now

Agriculture is becoming more automated, data-driven and less constrained by daylight, location and traditional operating rhythms.

1. 4D Printing: 3D printing is already so yesterday. In fact, while it's getting a lot of attention, it's actually 30 years old. And yes, it's got a long way to go in terms of its real adoption and impact; it's barely scratched the surface in the world of manufacturing. But the newest buzz is around 4D printing, or what we might call 'customizable' smart...

Even as trend #1 - "techno-skepticism" - takes hold in our global consciousness, a second more profound trend is underway. For lack of a better phrase, let's call it "Accelerating Acceleration." How does this reconcile with techno-skepticism?

New tools help scientists understand diseases faster and find new treatments sooner.

Advanced factories need people who can design, run and fix robots.

The youngest generation now entering the full-time workforce was born right after 9/11.

Follow the trend involving the exponentiation of pure science, and we might soon be able to architect aircraft that are lighter than air - just like that of Wonder Woman's jet! That's where the fast emerging trend of new materials science might potentially lead us.

3D printing lets companies make prototypes in hours and custom parts on demand.

Make it when the customer orders it, the way they want it — instead of making thousands and hoping they sell.

Robots take on the heavy, dangerous and repetitive jobs, protecting workers and lifting productivity.

2. Amazonification of Industries: Amazon has everyone in its crosshairs as it moves beyond the sale of hard products. This include the home repair/renovation business, to optometrists or heading specialists, to automotive repair. Amazon isn't just about selling goods -- increasingly, it's about selling the services that go with those goods. And if your...

Print walls and structures layer by layer, using new and greener materials.

Your DNA can reveal which illnesses you're most at risk of and which medicines will work best for you.

Factories that can change what they make overnight — small batches, custom orders, new technology plugged in quickly.

Top-rated green buildings now cost about the same to build as ordinary ones.

Replace the old one-way power grid with a connected network of many local sources — solar, wind, batteries.

Floods, heat waves and storms are becoming more frequent.

A smart grid juggles solar, wind, batteries and demand automatically, moment to moment.

Technology destroys some tasks and roles while creating new categories of work, often faster than education and career systems can respond.

15. Chief Robotics Officers / Chief Automation Officers . According to IDC, 30% of tech and companies in the automation space will fill such a position in the coming year. Automation is all the rage, with many dire predictions on the impact on jobs and careers. But there is more to it than that, with the result that as robotics and automation continues...

10. Collaborative careers take over. With ongoing specialization of knowledge, organizations will find that they will have to spend more time simply coordinating access to knowledge. The trend is already playing out in health care: one study found that physicians believe they will send more time on leading teams and coordinating care, than on the...

17. Complexity partnerships drive innovation. AS things become more complex, companies realize they can't do it all on their own. More JV's, skills partnerships, and other forms of talent access become critical. Consider a GE study: 85% of senior executives are concerned about the velocity introduced by digitization and are open to idea collaboration;...

The time between idea, design, launch and obsolescence is shrinking across many industries.

You won't be selling tomorrow what you sell today. You'll either be selling something very, very different, or you won't be selling anything at all. You need to reinvent, continuously, and quickly.

The pace of new ideas, innovations, concepts, scientific discoveries, and product breakthroughs is occurring at such a pace that the need to align to a world of tomorrow is even more necessary today.

Tap the Earth's heat to generate clean power 24/7, whatever the weather.

AI can predict demand and manage food shipments from farm to store far better, so less food spoils along the way.

Store seeds from every plant species so we can recover crops lost to climate change, disease or habitat loss.

Smart home technology — automated help, health monitoring and safety alerts — lets older people and people with disabilities live more independently at home.

AI tutors adjust to each learner's pace and needs, for life.

Growing complexity rewards people who can combine deep expertise with the ability to work across disciplines.

Criminals are using AI to launch faster, smarter cyberattacks.

AI assistants built for scientists and engineers can sift through mountains of data and suggest ideas humans might miss.

Match food production and delivery to what people actually need, day by day, using live data.

A shared digital record can track products from source to shelf, proving where they came from and how they were made.

Capture carbon dioxide from smokestacks and the air, then store it underground or turn it into useful products.

If an AI makes a decision about your loan or your medical care, you should be able to understand why.

AI and sensor networks can give earlier, more accurate warnings of earthquakes, floods and wildfires.

Neighbourhoods generate and share their own renewable power.

Cars are becoming computers on wheels, improved by software updates while they sit in your driveway.

Digital twins move experimentation into a virtual environment where products, facilities and systems can be modeled before physical change occurs.

