Our shared Global Village is becoming more aware and better prepared for the future as we all share our experiences, ideas and solutions online and in face-to-face gatherings. Below are business areas and opportunities the Global Opportunity Network predicts will expand across the coming decade. Leave a comment identifying which of these you believe will most benefit life across the next generation.
• Adaptive Development
Cost-conscious investment in public transportation, biodiversity, city infrastructures and healthier health care will manifest more efficiently functioning communities with increasingly dynamic economies. Details
• Smaller Cities with Improved Urban Living
Cities of the future will be smaller and better connected so their inhabitants enjoy higher productivity with improved personal time alongside lower energy and health care costs. Details
• Smarter Cities
City planning, urban architecture, personal spaces and lifestyle quality will improve through increasing collaboration among human behaviorists, scientists and future residents. Details
• Greener Products
Consumers increasingly seek environmentally respectful products, containers, manufacturing processes and services, reducing landfills. Details
• Educating Healthier Generations
The financing of updated educational programs will reduce self-defeating behaviors resulting in compromised health, poor nutrition and poverty. Details
• Enabling Healthy Lifestyles
Businesses providing healthy products and services will increase in demand as education empowers people to understand the bigger picture to self and society. Details
• Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) Mitigation
Mobile social networks are enabling people in remote locations to access health care while collecting data to prevent future illness. Details
• Early Warning Weather Forecasting
As weather continues shifting in unprecedented ways and strengths, there will be an increasing need to forecast large-scale events and subsequent results. Details
• Sensibly Regulated Energy
Transitions to cleaner, less environmentally damaging energy sources will curb our fossil fuel carbon footprint, while creating a healthier environment. Details
• Independent Energy
Off-grid power technologies, such as solar, are increasing in consumer popularity each year as large, less efficient utility companies lose favor. Details
• Resilience Investing
People, communities and entire societies will benefit from investments in weather-resistant and earthquake-reinforced infrastructures. Details
• Improved Rural Living
Better living conditions far away from urban areas will curb poverty while incentivizing residents to stay, rather than overpopulate cities. Details
• Water-Friendly Agriculture
Irrigation and distribution technologies will monitor regional weather to reduce evaporation while determining specific crop hydration requirements. Details
• Making Fresh Water
New processes of creating fresh water will develop as water replaces oil as a precious, life-sustaining global resource. Details
• Water Regulation Reform
Today’s restrictive water regulation policies will give way to smarter residential and industrial allocation, usage, products and services. Details
Source: Global Opportunity Network
Lightning photograph by Stephen Scheer