The world is changing in all senses, and many planners try to analyze how it currently works. Here is a summary of the last trends from globaltrends.com.

Mobility. Companies in emerging economies are ahead, benefiting from faster knowledge flows to rapidly catch the leaders in many industries. Infos can be disseminated in minutes with a “tweet”. Time is being compressed. New ways of communicating are appearing constantly, as the “new sound of anti-government protest”, the first organized synchronized mobile phone alarms, in Minsk, Belarus, in july. Young flash mob groups converge on the streets, then at the appointed time their mobile phone alarms sound simultaneously.

Communities of social networks and buying groups are changing how we interact and behave. Trust and dialogue are critical to building relationships with these communities – innovations, co-creating with consumers. Consumers want more involvement and personalization, wants it all anywhere, anytime.

Critical resources. By 2030, the water gap could be as much as 40% between demand and supply. Geopolitical and social tensions may rise, along with negative economic impact.

Global race for technology. China is actively pursuing clean technologies. India is building global nuclear power knowledge. In 2010, China’s economy surpassed that of Japan to become the world’s second largest. India is forecast to be the fifth largest consumer economy by 2025. Companies need to start looking to the next tier of attractive future markets: Indonesia, Mexico, Turkey, Iran, South Korea, Egypt, South Africa, Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Argentina.
 
Not only one financial power. The influence of the US, Japan and Europe is likely to decline under the burden of national debts, driving more internal focus and reducing their ability to fund international projects of all types whether aid, military or scientific. Value spaces are defined by consumers, not firms.

Four distinct generations. For the first time, 4 distinct generations are present in the workforce in many developed countries. The resulting differences in generational ambitions, attitudes, technology skills and ethics are impacting management styles, how work is done and the ability to attract talent.

Globalization in the same time than fragmentation. Globalization continues, but there is also an opposing trend towards fragmentation – tribalism, nationalism.

But in Belgium, nothing is moving so fast, so we can easily follow the trends.