Trends Identified
Land Tenure and Access
Recent trends in both rural and urban areas in sub- Saharan Africa suggest that the institutions governing land access may become a critical source of tension in the coming decades. Land tenure systems need to be able to respond to demographic, physical and economic pressures. However, the process of change is typically very slow, and societal constraints on public action may be substantial.
2011
Africa in 50 Years’ Time
African Development Bank
Regulatory Landscape
Recent regulations across industries (e.g., financial and healthcare) have affected business models, increased costs, and come with a number of global considerations regarding legal implications.
2017
Beyond the Noise- The Megatrends of Tomorrow’s World
Deloitte
The mobile internet and democracy: less citizen empowerment than we thought?
Realtime communications via internet and large-scale participation in social media can for the purposes of convenience be referred to
as the ‘mobile internet’. This is a relatively recent phenomenon, but it has already shown its potential to impact political affairs. The Arab Spring, the Umbrella movement in Hong Kong, and the emergence of new political parties in Europe, all owe a great deal to the emergence of new, internet-based channels for communication and networking. What impact will the mobile internet have in the coming years? One scenario is of greater participation in debate and in elections; another is of knee-jerk responses crowding out more deliberative and strategic policy-making. Some emphasise
the prospect of individual empowerment, while others worry about
a dumbing-down of the political process. A more fundamental question is whether the balance of power will ultimately shift towards, rather than away from, incumbents, who tend to have greater capacity to store and analyse user data.
2016
Global Trendometer - essays on medium- and long-term global trends
European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS)
RCS Messaging to Contest Chatbots & OTT Business Platforms
RCS has undergone a significant transformation from previous iterations of the messaging technology. Support of RCS will continue to grow over 2019 – amongst both operators and handset vendors. At present, there are over 60 operators supporting the service globally – with more operators expected to announce their support in 2019. 2019 will shape up to be a crucial time for operators wishing to curb the migration of mobile messaging traffic to OTT messaging apps and chatbots. Accessibility and management of the service for brands will be provided by CPaaS vendors, leaving little to no investment needed into infrastructure from operators - just a flat fee to the CPaaS provider. Using RCS for business messaging, or application to person messaging, will provide new revenue streams if the technology is implemented correctly. As a result, this places increased pressure on these OTT messaging apps, their business platforms and in-app chatbots as brands gravitate to the superior capabilities and reach of RCS. As the reach of RCS increases so does the value proposition for its usage in contacting customers, thus increasing adoption of the service further. This will create a virtuous circle, in which the value of RCS only continues to increase. Thus, the timing of implementation is crucial, or operators risk losing A2P messaging traffic to other messaging services in addition to P2P traffic. We anticipate advertising and retail to be the first industries to adopt RCS messaging on a large scale; further encouraging a number of other industries to look into the service. Additionally, we can expect a large amount of focus of MWC 2019 to be on RCS, notably on the revenue potential that the technology will bring operators – and what role the technology will play in the wider CPaaS ecosystem. Related Research: Mobile Messaging: Operator Strategies & Vendor Opportunities 2018-2022
2019
Top Tech trends 2019
Juniper Research
We are eating much less meat
Rather like our grandparents, we will treat meat as a treat rather than a staple, writes Tim Benton, Professor of Population Ecology at the University of Leeds, UK. It won’t be big agriculture or little artisan producers that win, but rather a combination of the two, with convenience food redesigned to be healthier and less harmful to the environment.
2016
Eight predictions for 2030
World Economic Forum (WEF)
Fight or Flight
Rapidly growing cities are making more people vulnerable to rising sea levels. Two-thirds of the global population is expected to live in cities by 2050. Already an estimated 800 million people in more than 570 coastal cities are vulnerable to a sea-level rise of 0.5 metres by 2050.1 In a vicious circle, urbanization not only concentrates people and property in areas of potential damage and disruption, but it also exacerbates those risks—for example, by destroying natural sources of resilience such as coastal mangroves and increasing the strain on groundwater reserves. The risks of rising sea levels are often compounded by storm surges and increased rainfall intensity.
2019
The Global Risks Report 2019 14th Edition
World Economic Forum (WEF)
Technological Innovations for Sustainable Development
Rapidly developing technologies have reshaped the lives of communities, families and individuals around the world through providing new goods and services, including to “bottom of the pyramid”72 consumers, creating new industries and markets, and changing demand for labour and capital (Ramalingham et al. 2016). New technologies have been recognized by the 2030 Agenda as an important means for implementing the SDGs across economic, social and environmental dimensions, and as a critical instrument to address existing and emerging challenges. However, while technologies can bring many benefits to communities in both developed and developing countries, they can also carry significant risks, as discussed later in this chapter.
2017
Global trends
UNDP
Technology is accelerating progress but causing discontinuities
Rapid technological advancements will increase the pace of change and create new opportunities but will aggravate divisions between winners and losers. Automation and artificial intelligence threaten to change industries faster than economies can adjust, potentially displacing workers and limiting the usual route for poor countries to develop. Biotechnologies such as genome editing will revolutionize medicine and other fields, while sharpening moral differences.
2017
Global Trends: The Paradox of Progress
USA, US National Intelligence Council
Technology
Rapid innovation is catalysing improved market analysis, knowledge sharing, product and service design, renewable energy sources, distribution models and operational efficiencies. Technology is also lowering market entry costs for non-traditional actors and start-ups with innovative ‘disruptive’ business models;
2015
SDG industry matrix
KPMG
“Almost-Enterprise” Applications
Quick and agile solutions appeal to the business, but are they “enterprise enough” for IT? Business units have historically had a love-hate relationship with IT. In the early days, IT was an esoteric specialty, far removed from core business competencies yet consuming a big piece of the budget. IT was often seen as unresponsive, expensive or fl at-out ineffective, but business leaders saw no other choice for essential process and information automation. IT was left to balance these harsh perceptions with the practical reality of providing secure, reliable and scalable solutions with zero tolerance for fault or failure.
2011
Tech Trends 2011 The natural convergence of business and IT
Deloitte