Trends Identified
Social Unrest
As political and ethnic groups have become more empowered, there has been a resurgence of civil and social rights issues calling for change or reform (e.g., Pegida, student protests in Mexico, the Occupy Wall Street movement, the anti-GMO movement, Black Lives Matter, gender pay discrimination, LGBT rights and Planned Parenthood).
2017
Beyond the Noise- The Megatrends of Tomorrow’s World
Deloitte
Technization of Healthcare
Advances in technology have enabled digital medicine and bioinformatics, advanced genomics, digital manufacturing, and nanotechnology, and the widespread development of genetically modified products.
2017
Beyond the Noise- The Megatrends of Tomorrow’s World
Deloitte
Terrorist Organizations
Political uprisings, instability, or other social unrest has led to a rise in terrorist organizations around the globe (e.g., an increasing number of organizations publicly affiliated with ISIS or the rise of Boko Haram).
2017
Beyond the Noise- The Megatrends of Tomorrow’s World
Deloitte
Urbanization
Cities are growing more quickly than suburban and rural areas, and are simultaneously witnessing an increasing concentration of wealth. As a result, the quality of life continues to improve in urban centers relative to suburban communities, and demand for services is increasing.
2017
Beyond the Noise- The Megatrends of Tomorrow’s World
Deloitte
Empowerment
Empowerment the growth and re-invigoration of ideas and self-worth.Rise of the individual: In today’s society, it’s all about the individual over the collective. A culture of “me” has risen over a culture of “we” as individuals become empowered to demand specific outcomes, resulting in the decline of social cohesion and the mass market.Collaborative consumption:The emergence of collaborative consumption models has led to the rise of the sharing economy, which allows consumers to make use of their idle assets to contribute in existing markets. Collaborative consumption models are augmented by technological platforms that connect discrete players through the use of networks and geo-located devices.Triple bottom line: As consumers’ expectations evolve, an increasing importance is placed on measuring not only a company’s profits, but its impact on people and the planet as well. This focus on what’s referred to as a triple bottom line emphasizes business models and metrics that touch upon key elements of society (e.g., diversity and equal opportunity) as well as environment (e.g., sustainability and carbon dioxide emissions), in addition to the standard measures of economic health like profitability and growth.
2017
Beyond the Noise- The Megatrends of Tomorrow’s World
Deloitte
Polarization
"Polarization the rise of divisiveness and divergence..Rise of ideology: Fueled by individual empowerment, access to information and communication technologies, and growing wealth inequalities, the world is seeing a rise in ideology as people and communities seek dramatic change from the status quo. As individuals engage increasingly over social networks due to the proliferation of ICT technologies, networks of ideological thinkers are no longer constrained by proximity and are able to grow exponentially with new followers who seek sources of insight online. Bursting digital bubble: Driven by the increase of mobile technologies that have enabled constant connectivity, the world around us has fundamentally changed. What has resulted is a pervasive dependence on technology for everything from social interaction to transactions to health monitoring. However, venture capitalists are predicting the burst of the tech bubble as the democratization of knowledge has led to an oversaturation and overvaluation of players in the market. Politicism of science: As people become more entrenched in their individual value systems and as environmental outcomes are increasingly tied to political and financial motivations, a politicism in scientific reasoning has emerged in today’s world. This skepticism is an example of one of the negative consequences of an increasingly polarized world, a “kick the can” mentality about issues which affect the long-term viability of our planet.Skillset divide: Following the Great Recession, the workforce particularly in the United States realized more significant employment declines in middle-skilled white- and blue-collar jobs (e.g., construction, manufacturing, mining) than in the high-skill or low-skill sectors. While those losses have stabilized somewhat in the US, the polarization in skillsets valued in today’s global market still exists. Institutionalized radicalism: While the term “radicals” once meant one-off individual extremists as part of a certain religion or political group, the world has evolved to a place where radicalism has become the norm. In one example, we have the rise of ISIS as a pervasive threat in the Middle East that has now infiltrated global corridors with their terrorism. We also see a different kind of radicalism emerge in the United States, the rise of untraditional political players who capitalize on general dissatisfaction with the status quo to galvanize a new tier of supporters with more money, influence, and power."
2017
Beyond the Noise- The Megatrends of Tomorrow’s World
Deloitte
Hyperconnectivity
Hyperconnectivity the emphasis on interconnectedness and collective behavior.Transparent lives: With the rise in ICT technologies, the proliferation of data has exploded leading to the rise of big data analytics and trend sensing. In today’s world, data is easy to search for, manipulate, and extract insights from. Integrated systems: In a more digital world, we are able to create beautiful “smart cities” which integrate ICT networks and leverage the Internet of Things to create a positive, interconnected, and hyperconnected world for its inhabitants. While hyperconnectivity such as this boasts many benefits, it can also lead to greater risks from the integration from physical and cyber infrastructures as hackers increasingly exploit our reliance on digital technologies. Conflict minerals: As our dependence on smartphones, computers, and technologies has grown, our consumption of the precious metals and minerals required to produce such products has also grown significantly. Smartphones each contain approximately 40 different minerals including tantalum, tungsten, tin, and gold – referred to as the 3TG. Hyper-sensitive markets: As the world becomes increasingly intertwined, significant political and economic structural changes in one region have huge impacts on major financial markets leading to increased volatility. The 2008 subprime mortgage crisis in the United States sent the entire globe into catastrophe as markets were shorted and a Great Recession emerged. Global regimes: From the Roman Empire to the British Empire to Attila the Hun, the story of global regimes is not new. However, today the rise of and reach of global forces is catapulted forward by the ubiquity of social media and ICT technologies which create the possibility of connecting beyond physical borders on ideological platforms.
