consultaglobal

“The goal of forecasting is not to predict the future…

…but to tell you what you need to know to take meaningful action in the present”.

Paul Saffo, HBR July-August 2007

Wealth Year 2015:

Worldmapper is a collection of world maps, territories are re-sized on each map according to the subject of interest, “wealth” in this case. Territory size shows the proportion of worldwide Gross Domestic Product measured in US$ equalized for purchasing power parity in 2015.

Population Year 2015:

When comparing the above two pictures it is hard to miss the fact that some of the most populated areas might not benefit from the world’s economic growth. Alliance2015 is a partnership of six European non-government organizations working in the field of development cooperation.

Founded in 2000, the purpose of the Alliance is to fight poverty more effectively by cooperating on various levels, managing campaigns to rise awareness and to influence public and political opinion in Europe. This supports Millennium Development Goals:

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.
2. Achieve universal primary education.
3. Promote gender equality and empower women.
4. Reduce child mortality.
5. Improve maternal health.
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.
7. Ensure environmental sustainability.

2015 has become the next immediate horizon for corporations and governments alike. As an example, Singapore’s iN2015, Intelligent Nation 2015, articulate’s the country’s willingness to become a global city with an enviable synthesis of technology, infrastructure, enterprise and manpower; “it is the new freedom to connect, innovate, personalize and create“. This plan involves both private and public investments to ensure Singapore a leading role in innovation.

The forecasters and marketers working for Singapore’s IDA have created three distinctive personas who are easy to relate with: David is a student, Nancy a entrepreneur and Toby and expatriate. Let’s have a quick look at Nancy’s storyboard as seen in iN2015’s website:

5:30am - Panoramic projection technology creates a unique ambience in Nancy’s bedroom by the time she wakes up, that morning starts with a calming sun rise at the beach.

6:05am - Nancy’s PDA has updated her schedule for the day while playing Beethoven’s Fur Elise, which also helps her remain calm while checking the latest on her personal finances.

6:45am - Family breakfast with her two kids. In the meantime, her avatar is already working around the clock, sharing available info with her peers in advance to her going to the office.

10:20am - Nancy is now in the office working with her team on a rich multimedia presentation to be delivered to a customer in the afternoon. Everything they need to get the job done is available online.

11:45am - During the lunch break, Nancy shows up at a store where the retailer immediately presents her with a menu of personalized products just for her. Her avatar is the one trying out the clothing until Nancy sees what she likes (instead of having to spent time in front of the mirror putting on all the clothes on to figure out if they fit).

01:25pm -Nancy is hosting a collaborative session leveraging 3D video conferencing.

04:00pm - Doctor’s appointment, her physician is also using video conferencing to engage a specialist in real time, being able to share medical charts in direct consultation with Nancy in real time.  

In addition to this “make believe exercise” portraying 2015, Singapore’s IDA provides a wide range of downloadable white papers and reports which aim to create 80,000 new jobs in the high-tech and information industries.

“In time to come, Singapore should aim to nurture its own Larry Page and Segey Brin, whose Internet search engine is making googling the norm; and Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis who created the billion dollar Internet telephony company Skype”.

“Drive the future. Be a player. Go Infocomm”, a report by the iN2015 Infocomm Competency Council.

Speaking of information technologies, Compenion is the laptop from 2015. This concept laptop was designed by Felix Schmidberger, featuring an OLED touchscreen, which doubles as both monitor and keyboard. The thinking is that Compenion will adapt to the environment where you’re using it: the home dock might have a projector for viewing movies, while some other peripherals will be leveraged in office environments.

“The computer as we know it today will be an anachronism, a device consigned to museums, dumpsters and garages”.

“Instead, according to Gartner analysts, the digital information and services once delivered via conventional computers will be available through almost everything we touch-—kiosks, airplane seats, newspapers and a broad array of new devices”.

Dan Faber’s “In 2015: sensors everywhere, computers invisible”.

“Future Worker 2015 will individualize his or her work environment by assembling personally selected tools, information and learning resources, and by tapping into wide-ranging social networks to enhance performance, productivity and trust”.

Diane Morello and Betsy Burton of Garter

EPIC 2015 by Robin Sloan and Matt Thompson delivers an interesting and engaging visual narrative. Have a look at this video:

Note that ”Museum of Media History” is a fictional entity. This Internet film explores the implications of Web 2.0 services such as news aggregators like Google News and Newsbot as well as blogging, social networking and user generated content by 2015. Robin and Matt popularized the term Googlezon portraying the bright and the dark side of converging technologies as a cautionary tale.

