Father of the Internet

Vint Cerf Father of the Internet Vint Cerf designed the Internet almost 40 years ago. Today his business cards say Chief Internet Evangelist at Google. In 2020 Shaping ideas he talks about a future where computers and electronics are becoming even more intelligent. And the mobile phone, he predicts, will be our companion rather than just a device.
Vint Cerf designed the Internet almost 40 years ago. Today his business cards say Chief Internet Evangelist at Google. In 2020 Shaping ideas he talks about a future where computers and electronics are becoming even more intelligent. And the mobile phone, he predicts, will be our companion rather than just a device.

Vint Cerf

Fighting Poverty with Connectivity

Jeffrey Sachs Fighting Poverty with Connectivity Jeffrey Sachs explains in Ericsson 2020 Shaping Ideas how mobile phones are decreasing economic isolation in Africa, and why we could be halfway to achieving an important goal in 2020: the end of extreme poverty.
Jeffrey Sachs explains in Ericsson 2020 Shaping Ideas how mobile phones are decreasing economic isolation in Africa, and why we could be halfway to achieving an important goal in 2020: the end of extreme poverty.

Jeffrey Sachs

Our world: transform or collapse?

Will Steffen Our world: transform or collapse? Will steffen talks in Ericsson 2020 Shaping Ideas about a critical point in history. The next ten years will decide if our society can transform into a sustainable one, or if it will follow the way of the Roman and Mayan civilizations, and simply collapse.
Will steffen talks in Ericsson 2020 Shaping Ideas about a critical point in history. The next ten years will decide if our society can transform into a sustainable one, or if it will follow the way of the Roman and Mayan civilizations, and simply collapse.

Will Steffen

Learning by doing, not by listening

JP Rangaswami Learning by doing, not by listening JP Rangaswami is chairman of the social enterprise School of Everything. He thinks the educational institutions of the past have overlooked our human urge to feel free and to participate. In social networks and the open source movement he sees the potential for a whole new approach to learning.
JP Rangaswami is chairman of the social enterprise School of Everything. He thinks the educational institutions of the past have overlooked our human urge to feel free and to participate. In social networks and the open source movement he sees the potential for a whole new approach to learning.

JP Rangaswami

Twenty Four Seven Connected

Ian Pearson Twenty Four Seven Connected Futurist Ian Pearson talks in Ericsson 2020 Shaping Ideas about how new technologies, such as devices that talk to each other, artificial intelligence that tells us what to do and high-speed connections available in any place at any time, will make our lives easier in 2020. But as we solve old problems, we create new ones.
Futurist Ian Pearson talks in Ericsson 2020 Shaping Ideas about how new technologies, such as devices that talk to each other, artificial intelligence that tells us what to do and high-speed connections available in any place at any time, will make our lives easier in 2020. But as we solve old problems, we create new ones.

Ian Pearson

From pyramids to bird's nests

Charles Leadbeater From pyramids to bird's nests According to Charles Leadbeater, author of We-think, in Ericsson 2020 Shaping Ideas the web has created enterprises that lack traditional hierarchy and let consumers take active part in innovation. These organizations resemble bird's nests rather than top to bottom pyramids.
According to Charles Leadbeater, author of We-think, in Ericsson 2020 Shaping Ideas the web has created enterprises that lack traditional hierarchy and let consumers take active part in innovation. These organizations resemble bird's nests rather than top to bottom pyramids.

Charles Leadbeater

Music like water

Gerd Leonhard Music like water Music used to be a product that we bought piece by piece. Now it is becoming a public utility, says media futurist Gerd Leonhard, who argues that we will soon be constantly connected to an infinite library of songs. And when music is like water or electricity, our friends become the new music critics.
Music used to be a product that we bought piece by piece. Now it is becoming a public utility, says media futurist Gerd Leonhard, who argues that we will soon be constantly connected to an infinite library of songs. And when music is like water or electricity, our friends become the new music critics.

Gerd Leonhard

Golden Age or Another Crisis?

Carlota Perez Golden Age or Another Crisis? Carlota Perez. By 2020, our world could be in the middle of a sustainable golden age, but it depends on how we handle the current recession. Carlota Perez, professor of technology and socio-economic development at the Technological University of Tallinn, explains how the global economy depends on technological advances.
Carlota Perez. By 2020, our world could be in the middle of a sustainable golden age, but it depends on how we handle the current recession. Carlota Perez, professor of technology and socio-economic development at the Technological University of Tallinn, explains how the global economy depends on technological advances.