2017
Beyond the Noise- The Megatrends of Tomorrow’s World
Deloitte
Disengagement
Disengagement the evolution of ways in which we communicate and interact. Interpersonal divergence: The advent of digital has created incredible impacts in connecting people across the globe, but often at the expense of face-to-face interpersonal interaction. On the one hand, new friendships and relationships are explored through the rise of networking and social platforms. Digital personification: The confluence of artificial intelligence and augmented reality has resulted in a new mode of interaction with the digital world: the space of digital personification where “things” become humanized in a way. One of perhaps the most mainstream and foreshadowing examples of this occurred back in the mid-90’s, where Tamagotchi digital pets from Japan rose in prominence with children. NIMBY: For years, the NIMBY (“Not in my backyard”)phenomenon has been described in economics textbooks as the classic example of how people’s attitudes and behaviors often don’t match up. NIMBY represents the disengagement of society with outcomes that do not affect them at face value. Take the example of the great big trash in the North Pacific Ocean. Despite consumers’ emphasis on being eco-friendly, the spinning vortex of garbage was first detected in the 1990s, formed partially as a result of consumer waste from a materialistic product-driven culture and loose incentives for proper waste disposal and recycling. Fragmented workforce: Mobile technologies have fundamentally changed the way we work today. As virtual connectivity grows, physical co-location diminishes. Gallup data suggests that 37% of the workforce in the US have telecommuted and companies have begun to roll out alternative work schedules (e.g., 4-day weeks). What has resulted is a fragmentation of the workforce. While this enables flexibility and agility, questions of employee engagement and productivity have inevitably risen. Political defiance: While heralded as the hallmark of democracy, political disengagement has become a new normal, where individuals don’t feel as if their voice is heard over the din of mass opinion. Voter apathy is high and campaigns to increase voter turnout in critical election years abound.
2017
Beyond the Noise- The Megatrends of Tomorrow’s World
Deloitte
Aging
Aging the changes in values, cultures, and priorities across generations. Intra-generational fairness: Striking the balance between the present and future has always had its challenges, but as demographics, political structures, and technological advances collide, the intra-generational equity issues are gaining a front and center seat. Demographic trends suggest that our population is aging dramatically and at a faster pace than the regular population. Digital rift: The rapid flux of technology and digitalization of the world have fundamentally shifted the ways in which we operate. For example, as mobile technology has grown exponentially in the past decade, it has given a distinct advantage to the millennials and generations X, Y, and Z who more quickly adopt the change. For example, a Pew Research Study found that seniors continued to lag behind all Americans when it came to cell phone ownership, broadband access, and even using the Internet at all. Resource footprint: While not wholly attributable to an aging population, the behaviors and tendencies of this demographic may point to indirect effects on the environment and our planet. For example, data has suggested that as older people retire, particularly in developed and Western countries, their level of leisure consumption and travel rises creating impacts on CO2 and greenhouse emissions. Silver agers: As the Baby Boomer generation prepares to retire, economists are predicting “a silver tsunami” in the workforce, a massive simultaneous exiting in the workforce of the population aged 65 and older. This creates a fundamental change in the way our labor market will operate as employers compete for talent and seek to replace the loyalty, skillsets, and networks lost. Gerontocracy: As societies age, so too does the age of our electorates. Coupled with political apathy and under-representation of the younger generation in governing bodies, this points to an interesting future for our political systems as the value structures and desires of the young and the old diverge.
2017
Beyond the Noise- The Megatrends of Tomorrow’s World
Deloitte
Dematerialization
Dematerialization the shift in the value structure from physical to intellectual. Knowledge society: The emergence of a knowledge society is fundamentally transforming the way we create and capture value in today’s world. Rather than land, labor, or financial assets, intellectual property and human capital have risen in importance, creating huge implications for the way we employ, educate, and communicate. For example, the rise of knowledge societies is partially driven by the proliferation of digital technology, which creates rapid exchange of information relative to the “old world.” Digitalization: As the digital world rises in prominence, consumers find themselves at a fork in the road facing both analog and digital options. For example, telecommunications providers still offer landline connections, but consumers choose smartphones and wireless connectivity, seeing minimal value in the additional cost. Scientification of agriculture: As advances in biotechnology and nanotechnology grow, the future of agriculture is evolving. Genomics are rising in importance as agricultural companies begin to invest heavily in R&D efforts to replicate a crop’s DNA sequence, selectively breed animals through genetic engineering, or use stem cells to produce meat-based products. The Internet of Things also offers significant opportunity as sensor-based technologies become more common — a breakthrough that supports “precision agriculture”. Post-industrialism: While the world was once pre-occupied with an Industrial Revolution and emphasis on a manufacturing-based economy, our world is now characterized by the rise of a service economy. In post-industrial societies, the production of goods has given way to the production of services; knowledge becomes a form of capital (e.g., the emergence of a knowledge society), and information and ideas are commoditized. Shifting power bases: As the world shifts away from an emphasis on physical strength and towards digital prowess, strength is becoming synonymous with countries which display greater technological infrastructure and capabilities. This is in contrast to the days when power was exhibited by those with a strong militia, defense systems, and weaponry.
2017
Beyond the Noise- The Megatrends of Tomorrow’s World
Deloitte