Sometimes it does seem like the world has gone mad – extremely divisive politics, a rise in hate crimes, absolute emotional terrorism on social networks, attacks on public institutions, and increasing violence. Everyone has a feeling that things are getting out of hand. That’s why trend #12 on my “23 Trends for 2023” is the issue of “Doubling Down on...

More of the economy is being reorganized around electricity, storage, renewable generation and software-managed power.

Put a chip and a connection in almost everything, and everyday objects start sharing information.

Most companies are on a path trying to get key employees back to the office. Return to work is the beating drum.

there's going to be more of it it's going to come at us with greater speed and intensity unless we are watching really carefully, we won't be aware of it until we have to deal with it the implications of not dealing with new risks will become more severe as time moves on it's not the known risk that will get us - it's the unknown risk that matters there...

9. "Exercise is medicine" is the new medicine: in which physical therapy becomes a formalized part of medical treatment programs. This will include prescriptions written by doctors that provide for treatment by fitness professionals. The goal of EIM is to slow, stop or reverse the progression of chronic diseases: and as those diseases and the resultant...

More sensors in the ocean tell us how fast it's warming, rising and changing.

Regenerative farming rebuilds healthy soil, which holds more water, needs fewer chemicals and pulls carbon out of the air.

Trillions of microbes live in and on us, and they shape our health.

Grow real meat and dairy from animal cells instead of raising whole animals.

Next month will mark 3 years since individuals and organizations began to go through the largest disruption they will ever know. With lockdowns, a staggering loss of human life, work-from-home, and the rapid emergence of a digital lifestyle and e-commerce infrastructure - we all had to learn to adapt quickly.

AI becomes a creative partner for artists, musicians and writers — generating ideas and new forms of expression, with the human still in charge.

7. Gadgets get dumb: In 2017, low-tech innovation will gain increasing attention as the marvel of 'smart things' begins to wear off. People are beginning to realize that many smart things are really 'dumb things' because of bad design. They'll begin to rebel or lose interest in many aspects of the Internet of Things, and all the complexities that comes...

Different generations bring different expectations about technology, work, consumption, institutions and personal priorities.

11. Green China: in 2017, the environment will be under siege: the new political reality will likely result in a pushback against anything environmental in the US. A new of uncertainty will drive away investment. The result? Many of the next wave innovations with wind, solar, tidal and other alternative forms of energy will come from a most unsurprising...

Have ever watched a 2 year old go from an iPad to a flat-screen TV in the living room? They try to get the TV to respond in the same way by touching the screen, and are kind of mystified. Another take - one executive that booked me told the story of their 3 year old wandering around the house talking to all kinds of devices - and wondering why didn't...

Sensors across the city measure air, water, noise and wildlife in real time.

Use AI to take over repetitive work and spot fraud or errors that humans miss.

AI suggests building designs that use the least material for the best performance, and robots build the tricky parts.

AI that watches for early warning signs could spot the next pandemic sooner and predict how it will spread.

Augmented reality glasses and tablets show workers instructions right on top of the equipment they're fixing.

Machines that drive and operate themselves take over dangerous and round-the-clock work in mines, warehouses and farms.

Sensors and connected devices let doctors watch over patients at home rather than in a hospital bed.

Tap your card or phone and go.

Build the whole project on a computer first — a live virtual copy of the building — and catch the mistakes before anyone pours concrete.

Drones flying over fields spot pests, disease and dry patches early.

Connected sensors on everything — machines, buildings, streets — collect real-world data and let you control things remotely.

Eat according to your own biology.

Companies and people fight the future. Inevitability, they come to accept the inevitability of it all!

A futurist must always be a relentless optimist, particularly on stage. We've been engaged to provide a tour of the future that provides our audience a sense of hope and opportunity. As I will often joke, I can't go in front of a 1,000 people and start out by saying, "Guess what! Your future sucks!"

Add screens, computing power and connectivity to ordinary products and they become smart devices.

Do you ever stop and stare at streetlights and wondering how they are changing in the era of acceleration? I do!

New materials — stronger, lighter, more conductive — make entirely new products possible.

Turn seawater into drinking water using renewable energy.

Citizen science lets millions of volunteers help collect and analyze data.

Drones, delivery robots and smarter routing get packages to your door faster and cheaper.

Apps and online services can make mental health support available anytime, tailored to the person.

14. IoIT takes over from IOT - Connected intelligence is the new AI, as the Intelligent-Internet-of-Things takes over from boring old Internet-of-Things devices. Quite simply, smart devices become smarter by talking to other smart devices. As they do so, insight gained from connectivity comes to redefine the future of the product. Consider this simple...

The useful life of knowledge and skills is shrinking while the volume of available knowledge keeps expanding.

It used to be about what you know. Now it's not only about what you know, but how fast you need to know it!

