ARCTIC OPPORTUNITIESThe Arctic has been warming twice as fast as the global average, and a new low was set for Arctic sea ice last year. Although the environmental concerns in the region are mounting, economic opportunities have also ramped up. Dennis D. Draeger, Researcher, Aiglatson Foresight Research
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The Future of WorkThe dynamics of work and the workforce are experiencing change; the combined impact which will be significant for all organisations, whatever their size, sector or market. This report is an in-depth compilation and analysis of the long term workforce trends affecting organisations’ profitability and ability to compete across the globe. Click here for more information. |
SELECTED INSIGHTS |
WHAT IS CHANGING? |
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? |
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European initiative on smart cities
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This Initiative will support cities and regions in taking ambitious and pioneering measures to progress by 2020 towards a 40% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions through sustainable use and production of energy, with take up by 5% of the European Union population. | Smart cities need an integrated approach and the amount of investment needs best practice – the EU initiative aims to promote both. It is a wide ranging initiative covering buildings, energy networks and transport. | |||
Japan to start building world’s biggest offshore wind farm this summer
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Japan is to start building its ambitious wind farm project off the Fukushima coast in July. The farm is expected to become the world’s largest once completed in 2020. The power-generating facility will be built 16 kilometers off the coast of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which was critically damaged by an earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. | The 143 wind turbines, which are to be 200 meters in height, will be built on buoyant steel frames stabilized with ballast and anchored to the continental shelf. Once completed in 2020, the project will generate 1 gigawatt of renewable electrical power. | |||
Is income inequality biggest global risk?
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Severe income inequality is the biggest risk facing the world, according to a study by the World Economic Forum. In a landscape of 50 global risks facing the world over the next 10 years, respondents rated severe income inequality as the most likely global risk. | Income inequities will increase the Gini coefficient in countries that have been low for more than half a century. Mass migration, popular uprising and social decline could follow. Unemployment and inequities could be expected to slant against the younger generations, fueling intergenerational conflicts. | |||
China demands all new homes install fiber optic networks
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Technology Trend – Few cities can boast high-speed fiber optic connections, but in China, it’s either fiber or bust. According to a new report from the state-run paper China Daily, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is ordering all newly built residences to install fiber optic connections in any city or county “where a public fiber optic telecom network is available.” | According to the China Daily report, the Chinese government hopes to have “40 million families connected to fiber networks by 2015,” which is almost one-third of the country’s entire population. Integrating technological improvements in property construction will accelerate consumer usage of various services and applications. | |||
Germany repatriating gold From NY, Paris ‘In case of a currency crisis’
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Global Trend – Germany’s central bank announced it will repatriate gold reserves held at the New York Fed and the Banque de France in order to have “the ability to exchange gold for foreign currency … | Germany’s gold repatriation raises questions as to their belief in both the strength of the global economy and the European Monetary Union, and their trust of fellow central banks. It also suggests the Bundesbank, with a reputation for independence, has felt the pressure of the public, and federal audits. | |||
America’s first bookless public lLibrary will look ‘like an Apple store’
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Bexar County, Texas says that it will open the first 100 percent digital public library system in the country, unveiling plans for its first location this past week | Academic libraries have been moving toward digital systems for years now, but public libraries, which depend on public funding, have struggled to keep up with changing technologies. Several other cities have announced — and then aborted — plans to go fully digital. Still, the potential cost-savings for digital-only libraries in the long run should see more cities following suit in the future | |||
Australia most generous country
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Australia is the most generous country on earth, according to a new global index of giving. The World Giving Index 2012, compiled by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), an international charity which promotes charitable giving via companies and individuals, found Australia topped the 2012 table, and also headed a new five year index which looks at giving between 2007 and 2011. | The report shows, trends in worldwide giving appear to mirror those in the global economy, and we are now experiencing a double dip in giving. This could be anticipated to continue until global economies improve, but will vary by region. With public funding stretched, a fall in charitable giving creates added social pressures. | |||
Paying with plastic: not just for credit cards
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Thirty-some countries now use polymer banknotes | The plastic substrate not only allows the bill to last 2.5 times longer than traditional paper bills, but when it is done serving its time as a banknote it can be recycled | |||
One Per Cent: Graphic in-car crash warnings to slow speeding drivers
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“You would die if you crashed right now.” Would such a warning make you take your foot off the accelerator? That’s the idea behind a scheme to warn drivers of the consequences of speeding developed by engineers at Japan’s Fukuoka Institute of Technology and heavy goods vehicle maker UD Trucks | The inventors hope this kind of in-car advice will promote safety more forcefully than current warning systems, which merely display the distance to the vehicle in front | |||
How emerging technology fights fraud in the call center
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To battle fraudulent attacks on call centers, enterprises and IT outsourcing service providers are looking to technologies like voice biometrics and behavioral analytics | Some enterprises will want to move their call centers closer and tighten controls and limit what is outsourced. But others are looking for third-parties who can provide the kind of security services they cannot do themselves. | |||
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