Session 10:

The session started with two interesting quotes and videos. The video on Microsoft was very exciting. It shows what Microsoft has been working towards and the future that we see in the video is imaginable. It is interesting how people from all over the world will be able to contact and communicate with each other even if they have language barriers. Furthermore, the use of technology for communication for business as well as on newspaper is inspiring. With newspaper being digital but still in the shape of a printed one, we can have the same feeling of reading a newspaper. Furthermore, the usage of augmented reality in the study of plants will be very useful for all researchers too!

With that we were shown two more quotes:

1.      “Look before, or you'll find yourself behind”

Benjamin Franklin

It is very true in this modern society. We have to be aware of the things around us because they are changing constantly. And if we do not adapt to them by not knowing about them then we will find ourselves behind others.

2.      “The empires of the future are the empires of the mind.”

- Winston Churchill –

This quote for me means that when we are able to think and imagine, we can make it happen. If we do not imagine it, we cannot make it happen. Hence, we have to know what our mind is wondering!

We then watched the video of Top 3 Inventions of the future. First invention was Nokia Morph whereby the Nokia cell phone can be converted from a big keypad to a wrist watch to a headset to a mobile phone. That is something I would very much love to own! Next was the Google Earth as seen in 2020. This invention is actually present now which shows that we are ahead of the “schedule” predicted by the people in the past. The number 1 invention was the salt-water fuel. If salt-water can indeed be used as fuel for industry purposes as well as for vehicles, there is a high possibility that oil era will soon come to an end!

Another interesting part of this session was the “Tracking the Future – Global Trends” video. This video showed an interesting view of the future as well as future is an abbreviation to what for the speaker.

F – Fast

U – Urban

T – Tribal

U – Universal

R – Radical

E – Ethics

The speaker talks about how there will be rise in power in non-western societies and how ethics in business namely Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) will play a huge role in the future.

Then we discussed some commonly used foresights methods by companies. I agree with the Prof when he says that forecasting using past/historical data is not a very good strategy. This is because, the world is now continuously changing and hence, it is no point to keep predicting what will happen based on past. It is rather more effective if we are able to think what will be needed in the future and hence predict what will happen according to this.  

Being the last “lecture” for the seminar, I liked that we ended on the note whereby we discussed issues of how to forecast. I would rate this session 8/10.