Carlota Perez

The power of collaboration

Michael Dell The power of collaboration As teenagers, Dell Inc founder and CEO Michael Dell and his computer-minded friends spent all their time on an electronic bulletin board - sharing information, collaborating and exchanging ideas. Since then, their ideals have been adopted by a whole generation. And when you collaborate, anything is possible.
As teenagers, Dell Inc founder and CEO Michael Dell and his computer-minded friends spent all their time on an electronic bulletin board - sharing information, collaborating and exchanging ideas. Since then, their ideals have been adopted by a whole generation. And when you collaborate, anything is possible.

Michael Dell

New demands on the telecoms industry

Johan Bergendahl New demands on the telecoms industry Johan Bergendahl says in Ericsson 2020 Shaping Ideas the telecom industry has to take a bigger role in driving the future. Without connectivity, the world would stop.
Johan Bergendahl says in Ericsson 2020 Shaping Ideas the telecom industry has to take a bigger role in driving the future. Without connectivity, the world would stop.

Johan Bergendahl

Growing up Digital

Don Tapscott Growing up Digital Don Tapscott, author of Wikinomics, describes in Ericsson 2020 Shaping Ideas today's young people as the smartest generation ever. He claims that adolescents, who have grown up with the Internet, are not only more used to handling digital technology, but their brains are actually different.
Don Tapscott, author of Wikinomics, describes in Ericsson 2020 Shaping Ideas today's young people as the smartest generation ever. He claims that adolescents, who have grown up with the Internet, are not only more used to handling digital technology, but their brains are actually different.

Don Tapscott

See yourself in the news

Arianna Huffington See yourself in the news Traditional media outlets suffer from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Online journalism, on the other hand, has a case of obsessive-compulsive disorder. So says Arianna Huffington, editor-in-chief and co-founder of the news website The Huffington Post. She sees a media landscape where self-expression has replaced entertainment and where readers want to be part of the news stories themselves, rather than simply read about them.
Traditional media outlets suffer from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Online journalism, on the other hand, has a case of obsessive-compulsive disorder. So says Arianna Huffington, editor-in-chief and co-founder of the news website The Huffington Post. She sees a media landscape where self-expression has replaced entertainment and where readers want to be part of the news stories themselves, rather than simply read about them.

Arianna Huffington

Download, Adjust, Print!

Adrian Bowyer Download, Adjust, Print! Adrian Bowyer. What if you could download physical objects? Now you can. The Rep Rap machine is a 3D printer that can create a wide range of things, perhaps most remarkably, another Rep Rap machine. The inventor, Adrian Bowyer, believes that 3D printing can revolutionize the manufacturing industry.
Adrian Bowyer. What if you could download physical objects? Now you can. The Rep Rap machine is a 3D printer that can create a wide range of things, perhaps most remarkably, another Rep Rap machine. The inventor, Adrian Bowyer, believes that 3D printing can revolutionize the manufacturing industry.

Adrian Bowyer

Creative minds flourishing

Brenda Walker Creative minds flourishing Adrian Bowyer. What if you could download physical objects? Now you can. The Rep Rap machine is a 3D printer that can create a wide range of things, perhaps most remarkably, another Rep Rap machine. The inventor, Adrian Bowyer, believes that 3D printing can revolutionize the manufacturing industry.
Adrian Bowyer. What if you could download physical objects? Now you can. The Rep Rap machine is a 3D printer that can create a wide range of things, perhaps most remarkably, another Rep Rap machine. The inventor, Adrian Bowyer, believes that 3D printing can revolutionize the manufacturing industry.

Brenda Walker

A new era of advertising

Jeffrey Cole A new era of advertising Jeffrey Cole claims in Ericsson 2020 Shaping Ideas that in the near future, most digital content will be free. Who will pay for it? The advertisers will.
Jeffrey Cole claims in Ericsson 2020 Shaping Ideas that in the near future, most digital content will be free. Who will pay for it? The advertisers will.

Jeffrey Cole

Change and humility in politics

George Yeo Change and humility in politics Singapore's foreign minister George Yeo says in Ericsson 2020 Shaping Ideas that it was largely technology that brought down The Soviet Union. During his over 20 years as a Minister he has witnessed The Cold War end, Asia emerge and the political power become diffused.
Singapore's foreign minister George Yeo says in Ericsson 2020 Shaping Ideas that it was largely technology that brought down The Soviet Union. During his over 20 years as a Minister he has witnessed The Cold War end, Asia emerge and the political power become diffused.

