Trends Identified
Novel Weapons
Out to 2040, the development and deployment of novel weapons is likely to become widespread. There is likely to be continuing demand for weapon systems to be tailored and adaptable, offering variable yields, detonation characteristics, degrees of precision coverage and reduced logistic burden. They will need the ability to defeat national strategic assets, infrastructure and forces in well-prepared defensive positions. This will often be in difficult terrain, such as the urban environment.
2010
Global strategic trends - out to 2040
UK, Ministry of Defence
The search for global solutions
Léo Apotheker, Co-CEO of the global business software maker SAP AG, which is based in Germany, says: ‘One of the characteristics of the current environment is that we’re actually dealing with more than one crisis. We have an economic downturn, but we also have an environmental crisis of significant proportions. Global warming has made its effects felt, and is no longer something to be disputed. We also have an energy crisis. And we have a scarcity of resources problem. There are nearly seven billion human beings on the planet and we need to feed them, and so we have a serious issue to address.´
2009
12th Annual global CEO Survey
PWC
An historic moment: One world united in crisis
Concerns about the prospect of a recession in the US, the UK and some other developed economies mounted, as 2008 marched on. By the time autumn arrived in the northern hemisphere, a deep economic winter seemed imminent. The trigger point came in mid-September, when US investment bank Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, felled by nearly US$60 billion in bad debts, and another US investment bank, Merrill Lynch, announced it would be acquired by Bank of America to avoid a similar fate. That evening, the US Federal Reserve asked two other Wall Street investment banks to help inject US$75 billion into insurer American International Group.2 All the major advanced economies were either in, or about to enter, a serious recession. Indeed, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) expressed fears that 2009 might be the worst year for the industrialised economies since World War II.3
2009
12th Annual global CEO Survey
PWC
Walking a tightrope
How does a business meet the current, acute demands of survival and at the same time ensure its business model is both durable over the long term and positioned to take best advantage of a return to growth? Stephen Green, Group Chairman of the UK-based international banking and financial services organisation HSBC Holdings plc, explains: ‘One of the obvious risks is that current emergencies drive out the longer-term perspective…You cannot rebalance economies overnight. No institution, whether it’s a bank, or a government, or the World Bank or the IMF, has the power to do this. It simply will take time, and it’s a difficult tightrope to walk.’ Walking the tightrope requires CEOs to balance extreme, short-term threats to survival, on the one hand, and on the other, large-scale, global issues that impact long-term success. Many CEOs believe this requires a mindset that is different from the past.
2009
12th Annual global CEO Survey
PWC
Brain-machine Interface
Brain-machine interface enables control over machines with brainwaves. The technology is primarily used on neuroprosthetics applications that aim to improve the quality of life for those with disabilities by analyzing and processing information on neural activities.
2009
KISTEP 10 Emerging Technologies 2009
South Korea, Korea Institute of S&T Evaluation and Planning (KISTEP)
RNA-based Terapeutics
RNA-based therapeutics used artificial RNA with unique sequences that can selectively control target genes. The technology can be applied for therapeutic purposes by enabling the control of gene expression. The technology can also be employed in cell therapy through manipulation of stem cells.
2009
KISTEP 10 Emerging Technologies 2009
South Korea, Korea Institute of S&T Evaluation and Planning (KISTEP)
Graphene
Graphene is an allotrope of carbon in the form of a two-dimensional, honey-comb lattice. Although graphene has an atomic-scale thickness, its structural and chemical characteristics are stable enough to substitute silicon diode.
2009
KISTEP 10 Emerging Technologies 2009
South Korea, Korea Institute of S&T Evaluation and Planning (KISTEP)
Clean Coal Technology
Coal is classified as high-rank coals (anthracite, flame coal) or low-rank coals (sub-bituminous coal, lignite). Use of low-rank coals is limited due to high levels of moisture content and spontaneous ignition. The technology uses low-rank coals to produce low-carbon clean energy.
2009
KISTEP 10 Emerging Technologies 2009
South Korea, Korea Institute of S&T Evaluation and Planning (KISTEP)
Dye-sensitized Solar Cell
A dye-sensitized solar cell is based on a semiconductor formed between a photo-sensitized anode and an electrolyte. Once photons of the sunlight excite electrons of the semiconductor, titanium oxide nanoparticles transport the electrons to electrodes. The mechanism enables simple and low-cost production of solar cells.
2009
KISTEP 10 Emerging Technologies 2009
South Korea, Korea Institute of S&T Evaluation and Planning (KISTEP)
Smart Space I-centric Communication
I-centric communication system will provide proactive services based on users' demands by reflecting on recent actions and self-adaptation to contexts and situations.
2009
KISTEP 10 Emerging Technologies 2009
South Korea, Korea Institute of S&T Evaluation and Planning (KISTEP)