Trends Identified
The future of work
Americans believe automation will likely disrupt a number of professions, but fewer foresee their own jobs being at risk.
2017
Key trends shaping technology in 2017
Pew Research Center
The Future of Universities and Evidence-Based Research
Among the European Union’s best assets are its highly- educated population, its universities, and its research capacity. Europe’s universities have, through the course of their rich history contributed hugely to modern thought and to modern science. They have helped shape the world that we know today. Past glories will not sustain us forever. Universities need to change in order to serve the needs of tomorrow’s economy and society. This is not in debate. There is a need for more skills - and more research- in science and technology, for example. Universities will continue to have a central role in the drive for technological innovation.
2016
Shaping the future
European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS)
The Future of Transportation
Transportation is humanity’s greatest lever for economic growth. More than any other technology, transport is the catalyst for big leaps in culture and ideas. And transport has itself been the engine for growth on a global scale. The Great Acceleration of the Rail Age enabled the transport of produce and people in volume, which in turn enabled urbanisation and the development of the mass market. Powered by coal, constructed of iron and steel, and financed on new capital markets, the railways themselves became a primary driver of the Industrial Revolution. That was then, this is now. The great question facing global leaders is whether our current transportation options can meet the inexorable and conflicting demands of growth and environmental stewardship. At current 2.7% annual rates of growth, mobility demand in the developed world will double in 25 years and rise sixteen- fold in a century. Existing modes have served us well, but offer only incremental improvements when a step- change in performance and energy efficiency is required.
2016
Shaping the future
European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS)
The Future of Security and Preparing for It: Why the Security Union is Needed
Terrorism and organised crime threatens our values and our way of life. Neither respects national borders. Indeed their business models thrive on the lack of coordination between states. The only way to defeat the terrorists and criminals is by working together effectively. In today’s world, security of one Member State is the security of all. National security remains the sole responsibility of Member States, but they cannot effectively address alone threats which are transnational.
2016
Shaping the future
European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS)
The Future of Leadership in Europe
Leadership matters: hundreds of books are published every month with the word leadership in the title. Yet there no universal theory of leadership or agreement on how good, bad, better or great leadership can be evaluated or measured. One the one hand, societies everywhere are searching for leaders and leadership systems that can deliver realistic hope. One the other hand, advances in education, the spread of democracy, prosperity gains and social media have contributed to a diffusion of power and authority within societies and across the world. The turnover of political and business leaders in democratic societies seems to be occurring at an accelerating pace – shaped by and contributing to structural short-termism.
2016
Shaping the future
European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS)
The Future of Foresight in Europe. Beyond Evidence-Based Pessimism to Realistic Hope
A focus on the short term often overemphasises negative, trends of doom and gloom. Developing and using foresight enables realistic hope. It pushes beyond sugar-coated ideology about what the future should be and the evidence-based pessimism that is driving fear of the future. Foresight is a disciplined approach to futures thinking that enables societies to thrive under disruptive changes and to collaborate to create new and better future possibilities for all. It is not about wishful thinking. The aim is not to predict, but to be better prepared. To develop a more explicit, testable, contestable and useful sense of the future that is already emerging in the here-and-now.
2016
Shaping the future
European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS)
The Future of Deterrence
Out to 2040, discouraging conflict will be increasingly important, especially as the strategic balance of military power shifts away from the US to a more multi-polar distribution. Deterrence will remain a vital conflict prevention tool.
2010
Global strategic trends - out to 2040
UK, Ministry of Defence
The future is electrifying
The growing electrification of energy; in 2016, spending by the world’s consumers on electricity approached parity with their spending on oil products.
2017
World energy outlook 2017 executive summary
International Energy Agency (IEA)
The Future Is Edge
The edge is where it’s at. Investments will increasingly migrate from the cloud to edge computing. Porsche, Softbank, and Berkshire have already bet big on edge computing start-ups. Watch out for significant application enablement as a result. There’s going to be further movement shifting storage and processing to the edge. In the meantime, a slew of industries—defense and healthcare, among them—will begin to leverage edge computing technologies. And no, I haven’t forgotten about our two missteps from last year. First, our prediction that some tech giants, Apple in particular, would hit the golden $1 trillion valuation mark didn’t quite happen as expected; they did hit the mark but failed to sustain the momentum. Another of our predictions that didn't turn out as anticipated was that a generation of young leaders would spearhead a new brand of politics. Disappointingly, the sheen of poster boys like Emmanuel Macron, Saudi crown prince Mohammad bin Salman, Kim Jong Un and Justin Trudeau dimmed considerably over the course of 2018.
2019
Top 10 Trends For 2019
Forbes
The fintech renaissance
While bitcoin and blockchain were grabbing the headlines in 2017, social and mobile payments have fundamentally changed the financial markets. In China, mobile payment volumes now exceed $5 trillion annually.
2017
4 Technology Trends That Will Transform Our World in 2018
Fortune