30 years of studying and working with global innovation leaders - and those who have failed - teach me the key lesson of transformative innovation: those who succeed are not afraid to step up and look out over the leading edge.

Folks don't want to talk about the pandemic anymore, but we should, for despite all the awful things that happened, and the massive divisions it has caused in society, one thing is clear: the way that organizations organize, learners learn, science sciences, and experts' expertise, has forever changed.

Manufacturing is moving away from standardized volume alone toward flexible systems that can produce greater variation at scale.

8. Micro-personalization. We'll witness the acceleration of the trend to the world of 'you.' One size solutions that don't 'fit-all', but fit you. Think, for example, about advances in genomic medicine that allow for engineering of medical treatments for particular genetic profiles - a trend that is closer to reality as a result of the ongoing reduction...

Part of the art of figuring out the future is knowing this - you'll often find the real trend by looking beyond the hype to what's actually happening! The hype? Virtual headset virtual reality, best epitomized by the bold but somewhat doomed bet by Mark Zuckerberg with his Meta initiative. The reality? The return of Google Glass ideas with smart heads-up...

Not hot: cryptocurrency, the Metaverse, Web 3.0, NFT's, and more

There might be a recession in 2023. Or, maybe not!

We all know the phrase - insanity is doing the same thing and over again and expecting a different result each time. It doesn't happen. Neither does the mindset of clinging to old business models, out-of-date product ideas, irrelevant concepts, and reliance on yesterday's strategy. In the context of that, it also includes the end of the era of oil and...

Medicine is becoming more individualized as genomics, biomarkers and data make diagnosis, prevention and treatment more specific to the person.

Retail is becoming a blended physical-digital environment in which stores, mobile interfaces, identity, inventory and data operate as one system.

Healthcare is shifting from reacting to illness toward identifying risk earlier through data, genomics, remote monitoring and predictive analytics.

As robots and smart machines arrive, workers need the skills to run them.

6. Prognostic diagnostics takes centre stage: While autonomous and self-driving vehicles are all the rage, an equally important transformation is underway. That's the fact that hyper connectivity (aka the Internet of Things) brings companies the ability to diagnose things from afar. It means that transportation, utility, appliance, and other companies...

In a world of misinformation and AI fakes, everyone needs the skills to check what they read and see.

5. Ransomware of things. If you thought Internet-of-Things denial of service attacks were bad, wait until you start seeing the impact of this trend. We'll see the emergence of fascinating new hack attacks in which someone will be able to take control of an entire range of Internet connected devices from one manufacturer -- home thermostats, house alarms...

Whatever business you think you're in, you're now in the software business.

If what you sell, who you sell it to, how you sell it, and essentially, what it actually is - you've got to change things. If who you are, how you learn, what you know, and what you need to know, you need to reinvent. That means you need to reimagine your future - because it will be fundamentally different from everything you know today.

We need to plan faster with bigger goals in mind – but we’ve been distracted.

16. Same Day Infrastructure Hubs: As 'same day' becomes a regular part of our daily lives, more companies will invest in the infrastructure required to support it. It won't involve just the same day shipping of goods. For example, the trend for same food delivery is leading to the emergence of commercial kitchens being created in low-rent, low-cost...

Clean wastewater well enough to reuse — for industry, irrigation and, increasingly, drinking.

Make plastics from plants instead of oil — and make them break down safely.

Build buildings like cars: make the parts in a factory, then assemble them on site in days.

We're moving from a world of two-dimensional 'location intelligence' - think of all the things involving GPS technology - to a world of 3D spatial intelligence - and the this will lead the birth of several new "next" billion dollar industries

It hasn't been a great year for tech. Things went too far. And so the tech collapse in 2022 was entirely predictable.

There is a furious rate of scientific advance with the science of bio-materials - and the use of living tissue for medical implants and procedures will be here sooner than you think! Some experts within the industry think it is only a matter of years, not decades, before we can grow living arms and legs for transplant.

"All your base are being to us!" That's what happens with the transfer of control of the future from idea-tired, change-resistant, policy-weak and narrow-thinking baby boomers to the first adult generation weaned on the Internet.

Over the last few years, 3 of the world's largest global legal firms have asked me in for a talk on the new risks and challenges they are faced with in the era of acceleration. In addition, another one invited me for a similar talk in Dallas and Chicago for their major clients - a vast collection of chief legal officers from global Fortune 500 companies.

The same acceleration that creates extraordinary capability also increases the speed, scale and complexity of risk.

We live in perilous, scary times - there are people around you who actually believe the wild conspiracies found in this image below. (And actually, if you go down the rabbit hole of the creator, you will find a store where you can buy a poster of it - and some equally crazy stuff.)

