Title:
Author: Future Agenda | https://www.futureagenda.org
Permalink:
https://www.futureagenda.org/foresights/page/2/
New perspectives on the future are gained from multiple expert discussions around the world. Our ten year foresights offer rich, insightful views on some of the most important changes shifts – and challenges - that lie ahead.
Although the ability to trust data is fundamental for economic and commercial activity, technology is exploding the scale and scope of the inauthentic. Demonstrating data provenance becomes a prerequisite to operate. The exponential growth of data and internet of things (IoT) devices across government, industry and in homes, from logistics and manufacturing, to oil and gas, retail and even academia is ushering in an era of data abundance. In this ever-expanding, dynamic, and complex environment, it is increasingly vital to know the origin or the source of data – and whether this data can be trusted. Verifying data is increasingly…
Permalink: https://www.futureagenda.org/foresights/dataprovenance/
With 2oC of global warming probable and 4oC possible, health systems struggle to address the growing impact of climate change. The increased spread of vector-borne diseases joins poor air quality as a major public health threat. Although smoke from wildfires in Australia, California and Siberia have now joined industrial smog in many major cities to amplify air pollution as an escalating public health issue, recent discussions have suggested that the spread of vector-borne diseases may be a more insidious threat. The implications of this are only just beginning to resonate in some quarters. This will mean new challenges for…
Permalink: https://www.futureagenda.org/foresights/migratingdiseases/
Digital business models make it almost impossible to pin down where multinationals make money and where they pay tax. Regulators use new taxes to ensure organisations are more accountable for the data they own or access. Adam Smith said that taxes should be efficient, certain, convenient and fair. We are a long way away from this today. Many of our tax systems are outdated and awash with complexity and loopholes. Some not only clash with government priorities but they also make it easy for multinational companies to ensure the amount of money paid to the state is kept to a…
Permalink: https://www.futureagenda.org/foresights/datataxation/
Climate change, conflict, resource shortages, inequality and political elites unable or unwilling to bring about necessary change all trigger unprecedented migration to the North. Over the next 50 years, as many as 1 billion people could be on the move. Climate change, conflict, resource shortages, inequality and political elites unable or unwilling to bring about necessary change all trigger unprecedented migration to the North. Over the next 50 years, as many as 1 billion people could be on the move. In 2015 more than 4 million Syrians attempted to escape the conflicts in their home country and moved elsewhere.…
Permalink: https://www.futureagenda.org/foresights/accelerated-displacement/
The widespread need for individuals to travel short distances becomes a key feature of urban design and regeneration. Planners use transport infrastructure to influence social change and lower carbon living. The impact that transport has had on society is all around us. The past century’s near universal love affair with the automobile shows that transport can shape landscapes, stimulate economies and feed individual desires. The US Federal Highway Administration says that every $1 billion invested in highways supports 27,823 jobs. Globally, many road building strategies rest on that premise, and the CIA Factbook estimates that in 2013 there were over…
Permalink: https://www.futureagenda.org/foresights/access-to-transport/
The escalating cost of healthcare is further stressed by the need to support the old and the chronically ill. Spending 20% of GDP on healthcare is seen as unsustainable so hard decisions are taken around budgets and priorities. As nations develop and their economies grow, so does spending on healthcare. Improved health is a priority issue and the challenge for governments is how to provide an efficient, cost effective system. This is no easy task and many are buckling under the pressure of rising costs, ageing populations and increased public expectations; across the world the whole healthcare system seems to…
Permalink: https://www.futureagenda.org/foresights/affordable-healthcare/
With a land mass bigger than India, China, the US and Europe combined, few doubt the scale of the African continent and its resources. However, until recently only some have seen it as the growth market that it is fast becoming. With a steadily growing population heading towards 2bn, Africa’s 1.1bn workforce will be the world’s largest by 2040. Equally, with a collective GDP of $2.6 trillion by 2020 and $1.4 trillion of consumer spending, many see the impact of around 500m new middle class consumers. Africa as a continent has, on average, grown its economy by at 5% per…
Permalink: https://www.futureagenda.org/foresights/africa-growth/
A person’s physical age becomes less important as society adapts to the new demographic landscape. New opportunities arise for creators and consumers of all ages, though benefits are often only for the wealthy. “Chronological age is completely irrelevant”, says Sarah Harper, professor of gerontology and director of the Oxford Institute of Population Ageing. While exaggerated for effect, the comment speaks to how society is increasingly adapting to an older population and reducing age-based limitations. Adaptations will be felt in particular at work, in patterns of consumer spending and in culture at large. The demographic transition the world is going through…
Permalink: https://www.futureagenda.org/foresights/agelessness/
Rising air pollution in many cities is killing people and becomes a visible catalyst for changing mind-sets and policies across health, energy, transportation and urban design. Delhi, Patna, Gwailor and Raipur: the four most polluted cities in the world, and all of them in India – 13 of the top 20 most polluted cities are in India. Although Beijing has a worse reputation, with its visible smog formed mostly from 10 micron particulates, Delhi has more of these as well, as many more of the more dangerous smaller sub-2.5 micron ones that kill as they go deeper into the lungs.…
Permalink: https://www.futureagenda.org/foresights/air-quality/
The shift to fully autonomous transport is an evolution via truck platoons on highways and small urban delivery pods. Connected cars create the network and test the technologies for the eventual revolutionary driverless experience. The concept of self-driving, autonomous vehicles has been talked about for years. Whether from the automotive sector, science fiction or big data enthusiasts, the advent of cars, trucks and buses that navigate and drive themselves has been a common aspiration. The reality is however getting increasingly closer and, over the next decade, many expect to see some pivotal advances introduced at scale in some parts of…
Permalink: https://www.futureagenda.org/foresights/autonomous-vehicles/
Poor sanitation continues to impact public health and restrict social progress, particularly for women. Governments and donor organisations prioritise measurement, education and innovation in a bid to drive change. Although investments in sanitation can reduce disease, increase family incomes, keep girls in school, help preserve the environment, and enhance human dignity, the world has missed the UN Millennium Development Goal target by almost 700 million people. Goal 6 of the newly adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) is to ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all by 2030. It’s a tough challenge as, according to the World…
Permalink: https://www.futureagenda.org/foresights/basic-sanitation/
The path to a connected, accessible and distributed infrastructure is fraught with complex, costly and risky issues: Upgrading and repurposing systems to make them more open plus on-going maintenance need significant resources. Infrastructure, the backbone of a functioning society, provides roads, buildings, power, water and communications systems. Much of the world around us today is shaped by legacy infrastructure, such as canals, railways and roads. Infrastructure through the years has naturally morphed as new opportunities are realized (the introduction of the steam engine to sailing fleets, and digital communications displacing analogue). Often, this world of large, often state-owned suppliers, distributing…
Permalink: https://www.futureagenda.org/foresights/built-in-flexibility/