Speaking of museums, as a side note, the next large-scale exposition after Shanghai’s Expo 2010 would be held in 2015. Two cities met the deadline to bid for Expo 2015: Izmir, Turkey and Milan, Italy.

Nokia collaborated with Industrial Design students from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London to come up with product concepts forecasting how people will use mobile technologies in 2015.

1 & 2 Ik-Soo Shin: “The aim was a user friendly product that gave an emotional relationship, like a friend. A new generation of mobiles with Artificial Intelligence will be able to express a user’s feelings, such as anger. The phone will also automatically recognize the voice of the user, allowing communication between them and their mobile”.

3 - Hannah Nuttal: “This phone is for those who do a blog and provides a fast, easy and more advanced blogging device. The phone has four layers, allowing for a multitude of functions and different methods of use. It can also be treated like a photo album, with images easily retreived, tagged and published on the blog”.

4 - Daniel Meyer: “The device was inspired both by the advent of video calling and the traditional practice of carrying pictures of family and friends with you. The handset is designed to sit as a picture frame wherever the user is, serving the dual purpose of communications device and a comforting familiar focal point at home, at work or when away”.

5 - Will Gurley: “Design your own phone. This is about stripping away technology and making your mobile phone more personal. You can chose a clear perspex case and put in it items that are individual and personal. Alternatively, you can buy attachments that say something about you, like a harmonica or a chess game”.

6 - Nicola Reed: “It aims to get people to be more green. It collects information on how much electricity and gas you use, how you get about, the type of products you buy and how you dispose of waste. It works on a reward system and you can earn free calls and texts by being environmentally friendly, like walking to work instead of driving”.

7 - Kimberly Hu: “The device works with the sense of smell, sight, hearing and touch. The user experiences communication on a multi-sensory level. It can detect, transmit and emit smell. It can also radiate colours, light and temperature from a caller’s environment”.

8 - Sung-Joo Kim: “People constantly upgrade mobiles and discard their old ones. In the future new mobiles will have to exist alongside older models that have become redundant in their primary role. This project proposes an afterlife for them, using secondary functions like the camera. This model allows old phones to become part of a CCTV network”.

9 -Jack Godfrey Wood: “Small, representational beads are exchanged instead of numbers. These are threaded on a necklace and to make a call you squeeze the bead of the person you want to call. Their bead will glow or vibrate. The electronics are in the clasp of the necklace, a microphone is worn as a ring and there’s a wireless earpiece”.

(In case you missed this other blog, click here see what the mobile phone will become…)

Hope this blog was of interest to you. Please let me know if you have come across other visions involving high-tech products for 2015. I will appreciate your leaving a comment below or sending me an email. Thanks!

José de Francisco Lopez Chicago, 22 July 07

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This blog’s Long Tail:

• Nokia’s design research for everyone
• Ergofuturo: Project Cosm
• Innovation and boundariless design
• QoE - immersive scenarios and experiential marketing
• QoE - defining and studying personas
• 3G-4G LivingLab
• PC Phones
• Mobile phone concepts
• Augmented reality, now mobile
• Innovative mobile phones: objects of desire
• Siggraph 2007
• Philip’s simplicity led designs
• Microsoft’s Innovation Day (and Microsoft’s Robit)
• IBM: 5 innovations for the next 5 years
• Minority Report’s GUI
• Sci-Fi based scenarios
• Toyota’s personal mobility
• NextFest
• Ergotrans
• Google & BMW
• Visual Futurist
• Design concepts: future cars
• Next gen Prius
• Audi Design Foundation
• CNN’s Future Summit
• Microsoft’s Innovation Day (and Microsoft’s Robit)

References and picture credits:

• Intel: Microprocessor architecture in 2015
• In 2015: sensors everywhere, computers invisible
• Compenion: The laptop from 2015
• BBC’s In Pictures: the future of mobile
• IBM healthcare 2015
• Museum of Media History - Robin Sloan
• Robots in 2015
• The search engine scene in 2015
• Gartner: Future Worker 2015: Extreme Individualization
• Defining the designer of 2015
• Dow’s 2015 sustainability goals
• ExpoMuseum 2015
• Worldmapper: wealth year 2015
• IN2015
• Vision 2015 Delaware
• New York State: Project 2015
• West Virginia 2015 Vision
• United Nations: Capacity 2015
• FAO’s World Agriculture 2015-2030
• ESA’s Cosmic Vision: 2015-2025
• National Intelligence Council: global trends 2015
• BBC World Service: 2015 Where will we be?
• Nationmaster’s figured for 2015 population
• Greenlight 2015

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