One of the most significant challenges of our time has to do with seniors care - but there is a chance that what we did with heart health in the 20th century, we can repeat with brain health in the 21st century.

As synthetic content and algorithmic mediation expand, signals of human origin, imperfection and direct trust become more valuable.

In almost every single industry, there are people who are thinking big and bold about the opportunities that surround them. This includes completely rethinking about the nature of the product that they are bringing to the marketplace or the service that they might offer.

Supply chains? They'll start to disappear as we move the physical production of product closer to the consumer with 3D printing, end of runway manufacturing, and tremendous innovations in last mile delivery!

Some of my 19 trends for 2019 aren't profound, in that people are already aware of them. What is important is acknowledging the speed and reality of the trend, and in 2019, the acceleration is real. So here's the thing: despite the current moment of political idiocy around us involving 19th coal, there is one undeniable fact going into the future : oil...

As a futurist, I'm often called on by Fortune 1000 organizations to speak at their global leadership meetings, you get a sense as to what CEO's and senior executives are concentrating on.

4. The expectation gap: This is a huge issue for 2017, obviously, but people aren't really thinking about what to do with it. Quite simply, people have developed expectations that won't be met. The gap has always been there, but it is evident that it is growing! For examples, consider the perception that people have with respect to the payout that their...

Longer lives and changing work patterns are creating societies in which five generations are active at the same time.

What’s the essence of the trend? Simply put, you likely don’t have the skills that you need to get into our faster, more complicated future. You’ve got machine operators, but you need 3D printing experts; land surveyors when you require location intelligence professionals; or gas engine designers when you need experts in penguin behaviour.

#6 - The Gaming Generation Redefines the Future of Work

Globalization as we know it is over -and with that, one of the most basic assumptions which have driven the post-World War 2 economy has come to an end.

3. The Impact of Generational Time Shifting. Baby boomers are living longer and retiring later. Millennials are marrying later, having kids later, and buying houses later. The next generation moves out of their parents homes later. Take a look around, and whatever the case may be, people are doing things later in life than they used to! The implications...

Simply put, megacities are the future. This results in new careers, new infrastructure, new innovation, new trends! Cities own the future, and the impact will be everywhere. One example? The acceleration of vertical farming concepts!

As they say, timing is everything, particularly when it comes to the issue of getting involved in any particular trend. In the era of acceleration, it becomes even more critical. You'd better make sure you are ready with any trend of importance and relevance, because the future might happen before you know it.

There can't be a bigger story in tech this year - other than the self-inflicted destruction of many aspects of the tech sector through hubris, arrogance, and fraud - than what has happened with AI.

They're everywhere! Little robots scurrying about, doing the jobs that humans don't want to do!

13. The Yottabit era. It's said that a self-driving car is capturing and processing 7 terabytes of data per hour !That's a huge amount of information, and is indicative of the fact that the big shift in transportation is that cars are essentially just becoming computers on wheels. The typical truck today contains more technology than a Cessna airplane,...

Trend #5 of my ‘23 Trends for 2023” – Transformation, Not Innovation!

AI is moving from a discrete software capability into a general-purpose layer embedded across products, workflows and decisions.

Switching fleets to electric vehicles cuts fuel and maintenance costs and cleans up the air.

Design products so materials are reused again and again instead of thrown away.

12. UI Supremacy. As dumb-devices take centre stage, innovators will work to reverse the trend through better design. User interface design will be HOT, and one of the most in-demand skills going forward! Think about it: in many industries, the first efforts into the world of smart things resulted in some pretty stupid devices! Have you ever tried to use...

Insurance priced on how you actually drive, live or run your business — measured in real time — rather than on broad averages.

Cities can use data to plan better transit, energy, waste and services — based on how people actually live and move, not guesswork.

New tests can spot cancer from tiny molecular traces long before symptoms appear.

Self-driving tractors and robots that zap weeds one by one let farmers do precise work without drenching fields in chemicals.

AI helps find promising new drugs and predict whether they'll work, long before costly trials.

Sensors at home can alert family or caregivers the moment something goes wrong.

Connected vehicles report their own health, so problems get fixed before a breakdown.

Smarter robots take on the fast, repetitive and dangerous work on the factory floor.

Robots gentle enough to pick soft fruit without bruising it help farms that can't find enough pickers — and less of the harvest goes to waste.

When four industries come together to pursue a trend, you’ve got something big happening. And that’s what’s going on as healthcare, the food industry, the agricultural and technology industries come together to pursue one of the biggest trends of our time.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated 2021 foresight receipt anticipating a widening mismatch between external change and organizational response.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.

A dated future observation from Jim Carroll’s December 7, 2021 “101 Things We Know About Our Future” list.