Trends Identified
Technological Innovation
Diminishing availability of low cost, easily accessible hydrocarbon resources, and the need to reduce carbon emissions, will stimulate intensive research to find alternative forms of energy, although a rapid decline in hydrocarbon use is unlikely.
2010
Global strategic trends - out to 2040
UK, Ministry of Defence
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
Technological start-ups and lean innovation models becoming mainstream
Lean innovation models are inspiring an increasing number of business start-ups to search for market t through successive cycles of product or service development and testing103. The concept of lean start-up favours experimentation over traditional business planning and is driven by customer feedback and intuitive design103,104.
2017
Surfing the digital tsunami
Australia, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
Technologies are converging across multiple industries
"The financial services industry pioneered technology that enables very high speed marketplaces and machine-to-machine communications. Some of these technologies are now being applied in other industries as well as in non-financial markets everywhere. Take general-purpose time series databases and Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), software embedded on hardware to allow a much more deterministic speed, as examples. These technologies have been essential to financial services firms for some time. Now cloud providers are deploying both, and automakers are using FPGA within their vehicle systems. Simultaneously, the financial services industry is looking at how other industries are leveraging technology to increase efficiency, reduce risk, improve customer service and gain competitive advantage. To illustrate, the Internet of Things (IoT) is taking machine-to-machine communications to the next level in many areas including agriculture and supply chain management. GPUs used in gaming are enabling machine learning, which is being applied across all industries. Financial firms are moving away from technology islands and leveraging technology architectures and designs in their core infrastructure that are similar to those used in other industries. Examples include distributed global connectivity solutions used in telecommunications, and global networks and platforms that have been within the purview of Google and Facebook. Tech convergence is all about applying technology in creative ways to solve problems, accelerate innovation and meet customer needs. Nasdaq is working constantly to spot new trends and exploring opportunities to adopt new technologies where appropriate. "
2019
NASDAQ DECODES: TECH TRENDS 2019 -The technology trends that are driving the world of markets forward
Nasdaq
Technology
New technologies can be expected to affect future family structures and interrelations in several ways. Firstly, progress in medical technologies has in the past made important contributions to extending people’s lives, and further advances can be expected in the years ahead, pushing life expectancies to new heights and significantly increasing the numbers of elderly. Secondly, information and communication technologies (ICT) have vast potential to enhance the lives of the sick, the infirm and the elderly by increasing or restoring their autonomy, particularly in the home, and enabling them to participate more actively in family life, not least in the role of carer and/or educator. Thirdly, distance working and distance learning are set to increase considerably in the coming years, as broadband availability and usage intensify and more companies, organisations and institutions avail themselves of the benefits offered by these technologies. As take-up increases so too will the opportunities for families to organise their working and learning lives more flexibly in ways that are better aligned to their needs. And finally, over the next 20 years the much anticipated expansion of social networking will almost certainly have consequences – often unexpected – for family interrelationships and interaction, in some cases enhancing them, in others perhaps hampering them.
2011
The Future of Families to 2030
OECD
Technology
A dramatic megatrend of the last half-century has been the pace of technological change. Computing power has been doubling almost every 18 months, virtually matching Gordon Moore’s 1965 observation. This appears likely to continue for at least the next decade or two,101 and will continue to revolutionise the way we lead our lives and the way societies are governed.
2013
Now for the long term - The Report of the Oxford Martin Commission for Future Generations
Oxford Martin School
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
Technology
Technology has powered much of the convergence in the world’s economies and provided the know-how. It has provided access to global markets for those moving from feudal and agricultural economies to the more valuable industrial, service and intellectual property economies. The internet has expanded to reach 2.1 billion people today and is expected to reach five billion people across the planet by 2020. The raw materials of today’s technology are not inexhaustible and indium, used in liquid-crystal displays, and hafnium, a critical element for next-generation semiconductors, could be exhausted by 2017. Technology is driving the conception of new business models and is set to continue its disruptive and enabling role in the coming decades. When once employees had access to the best technology at work, today it’s more likely that their technology at home or in their hand is superior to their employers. Increasingly, companies are looking to ‘outsource’ personal technologies to their employees enabling them to use their own mobile technologies at work.
2012
The future
Steria
Technology Accelerates Change
The accelerating cycles of exploration, discovery and exploitation of technologies, along with the innovative fusion of existing, emerging and new technologies will combine to bring about change rapidly in the future. These changes will be seen in diverse areas ranging from resource exploration to biotechnology and manufacturing. Advances in biotechnology will continue to extend life expectancy, improve health and cure illnesses, while extending these benefits to broader segments of the world. The transition to digital additive manufacturing (i.e. 3D printing) and fabrication could impact settlement patterns, labour, education, transportation, public health, the environment, and the conduct of war.38 Providing a foundation for all these advances, vast improvements in information and communications technology will progressively influence all aspects of economic, political and social interactions.
2013
Strategic Foresight Analysis 2013 Report
NATO
Technology and connectivity
We’re accustomed to seeing Moore’s law plotted on a logarithmic scale, which makes all this doubling look smooth. But we don’t buy computers logarithmically. As power increases, prices decrease, devices proliferate, and IT penetration deepens, aggregate computing capacity surges at an eye-popping rate: we estimate the world added roughly 5 exaflops of computing capacity in 2008 (at a cost of about $800 billion), more than 20 in 2012 (to the tune of just under $1 trillion), and is headed for roughly 40 this year (Exhibit 2). These extraordinary advances in capacity, power, and speed are fueling the rise of artificial intelligence, reshaping global manufacturing,3 and turbocharging advances in connectivity. Global flows of data, finance, talent, and trade are poised to triple in the decade ahead, from levels that already represent a massive leap forward.
2014
Mckinsey Quarterly, Management intuition for the next 50 years
McKinsey