matter and need to be tolerated in whichever form. That mis ts and outlaws are admirable, if not role models.
2016
Shaping the future
European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS)
Geospatial Visualisation
Where matters The human brain is naturally wired to process visual images by recognising patterns, inferring relationships and discerning features. Analytic visualisation connects these perceptual and cognitive strengths with modern statistical computing capabilities and can enable decision makers to pull significant results quickly out of tremendous volumes of complex and diverse data. In turn, connecting this data to geography is key to building compelling visualisations from diverse information sources.
2012
Tech Trends 2012-Elevate IT for digital business
Deloitte
Digital Transformation Becomes a Must
Whereas digital transformation may once have been just a buzzword in some (lagging) boardrooms in 2017, 2018 will force many companies to realize DX is no joke. It’s an imperative in today’s business market. Disruption will continue to be an increasingly common occurrence in the next few years, and companies unable or unprepared for those changes will quickly fall to the bottom of the pack.
2016
Top 10 trends for digital transformation in 2018
Forbes
China’s Swing Role
Whether China gets stuck in the middle-income trap is more than a domestic question. An angry China would be a dangerous regional and global spoiler. Without a growing China, global economic growth would dip.
2016
Global risks 2035- the search for a new normal
Atlantic Council