Trends Identified
Dwindling resources
The new tech and devices that characterise the 21st Century all require rare earth metals to make – an average smartphone has over 60 “ingredients”. That’s putting a strain on the planet’s natural resources: in China, where 90% of the world’s rare earth metals are found, it’s estimated that its mines will run out in the next two decades – and good substitutes for those materials are hard to come by.
2017
10 grand challenges we’ll face by 2050
The BBC
You’ll learn the term “fallen angels.”
The new subprime crisis will come from America’s corporate debt, especially in BBB-rated companies, warns Danielle DiMartino Booth, author of "Fed Up." Those companies’ combined debt is now north of $3 trillion, just like the subprime loans market back in 2007, she points out. “I think that the term ‘fallen angel’ is going to come into the accepted vernacular for investors, and that means when a company crosses from investment grade into being junk,” she explains.
2018
50 Big Ideas for 2019: What to watch in the year ahead
LinkedIn
CEOs will work hard to become more inclusive leaders — or leave.
The new generation of workers expects a different kind of leadership and has now reached the critical mass where their opinion is corporate law. “We were primarily led by 'my way or the highway' type leaders and that does not work with this environment,” says Carla Harris, vice chairman and managing director at Morgan Stanley. “I think you're going to see more leaders looking for leadership development or leadership guidance on how to be more collaborative, how to spur innovation, how to teach people how to fail and how to innovate. I think you're going to see far more money spent on speakers and resources around that.” Not immediately, but over time executives who don’t make that effort and pivot will be pushed out, she warns.
2018
50 Big Ideas for 2019: What to watch in the year ahead
LinkedIn
Contextual Workspace – Driving Insights And Decisions
The need for faster and better innovation and improved productivity, and the shift towards high-value work will drive the evolution of improved workspaces. They will allow professionals to quickly create (virtual) project teams according to the project needs and the individual capabilities across any structural and organizational hierarchy. For now, siloed data sources, classical hierarchies and missing innovation and knowledge cultures are barriers for a more value- and project-driven work. Knowledge work will be more consumer like with contextual interfaces and new, social and open collaboration infrastructures and individuals will be able to identify the right people across all silos, networking with them more easily. The user experience will be a seamless one across devices, locations, and context. Machine learning based technologies such as immersive technologies, digital assistants and conversational bots will help with the handling, extraction and representation of data and generate new insights based on the individual roles and projects. Information and recommendations will be presented in a context- sensitive way and increase the user efficiency. The individualization of information will be used to understand knowledge and project management needs, and to support learning on the level of teams and individuals. Security and identity and access of information will be organized people-centric, to make it easier to get to information resources. Vendors are now bundling work stream collaboration with their productivity and unified communications products, which will a push towards even more unified and smart solutions. Contextual workspace will start around challenge-oriented and self-organizing project teams in research, innovation, design and engineering, and education as well as any knowledge and research heavy tasks and real-time data work such as pricing, logistics, supply-chains, maintenance etc.
2018
Trend Report 2018 - Emerging Technology Trends
SAP
Widely Affecting Antimicrobial Agents
The necessity of the technology that can effectively cope with new epidemics including super bacteria will increase. Therefore, widely affecting antimicrobial agents will appear as important technology.
2011
KISTEP 10 Emerging Technologies 2011
South Korea, Korea Institute of S&T Evaluation and Planning (KISTEP)
Synthetic biology and metabolic engineering
The natural world is a testament to the vast potential inherent in the genetic code at the core of all living organisms. Rapid advances in synthetic biology and metabolic engineering are allowing biologists and engineers to tap into this potential in unprecedented ways, enabling the development of new biological processes and organisms that are designed to serve specific purposes – whether converting biomass to chemicals, fuels and materials, producing new therapeutic drugs or protecting the body against harm.
2012
The top 10 emerging technologies for 2012
World Economic Forum (WEF)
The gender gap in labour force participation remains large
The much lower labour force participation rate of women, which stood at 48 per cent in 2018, com-pared with 75 per cent for men, means that around three in five of the 3.5 billion people in the global labour force in 2018 were men. After a period of rapid improvement that lasted until 2003, subsequent progress on closing the gender gap in participation rates has stalled. The sizeable gap of 27 percentage points registered in 2018 should motivate policy action aimed at both improving gender equality in global labour markets and maximizing human capabilities. Overall, labour force participation rates among adults have been declining for the past 25 years; the decline is even more pronounced among young people aged 15–24. This downward trend is projected to continue in the future. Some of the factors behind it – such as increased educational enrolment, greater retirement opportunities and higher life expectancy – are of course positive. Yet, the rise in the dependency ratio (i.e. the proportion of economically inactive people relative to the active) poses new challenges in terms of the organization of work and the distribution of resources in society.
2019
World Employment and Social Outlook
International Labour Organization (ILO)
The Role of the Family
The movement of people in pursuit of economic opportunity and a secure environment will create more cosmopolitan population centres and change the character and utility of the family.
2010
Global strategic trends - out to 2040
UK, Ministry of Defence
The unstoppable freight train that is automation
The more intelligent machines become, the more they can do for us. That means even more processes, decisions, functions and systems can be automated and carried out by algorithms or robots. Eventually, a wide range of industries and jobs will be impacted by automation. However, for now, the first wave of jobs that machines are taking can be categorized using the four Ds: dull, dirty, dangerous and dear. This means humans will no longer be needed to do the jobs that machines can do faster, safer, cheaper and more accurately. Beyond the four Ds, machines, robots and algorithms will replace – or augment – many human jobs, including professional jobs in fields like law or accounting. From truck drivers to bricklayers to doctors, the list of jobs that are likely to be affected by automation is surprising. One estimate reckons that 47 percent of US jobs are at risk of automation.
2017
9 Technology Mega Trends That Will Change The World In 2018
Forbes
Modelling and forecasting ICT services.
The model adequacy and query response time are key characteristics of modelling and fore- casting ICT services. Mathematical and computer models based on the results of field and/or computer experiments applying predictive modelling concepts are “trained” based on multiple prototypes of input and output data and essentially simulate both sources to receive data and the models themselves, created on the basis of studies of the physics of corresponding processes. Using such approaches (“metamodelling”), it is possible to speed up calculations manyfold, all the while reducing the number of expensive field or computer experiments. In turn, this should lead to a drastic reduction in the timeframes and cost of design, improvements in the quality of engineered products, simplified use of such services and, as a result, a reduction in the need for qualified users. The use of such modelling to calculate the optical properties of metamaterials with complex geometries used in difficult-to-reproduce conditions makes it possible to optimise metamaterials and minimise production costs, which will lead to a transformation of the market for materials with new properties.
2016
Russia 2030: science and technology foresight
Russia, Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation