Trends Identified
Positive impact of intelligent automation/digital labor
62% of the respondents view this as a positive trend
2017
Adoption of intelligent automation does not equal success. 4Q 2017 KPMG Global Insights Pulse Survey Report.
KPMG
Positive impact of intelligent automation/digital labor
65% of the respondents view this as a positive trend.
2019
4Q 2018 KPMG Global Insights Pulse Survey Report
KPMG
Improving Eurozone conditions and stability
9% of the respondents view this as a positive trend.
2019
4Q 2018 KPMG Global Insights Pulse Survey Report
KPMG
Relative geopolitical calm globally; decline in terrorism
9% of the respondents view this as a positive trend.
2019
4Q 2018 KPMG Global Insights Pulse Survey Report
KPMG
Science for everyone
A basic education in science can now be gained through Wikipedia alone. A more advanced education is available on YouTube. Whole fields, including much of physics, publish new research online. The open-data movement delivers the raw material of science to anyone who wants it. Crowdsourcing platforms are changing the way science is done, from online collaborations between top-class mathematicians to distributed-computing platforms that allow anybody to comb data and make discoveries. Meanwhile, scientists are realising that a crucial part of the job is communicating their ideas—and their excitement—to the public. As access to knowledge becomes universal, it may kindle the desire for more.
2016
World in 2017
The Economist
SEAS: a new space of opportunities
A better understanding of what is happening in the sea will provide a better knowledge of ocean resources and underpin better policies for their sustainable development. Research and innovation are progressing towards exploring the best possible ways that the seas can continue to be a healthy and productive life support system. Generating and capturing synergies among the various blue economy activities and addressing conflicts will be critical for unlocking the potential of the largely unexplored seas.
2015
Preparing the Commission for future opportunities - Foresight network fiches 2030
European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS)
Blockchain
A blockchain is a distributed digital database or, more broadly, a digital ledger that uses software algorithms to record and confirm transactions with reliability and anonymity. The record of events is shared between many parties and information once entered cannot be altered. Blockchain has the potential to usher in an era of autonomous digital commerce.
2017
The Essential Eight - Your guide to the emerging technologies revolutionizing business now
PWC
Blockchain
A blockchain is a form of exchange that is permanent and transparent between parties, which does not rely on a central authority (Mulligan, 2017). The premise of the exchange is that each party on a blockchain has access and means to verify the entire database. Further, all transactions are visibly recorded across a distributed peer-to-peer network (Mainelli, 2017). Applications include the following: (a) “Smart contracts”25 are a form of a trusted third party which can automate transactions such as licencing, revenue collection and social transfers, significantly lowering costs. (b) approximately 1.5 billion people who lack it, which would otherwise leave them vulnerable to legal, political, social and economic exclusion.26 Blockchain has been used in identity management, which aids in validating individual identities. For example, Estonia offers citizens a digital identity card based on blockchain, which allows citizens to access public, financial and social services, as well as pay taxes.27 (c) Blockchain is increasingly being used in land and property registration, to validate government related property transactions, reduce paperwork and potentially to reduce property fraud. Examples of countries that are using blockchain for land registration are Ghana,28 Georgia and Sweden.29 (d) Blockchain has been piloted with WFP30 through a humanitarian aid project of cash and food assistance transactions in Jordanian and Syrian refugee camps. The aims are to reduce overhead, improve security and speed up aid in remote areas. (e) In trade finance, which is characterized by many stakeholders and largely paper-based documentation, blockchain can simplify processes, reduce settlement times, errors, fraud and disputes, and increase trust between all parties to a transaction. A group of banks has partnered with blockchain service provider IBM on implementing a new blockchain-based global system for trade finance. Similarly, IBM has teamed with another set of banks to build and host a new blockchain-based system for providing SMEs with trade finance.
2018
Technology and Innovation Report 2018
UNCTAD
Brain-computer interface
A brain-computer interface (BCI) is a direct communication pathway that connects nerve signals in the brain to an external computer. BCIs can be invasive (implanted within or just above the brain), or non-invasive (on the scalp surface). BCIs are used therapeutically to assist, augment or repair human cognitive, sensory or motor functions. Today, it requires training and practice to make BCIs useful and reliable. Research, artificial intelligence and more data, however, will improve this significantly. Potential near-term applications include the use of BCIs to detect lapses in attention among occupations requiring vigilance, and as a communication tool for those who have lost motor skills but retained cognition. In the future, this technology could be used to improve cognitive functions, to better understand human preferences, and to augment human capabilites such as coordination and response times. It may even be used to develop senses new to humans, such as the ability to sense magnetic fields, infrared light or radio waves.
2013
Metascan 3 emerging technologies
Canada, Policy Horizons Canada
Into the Abyss
A cascading series of economic/financial crises overwhelm political and policy responses
2018
The Global Risks Report 2018
World Economic Forum (WEF)