A Brief Description of the Megatrends
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FutureChallenges is NOT focussing on SINGLE megatrends. It is designed to explore and discuss CORRELATIONS and CROSSLINKS between various trends. Nevertheless it might be helpfull to explain on a very basic level, about which trends we are talking here and how they might connect and link. Clicking on the trends will lead you to a more detailed description.
Please understand the pages as an ongoing process ... and feel free to add your thoughts and proposals!
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| Climate Change ... refers to the permanent changes in the atmosphere over a longer period of time. Although there have been changes in the earth's climate for millions of years, global warming in the 20th century must be predominantly attributed to human activity. |
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| Demographic Change ... describes changes to the size and structure of a country's population through rises and falls in the birth rate andmortality rate as well as by migratory movements of people. |
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| Education Our dominant model of education is a broken system based on antiquated beliefs. It was built for the industrial age in the 19th century and
no longer suits our needs. To take on today's and future challenges we need not only to reform this old model, but to revolutionize it. |
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| Globalization Economic globalization basically describes the increasingly tight knit economic interdependence of all states with escalating exchange of goods, services, capital, technologies and workers. Globalization has accelerated enormously in recent decades. |
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| Health Medical technology is advancing rapidly. Through medical technology many treatments and diagnostics are available that people some 100 years ago could never have imagined. Making medical technology affordable for developing countries, and stimulating the development of medical technology relevant for the health problems of poor countries still remains a great challenge. |
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| Migration The concept of migration designates moving a person's domicile within one country or over a country's borders permanently or temporarily. The reasons for migration can be of an economic, political, cultural or social nature.
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| Natural Resources and Biodiversity Biodiversity describes the totality of living organisms which can be measured by the number of species of animals, plants andmicroorganisms living in a particular region. Natural resources are raw materials provided by nature. People can mine but cannot manufacture them. This renders their sustainable use imperative. |
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| New Governance Broadly speaking, governance includes all forms of coordination among individual and collective players. Todays governance always functions in a globalized multilevel system among state and non-state actors.
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| Security and Anti-Terror Policy War and conflict have always been defining moments not just forinternational politics, but also for nation states. The global security architecture of the future must take account of new kinds of (international) threats such as cyber-terrorism, chemical-terrorism andbio-terrorism. |
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| Technology Today's technology enables us to connect in real time from almost anywhere. Instantly, at the touch of our fingers. It has a
transformative impact on the way we live, work and communicate. And will change our culture. Just like TV did.
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