Trends Identified
A machine's search for meaning
AI might change our jobs, but need not eliminate them. We can — and should — design our collaboration with the machines that will help us develop.
2018
Fjord trends 2018
Fjord
A majority of Americans envision a future made better by advancements in technology
When asked for their general views on technology’s long-term impact on life in the future, technological optimists outnumber pessimists by two-to-one. Six in ten Americans (59%) feel that technological advancements will lead to a future in which people’s lives are mostly better, while 30% believe that life will be mostly worse.
2014
US views of technology and the future - science in the next 50 years
Pew Research Center
A more aged population than ever before
We won’t just be wrestling with the fact that the world’s population is exploding – but people are living longer than ever, too. Which is great – but all those senior citizens are going to require care. In fact, the number of centenarians will increase more than 50 times – from 500,000 today to over 26 million by 2100. From the UK to Japan to China, societies with large numbers of people over 65 will become more common. In the next couple of decades, as that increase starts to happen, we’ll need better care for the elderly (Japan is even eyeing robots) and perhaps policies to allow more immigrants to try and make up for ageing workforces and in some cases, declining birth rates
2017
10 grand challenges we’ll face by 2050
The BBC
A more globally dominant china
Speaking of China, the world's second largest economy is becoming a more dominant global force by the day. In October, at China's 19th National Congress, President Xi Jingping was written into his party's constitution, which has led many experts to believe he won't step down after his second five-year term. "I believe he's going to be here for the next 20 or 25 years," says Catechis.
2018
6 global trends that can derail your portfolio in 2018
CNBC
A new age of discovery for biology - An age of discovery is in prospect for biology, predicts Feng Zhang, neuroscience professor at MIT and co-inventor of CRISPR
In the era of modern science, hardly a week goes by without a big advance in biology. Although such progress will continue in 2018, it will not bring a cure for cancer, a remedy for Alzheimer’s or a pill to slow ageing. That is because biology, as a field, is largely still about exploring and not yet about engineering. Some of the greatest scientific successes of the past century have come by marrying science and engineering, from the Apollo mission to the Large Hadron Collider. Similarly, the Human Genome Project required both basic research and technology development. The disciplines at the heart of these successes—mathematics, engineering, and material and computer sciences—have propelled the technology economy, giving rise to nearly all of the most dominant companies in the world today.
2018
The world in 2018
The Economist
A new demographic mix
The global population is aging. After rapid population increases during the 20th century, birth rates have stalled—and even reversed—in many regions. By 2035, one in five people worldwide will be 65 or older.
2017
Twelve Forces That Will Radically Change How Organizations Work
Boston Consulting Group (BCG)
A new era of global demographic decline
Global growth to 2050 is not expected to decline dramatically from its average historical levels. However, regional growth rates are expected to begin to decline across every region after 2030. Much of the global growth in recent decades has been driven by population growth. Long-term population estimates, however, reveal that growth in the global population is expected to see a dramatic decline from an average of 1.3% in the 1980-2014 period to 0.5% across the 2015-50 period. The slowdown in the growth rate of the global working-age population will be even starker, with a drop to 0.3% in the 2015-50 period, compared with an average growth rate of 1.7% in the 1980-2014 period.
2015
Long-term macroeconomic forecasts Key trends to 2050
The Economist
A new malaria vaccine finally offers real hope - High hopes for a malaria vaccine
One unsung success of the 21st century has been the fight against malaria. In 2000 the disease killed 47 people per 100,000 of those at risk. In 2015, the most recent year for which figures are available, that had dropped to 19—a fall of 60%. Even so, malaria kills 430,000 people each year. Some 70% of those who succumb are children under five.
2018
The world in 2018
The Economist
A New Optimism: Opportunities, Challenges, Strategies
Ask five experts to assess the global economy, and they are likely to provide as many different answers. Whether related to trade imbalances and currency fluctuations or to skyrocketing energy costs and increasing regulations, uncertainties abound. Yet the CEOs in this survey are optimistic about their prospects for growth and are investing today to secure future success. Is their optimism unbridled? No. It is an optimism grounded in reality and tempered by caution.
2005
8th Annual global CEO Survey
PWC
A potential us trade war
Will Trump scrap NAFTA? Will he engage in a trade war with China? Those are the questions many investors are likely wondering, and as with most things Trump, it's difficult to know whether his antitrade Tweets and talks are genuine or if they're a negotiating tactic.
2018
6 global trends that can derail your portfolio in 2018
CNBC