Chapter 7:
Innovation: The Future

Predicting the future of innovation is like predicting the future itself—it is difficult and fraught with all sorts of discontinuities. Discontinuities such as 9/11, Katrina, the faltering of the banking system, or the bankruptcy of Iceland tend to throw events in different directions. Some trends, however, seem to be in place.

Smaller. Nanotechnology advances will produce many innovations smaller in size than predecessors. Entire newspapers will be printed on sheets of plastic only to be replaced with the next days’ varieties. A small portable chip will carry all of our medical information.

Biomedical breakthroughs. The medical products industry will develop more devices and medications geared to prolonging and improving life.

Green. Environmental degradation plus resource scarcity will necessitate that occupants of the planet be more efficient in using resources. Necessity and tax breaks will bring about a flowering of green products and processes.

Prosuming co-creation. Increased communication technology will foster a blurring of the lines between supplier, company, and customer. Consumers and suppliers will take on co-creation roles in supply-chain innovations.

Communication. Faster and faster communication and social networking tools will become available as the Millennial generation, dragging the other generations with it, will insist on 24/7 connectivity. The backlash from this—people becoming less savvy about face-to-face communication—will spawn another soft skills industry bent on helping with old-fashioned communication.

Retro. In a backlash against an individualistic, fast-paced, virtual communication-based society, innovations in living styles and situations will create community-based living projects. Participants will share resources from cars to bikes to lawn mowers to physical space. Residents in these living situations will learn to live together and make a smaller carbon footprint on the planet.