Trends Identified
Relative geopolitical calm globally; decline in terrorism
9% of the respondents view this as a positive trend.
2019
4Q 2018 KPMG Global Insights Pulse Survey Report
KPMG
Religion: 'Secularists will flatter to deceive'
Over the next two and a half decades, it is quite possible that those Brits who follow a religion will continue both to fall in number and also become more orthodox or fundamentalist. Similarly, organised religions will increasingly work together to counter what they see as greater threats to their interests – creeping agnosticism and secularity. Another 10 years of failure by the Anglican church to face down the African-led traditionalists over women bishops and gay clerics could open the question of disestablishment of the Church of England. The country's politicians, including an increasingly gay-friendly Tory party, may find it difficult to see how state institutions can continue to be associated with an image of sexism and homophobia. I predict an increase in debate around the tension between a secular agenda which says it is merely seeking to remove religious privilege, end discrimination and separate church and state, and organised orthodox religion which counterclaims that this would amount to driving religious voices from the public square. Despite two of the three party leaders being professed atheists, the secular tendency in this country still flatters to deceive. There is, at present, no organised, nonreligious, rationalist movement. In contrast, the forces of organised religion are better resourced, more organised and more politically influential than ever before.
2011
20 predictions for the next 25 years
The Guardian
Remapping urbanization
How will cities be reshaped by technology and our greatest challenges? The urbanization of the future could look fundamentally different. Two sets of forces will converge to alter where we build and how we build: 1. How cities respond to sustainability challenges, such as climate change, chronic diseases, aging and affordability 2. How disruptive technologies that are transforming transportation and reinventing work reshape urban centers.
2018
What’s after what’s next? The upside of disruption Megatrends shaping 2018 and beyond
EY
Remote monitoring systems including using satellite systems
The introduction of remote monitoring systems using satellite systems will ensure that qualitatively new information on the state of the land, land based installations, and natural and anthropogenic processes is available. These data will serve as the primary source to create up-to-date thematic maps. Aside from this, prospective remote surveying technologies and computer data processing technologies vastly exceed the capabilities of traditional cartography both in terms of content and the diversity of the methods used to present the data.
2016
Russia 2030: science and technology foresight
Russia, Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation
Remote sensing
The increasingly widespread use of sensors that allow often passive responses to external stimulae will continue to change the way we respond to the environment, particularly in the area of health. Examples include sensors that continually monitor bodily function – such as heart rate, blood oxygen and blood sugar levels – and, if necessary, trigger a medical response such as insulin provision. Advances rely on wireless communication between devices, low power-sensing technologies and, sometimes, active energy harvesting. Other examples include vehicle-to-vehicle sensing for improved safety on the road.
2013
The top 10 emerging technologies for 2013
World Economic Forum (WEF)
Renewable energy
Generation of electricity from renewable sources with reduced harmful climate impact
2013
Disruptive technologies: Advances that will transform life, business, and the global economy
McKinsey
Renewable energy technologies
Following recent technological breakthroughs, a growing number of current and emerging technologies in the area of renewable energy generation have achieved a sufficient level of technical and economic maturity to render them ready for large-scale deployment.
2018
World Economic And Social Survey 2018: Frontier Technologies For Sustainable Development
United Nations
Renewable energy technologies
Using smart grids, big data and IoT technologies can help to reduce energy consumption, balance energy demand and supply, and ensure and improve the management of energy distribution, while increasing the role of renewable sources by allowing households to feed surplus energy from solar panels or wind turbines into the grid. The real-time information provided by smart grids helps utility companies to respond better to changes in demand, power supply, costs and emissions, and to avert major power outages (UNCTAD, 2015d:23). Zenatix, a Delhibased start-up, for example, uses smart meters and temperature sensors to help households and offices reduce energy consumption through message-based alerts, saving Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology nearly $30,000 annually.23 Renewable energy technologies can provide electricity in remote and isolated rural areas inaccessible to centralized grid systems (UNCTAD, 2017c); and costs have declined dramatically, especially for solar power, which is now cost-competitive with coal and natural gas. The cost of solar cells has dropped by a factor of more than 100 in the last 40 years, from $76.67/watt in 1977 to $0.029/kilowatt-hour (kWh) in 2017 (Clark, 2017). Solar energy is now the cheapest generation technology in many parts of the world.24
2018
Technology and Innovation Report 2018
UNCTAD
Renewables step up to the plate; coal strikes out
The rapid deployment and falling costs of clean energy technologies; in 2016, growth in solar PV capacity was larger than for any other form of generation; since 2010, costs of new solar PV have come down by 70%, wind by 25% and battery costs by 40%.
2017
World energy outlook 2017 executive summary
International Energy Agency (IEA)
Renewables will power mobile networks
The skills gap is actually an information gap. The problem is not that workers are unskilled; it’s that workers don’t know what skills employers need. Technology is already disrupting existing jobs, and creating new jobs that never existed before. In fact, the top 10 in-demand jobs in 2010 did not even exist in 2004. Change is happening so rapidly that 65 percent of today’s grade school kids in the U.S. will end up at jobs that haven’t even been invented yet.
2014
14 tech predictions for our world in 2020
World Economic Forum (WEF)