George Yeo

We still need handshakes

Patricia Mokhtarian We still need handshakes According to Patricia Moktharian in Ericsson 2020 Shaping Ideas technology makes us travel more, not less. She predicts that there will be more cars in the world by 2020.
According to Patricia Moktharian in Ericsson 2020 Shaping Ideas technology makes us travel more, not less. She predicts that there will be more cars in the world by 2020.

Patricia Mokhtarian

Ethical Business and Female Power

Anne Lise Kjaer Ethical Business and Female Power Anne Lise Kjaer predicts in Ericsson 2020 Shaping Ideas that in the future, the most successful companies will need to embrace females in their organizations. She describes the typical 21st century cooperation as less hierarchical, led in a more empathetic way and with an increased focus on ethics.
Anne Lise Kjaer predicts in Ericsson 2020 Shaping Ideas that in the future, the most successful companies will need to embrace females in their organizations. She describes the typical 21st century cooperation as less hierarchical, led in a more empathetic way and with an increased focus on ethics.

Anne Lise Kjaer

Healthcare through mobile devices

Jeff Arnold Healthcare through mobile devices Could technology revolutionize healthcare? According to Jeff Arnold, founder of the health portals Sharecare and WebMD, the medical field has huge potential for improvement. When he imagines the future interaction between a doctor and a patient, he sees a mobile device with medical applications.
Could technology revolutionize healthcare? According to Jeff Arnold, founder of the health portals Sharecare and WebMD, the medical field has huge potential for improvement. When he imagines the future interaction between a doctor and a patient, he sees a mobile device with medical applications.

Jeff Arnold

On our way to a stable world

Hans Rosling On our way to a stable world Hans Rosling crushes in Ericsson 2020 Shaping Ideas the misconception that there are two kinds of countries - rich and poor.
Hans Rosling crushes in Ericsson 2020 Shaping Ideas the misconception that there are two kinds of countries - rich and poor.

Hans Rosling


-->

Will Steffen - Our world: transform or collapse?

Will steffen talks in Ericsson 2020 Shaping Ideas about a critical point in history. The next ten years will decide if our society can transform into a sustainable one, or if it will follow the way of the Roman and Mayan civilizations, and simply collapse.

Extract from Will Steffen on Our world: transform or collapse?

Will Steffen: Will Steffen

Will Steffen: If you look back on human history and see how human societies have developed it's not a nice even curve of progress, progress, progress. It's a case of where society has developed. They hit a constraint, they hit some limits. Some of them collapse, some of them transform. But they have to change. So it's not an even history of things ever getting better. Of people always becoming wealthier the next year or always better off. Or always new things like bigger TV screens. Will Steffen doesn't think history works like that. We come to critical points in history where we transform. We do things differently. Or in deed, we collapse and there's good examples of that like the Mayans, the Romans and so on who collapsed. And things sprang up in their place. So I think we need to think of that as we go forward, will we be one of those societies that simply collapse? Which is a fairly painful way of learning how to do something new. Or will we think ahead and transform ourselves voluntarily? In a different type of society that can be sustained for the future. In the past, humans have indeed created environmental problems for themselves. But the scale has been different in the past. Humans have created problems at local scale. We now that in the past they may have overfished a lake or a river that they depended on. They may have chopped down a forest. And in the past when numbers were much smaller, we could move, and we did. We moved to a different place and set up shop and started working there and living there and so on. But now we're facing a problem that's quite different in scale. We're now effecting the entire planet. Bad as those earlier problems were, local pollution problems or local destruction of ecosystems. That didn't effect how the earth as a whole worked. Will Steffen says; we could move on, confident that the entire planet was still okay. And we had a home we could live on. Now we're actually changing the operation of the entire planet. And this is quite a different type of problem. Because it means we don't have a second chance. It means we can't move to somewhere else. Technology is critically important in the near future for reducing our impact.We have to have ways of generating electricity, moving ourselves, fishing, growing food. To the much less damage into the environment. We know how to do this in many cases. The critical part of technology too, are the institutions and economic instruments that we need to take up technology, transfer technology and so on. So this bundle of activities, of technologies themselves, the institutions and the economic instruments are critical to reduce impact over the next few decades. But by 2020 Will Steffen thinks that we will see a society that we may not be able to recognize from what we see today. Certainly we can see threads of that. We can see new energy systems, new transport systems, new ways of working and living. But I think as people go forward towards that, with the cleverness and innovation that humans have shown in the past, there will be solutions to problems that we can't imagine, even today. So I would say although we will see some threads of the future, we certainly can't foresee the whole future. And I would see an exciting time in 2020 in a world that we can't quite fathom today. But I think it will be on a positive direction and we'll be going a long way towards solving many of the problems we see today.

Will Steffen: Will Steffen

LINKS