Trends Identified

Demography

The population in developing regions is projected to increase from 5.9 billion in 2013 to 8.2 billion in 2050 whilst the population of developed regions will remain around 1.3 billion people;

2015

SDG industry matrix

KPMG

Income growth

Between 2010 and 2020, the world’s bottom 40% will nearly double their spending power from US$3 trillion to US$5.8 trillion;

2015

SDG industry matrix

KPMG

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

Collaborations

Governments, businesses, international financial institutions, the United Nations, civil society and academia are developing new ways of working with each other in pursuit of compatible objectives.

2015

SDG industry matrix

KPMG

Be nice to the telepresence robot

You wouldn’t rest your feet on a colleague during a meeting. But what if your workmate was a robot controlled by a co-worker many kilometres away – would it still be rude? This is typical of the new etiquette questions that will be raised by remote-controlled telepresence robots, which allow you to transport your “self” anywhere in the world to take a look around. A roving version of you, these robots could alter the way we travel and interact with each other.

2011

Seven technologies to disrupt the next decade

NewScientist

Stroll through data in the augmented city

Our cities could soon be painted with secrets we cannot see with the naked eye. The streets, buildings and sometimes even the citizens themselves would teem with virtual information. With the help of augmented reality (AR) you could see the occupancy level of a hotel emblazoned on its walls and read a restaurant’s reviews as you walk past. The people you meet might even reveal their names and job titles before you say a word. AR is about to create a new layer over the cityscape by adding graphical information from apps and the internet onto objects in your field-of-view as you peer around.

2011

Seven technologies to disrupt the next decade

NewScientist

Don’t invent, evolve

We are on the cusp of a new era in the history of invention. That’s the implication of software that can automatically “evolve” technology, and create designs that often no human would come up with. It’s already transforming fields as diverse as robot locomotion, computer security and drug design.

2011

Seven technologies to disrupt the next decade

NewScientist

Eat a printed dinner in your printed home

It’s early evening and you pull the car into the drive of your new home that was erected in just two days. Since it is your wife’s birthday, you are clutching a personalised gold necklace that you picked up from the printer. For dinner tonight, you won’t need to do any chopping or peeling – ingredients just go straight into your kitchen fabricator.

2011

Seven technologies to disrupt the next decade

NewScientist

Jacking into your brain

Of all the ways that we have been aided by technology, forging a direct link between our brains and computers is the most intimate yet. Brain-machine interfaces (BMI) are poised to challenge our notions of identity, culpability and the acceptable limits of human enhancement.

2011

Seven technologies to disrupt the next decade

NewScientist

The crystal ball internet

For around 20 years, starting in the 1980s, the political scientist Philip Tetlock sought predictions from people considered knowledgeable. His experts, 280 of them, were the kind of folk who, in their work as TV pundits or government advisors, opined on matters such as the rise of China or security in the Middle East. As time passed, he checked their forecasts. The results were dismal. “Human beings who spend their lives studying the state of the world… are poorer forecasters than dart-throwing monkeys,” wrote one reviewer of Tetlock’s work. Not so for a powerful new method of forecasting called “text mining”. It draws on the vast amount of data available online. By sampling the sentiments expressed in the torrent of blog posts, tweets and Facebook updates, you can gain unprecedented insights into the mood of the world and use it to predict what is to come.

2011

Seven technologies to disrupt the next decade

NewScientist