Trends Identified
Millennials are the largest adult generation in the United States, but they are starting to share the spotlight with Generation Z.
This year, Millennials, those ages 23 to 38, will outnumber Baby Boomers (ages 55 to 73), according to Census Bureau projections. Now in their young adulthood, Millennials are more educated, more racially and ethnically diverse and slower to marry than previous generations were at the same age. But after growing up in the Great Recession, their economic picture is mixed: Young adult households are earning more than most older Americans did at the same age, but have less wealth than Boomers did at the same age, partly because they are more likely to have higher amounts of student loan debt. Although the nation’s 73 million Millennials are the largest living adult generation, the next one – Generation Z – is entering adulthood. Also known as the post-Millennials, Gen Zers (those born after 1996 – ages 7 to 22 for this analysis) are on track to be the best educated and most diverse generation yet. Nearly half of Gen Zers (48%) are racial or ethnic minorities. Socially and politically, their liberal-leaning opinions on key issues are similar to those of Millennials.
2019
6 demographic trends shaping the U.S. and the world in 2019
Pew Research Center
Militarization following industrialization
As economic power tilts toward Asia, political and military power will shift as well. In China, where defense spending has trended upward in recent years, both in dollar terms and as a proportion of GDP. The stepped up spending is prompting China’s neighbors to respond with bigger defense budgets, increasing the risk of conflict over shipping lanes in the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea.
2011
The great eight: Trillion-dollar growth trends to 2020
Bain and Company
Migration
The number of international migrants has increased from a total of 75 million a year in 1965, to 191 million a year in 2005 of whom around 10 million are refugees, and up to 40 million are illegal migrants.146 That number may grow to 230 million by 2050.147 Populations in many affluent societies are likely to decline, encouraging economic migration from less wealthy regions.
2010
Global strategic trends - out to 2040
UK, Ministry of Defence
Middle-class progress
The rising tide of progress has not lifted all boats equally. Globalization and automation are polarizing the labor market, with more on the way as expanding machine-learning capabilities increase the automatability of a wide range of tasks in developed and emerging markets alike (Exhibit 8). As middle-wage workers are displaced, many are forced to “trade down,” reducing their income and putting pressure on existing lower wage workers. There is also widening earnings disparity. Workers with advanced degrees have generally seen their earnings rise, while wages for those with only high-school diplomas have stagnated, and wages for those who do not hold a high-school diploma have declined. Youth unemployment has reached 50 percent or more in several major developed economies
2017
The global forces inspiring a new narrative of progress
McKinsey
Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC)
Microbial fuel cell is a bio-electrochemical device that directly converts chemical energy in organic matters into electric power, using the catalytic action of microorganism. If sewage/wasted water or waste is processed with this microbial fuel cell, organic pollutants can be utilized as the sustainable raw material that can generate electric power. The sewage/wasted water processing cost can be saved, and economic gain can be obtained by electric power generation.
2012
KISTEP 10 Emerging Technologies 2012
South Korea, Korea Institute of S&T Evaluation and Planning (KISTEP)
Micro-Scale ambient energy harvesting
Example of Organizationsactive in the area: Pavegen (UK), ECEEN (China).
2018
Table of disruptive technologies
Imperial College London
Micro drone
(Definition) The drone can detect danger flying both indoors and outdoors, and follow to provide information. (Application) Not only fight against the crime, for example, monitoring the crime and tracing the criminal, but also used as a recon (fire, military and so on). (Impact) Personal needs for drones will increase for safety purposes and it can be used for everyday life such as delivery. However, new laws will be required for accidents and invasion of privacy. It is expected to have $ 1.2 billion economic effect.
2014
KISTEP 10 Emerging Technologies 2014
South Korea, Korea Institute of S&T Evaluation and Planning (KISTEP)
Methods to forecast natural and man-made disasters and their after-effects based on observation data
Over the past two decades there has been active development in methods to forecast natural and man-made disasters and their after-effects based on observation data. For this, geographic information systems (GIS technology) has been used which, among other things, allows you to collect operational data, analyse the signs of brewing earthquakes and assess possible threats of their occurrence on a spatiotemporal scale. The prospective techniques that are being developed for earthquake regions will be based on detecting changes in the pattern of the solarterrestrial structure (cloud seismotectonic indicators). To monitor and forecast earth quakes there needs to be space image data, including images at intervals of no less than 15–30 minutes, covering large areas and at a high sampling resolution.
2016
Russia 2030: science and technology foresight
Russia, Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation