Trends Identified

3D printing
Additive Since the invention of the laser in 1960, photonics technologies have been further developed and have emerged in applications like communications, lighting, displays, health, manufacturing bringing about major improvements and innovations. Photonics is now everywhere around us and in everyday products like DVD players and mobile phones. In 2005, the European Commission established the European Technology Platform in Photonics: "Photonics21". In 2009, the European Commission recognised Photonics as one of the Key Enabling Technologies and in 2013 it created the Public Private Partnership in Photonics. In Photonics21 the stakeholders develop a vision and a roadmap of photonics as a well-defined science leading to disruptive break- throughs in telecommunications, life sciences, manufacturing, lighting and displays, sensors and education.
2015
Preparing the Commission for future opportunities - Foresight network fiches 2030
European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS)
Sustainable consumption and production
We are used to see consumption as a key driver of economic activity. Its current level, composition, associated production methods and resource use are not sustainable though. The distinction between consumers and producers is becoming increasingly blurred together with the dichotomy of goods and services allowing efficiency gains through shifting from ownership of products to use of services. Monitoring technologies will make citizens more aware of resource use and could change behaviours. Advanced manufacturing helps to pave the way towards an industrial renaissance in Europe while aging populations will be a driver for new products and services across various sectors. There may be trade-o s between environmental issues and new ways of accessing and using resources for an increasingly urbanised population.
2015
Preparing the Commission for future opportunities - Foresight network fiches 2030
European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS)
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)
Space based services
Satellite navigation, Earth observation, telecommunication satellites are giving rise to an increasing number of services down on Earth. These services are pervading the daily life of citizens at unprecedented levels and will continue to do so.
2015
Preparing the Commission for future opportunities - Foresight network fiches 2030
European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS)
Space technologies
The space sector is entering a new era with the inclusion of new technologies, operational concepts, manufacturing processes that in turn can enable new applications and services. International competition is increasing with new entrants (both new countries and new companies) and is challenging Europe's position.
2015
Preparing the Commission for future opportunities - Foresight network fiches 2030
European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS)
Asteroid mining
Exploatation of non-terrestrial resources has been predicated for quite some time. However tools and hardware have been developed notably in the USA (both by NASA and private companies) to characterise and identify appropriate Near Earth Objects (NEOs) to eventually dock with them and exploit their resources. Asteroid mining is also linked to the protection of Earth from geocruisers and thus to the detection and tracking of such dangerous space objects.
2015
Preparing the Commission for future opportunities - Foresight network fiches 2030
European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS)
Deep space travel
U.S. President Obama has indicated that the USA, and mandated NASA, to send a human mission to Mars by mid-2030 with intermediary steps to Lagragian points in 2020s. NASA is consequently developing appropriate capabilities with the SLS launcher and the Orion crew capsule that should be ready by early 2020s. This would allow human to ventures farther into deep space compared to previous endeavours in the last century.
2015
Preparing the Commission for future opportunities - Foresight network fiches 2030
European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS)
Drones
Drone technology is now expanding quickly into the civil market, generating an increasing number of innovative services, new businesses and jobs. These emerging services have the potential to substantially increase productivity in a wide range of sectors (agriculture, energy, construction, etc.) and so support the competitiveness of European economy. As the drone industry is a crossroads of technologies, drone services will improve many aspects of the daily life of citizens.
2015
Preparing the Commission for future opportunities - Foresight network fiches 2030
European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS)
Deepening income inequality
Inequality is one of the key
challenges of our time. Income inequality specifically is one of the most visible aspects of a broader
and more complex issue, one that entails inequality of opportunity
and extends to gender, ethnicity, disability, and age, among others. Ranking second in last year’s
Outlook, it was identified as the
most signi cant trend of 2015 by
our Network’s experts. This affects
all countries around the world. In developed and developing countries alike, the poorest half of the population often controls less than 10% of its wealth. This is a universal challenge that the whole world must address.
2014
Outlook on the global agenda 2015
World Economic Forum (WEF)
Persistent jobless growth
The term ‘persistent jobless growth’ refers to the phenomenon in which economies exiting recessions demonstrate economic growth while merely maintaining – or, in some cases, decreasing – their level of employment. The scale and signi cance of this problem is evident in the high placing
of this trend, an increase even over last year’s report, when persistent structural employment was ranked as the third most concerning trend.
2014
Outlook on the global agenda 2015
World Economic Forum (WEF)