Trends Identified
Extended Reality
The umbrella term encompassing augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality, extended reality (XR) represents the continuum between simple, digital overlays and fully immersive digital experiences. XR's true power will be unlocked when it’s used with other technologies like AI and IoT. What’s needed is a seamless hardware and software ecosystem that significantly enhances human productivity and experience. Imagine technicians repairing complicated machinery with full and detailed schematics overlaying the real-world object. Or trainers using the power of XR to create realistic simulations that mimic the real world. Just as jet pilots have flight simulations, XR can make a range of hazardous or otherwise specialized industrial activities easier to train for, from wind farm repair and oil rig firefighting to shop floor process optimization.
2017
The Essential Eight - Your guide to the emerging technologies revolutionizing business now
PWC
Beyond shanghai: the age of urbanization
The shifting of the locus of economic activity and dynamism to emerging markets like China and to cities within those markets. These emerging markets are going through simultaneous industrial and urban revolutions, shifting the center of the world economy east and south at a speed never before witnessed.
2015
The four global forces breaking all the trends
McKinsey
The tip of the iceberg: Accelerating technological change
Technology—from the printing press to the steam engine and the Internet—has always been a great force in overturning the status quo. The difference today is the sheer ubiquity of technology in our lives and the speed of change.
2015
The four global forces breaking all the trends
McKinsey
Getting old isn’t what it used to be: Responding to the challenges of an aging world
The human population is getting older. Fertility is falling, and the world’s population is graying dramatically. While aging has been evident in developed economies for some time—Japan and Russia have seen their populations decline over the past few years—the demographic deficit is now spreading to China and soon will reach Latin America. For the first time in human history, aging could mean that the planet’s population will plateau in most of the world.
2015
The four global forces breaking all the trends
McKinsey
Trade, people, finance, and data: Greater global connections
The world is much more connected through trade and through movements in capital, people, and information (data and communication)—what we call “f lows.” Trade and finance have long been part of the globalization story but, in recent decades, there’s been a significant shift. Instead of a series of lines connecting major trading hubs in Europe and North America, the global trading system has expanded into a complex, intricate, sprawling web.
2015
The four global forces breaking all the trends
McKinsey
Globalisation
The rapid convergence between the E7 (emerging seven economies of China, India, Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, Russia and Turkey) and the G7 (global seven economies of Unites States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, Canada and Italy) has been accelerated by the global financial crisis. In 2007, total G7 gross domestic product (GDP, a country’s total economic output) at Purchasing Power Parity (PPP, the purchasing value in the local economy) was still around 60 percent larger than total E7 GDP8, yet by the end of 2010, PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC, a global consulting firm) estimates the gap had shrunk to around only 35 percent. The catch-up process is set to continue over the next decade: by 2020 total E7 GDP could already be higher than total G7 GDP.
2012
The future
Steria
Economies
At the same time, and as a direct consequence of this population growth, we are forecasting that our global economy will triple in size by 20501 and is set to have doubled to over $130 trillion in just 20 years’ time, in 20302. Much of this growth is amongst the emerging economies (E7) of the world, including China, Brazil, India, Mexico and Russia. As a consequence, by 2019 the E7, emerging seven major economies, will be a larger economic bloc than the G7 countries who have led the world economically and to a great extent, politically for the past 60 years. By 2050 China will have the largest economy with a GDP of over $24 trillion whilst the United States’ economy is expected to reach £22 trillion and India the third largest economy at $8 trillion.
2012
The future
Steria
Population
We are confronted by the evidence of our rapidly changing world every day and are contributing to its change each in our own way. In the past 50 years, we’ve doubled the number of people alive on our planet, reaching seven billion people at the end of last year. In the next 40 years we are expecting over two billion more people to be alive than today.
2012
The future
Steria
Urbanisation
20 of the world largest 50 cities will be in Asia by 2025, up from only eight in 2007. In 2010 the urbanisation of the world reached 50 percent and it is expected that by 2030, six out of ten people will be city dwellers, which is double the number back in 1950. By 2050 it’s forecast that 70 percent, of the then nine billion people, will live in cities.
2012
The future
Steria
Energy
Global economic growth, prosperity and rising populations will push up energy needs over the coming decades and as a consequence, governments are introducing measures to drive investment in efficient and low-carbon technologies. The Fukushima nuclear accident, turmoil in parts of the Middle East and North Africa and a sharp rebound in energy demand in 2010 which pushed CO2 emissions to a record high, highlight the urgency and the scale of the challenge.
2012
The future
Steria