Technology Foresight

Innovaro Technology Foresight

Understanding the changing technology landscape is a growing challenge for busy professionals.

For over 10 years*, Innovaro Technology Foresight has tracked dozens of scientific and technological fields—and examined topics that range from genetics to emerging applications in social networking. 

Technology Foresight Features

The pace of technology change is relentless, and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. But Technology Foresight is there to help busy professionals understand the changing technology landscape.

We track dozens of scientific and technological fields—from information and communication technology to material science…from nutrition to neuroscience. Our team identifies and analyzes authoritative global forecasts about technological change, and we also craft our own point-of-view briefs on important emerging technologies. Both of these methods allow us to deliver insights about how changes in technology will shape the future business environment, making Innovaro Technology Foresight the perfect resource for professionals who need to get beyond the churn of daily tech headlines and view technology from a strategic point of view.

And as in all of our work, our end goal is to focus on what the changing technology landscape will mean for your business.

Recently, our team has examined the business implications of questions like:

  • How will synthetic biology impact the pharmaceutical and chemical industries?
  • What are the benefits and challenges of future clean coal technologies?
  • What new innovations will emerge in the next decade to improve food tracking, contaminant detection, and food purification?
  • What will virtual worlds like Second Life mean for businesses? What interface technologies will people use to interact with virtual worlds in the future?
  • Will freshwater resources be squeezed to the point of sparking "water wars"?

 

Even though we look 5, 10, or 15 years into the future to answer these kinds of questions, we know you need to make decisions now. That's why our analysts focus on the current implications of potential technological changes in Technology Foresight.

The Future of Work
Technology is driving fundamental changes in the world of work. This brief draws upon the output of a multiday brainstorming session with technology and business experts held by the Aspen Institute’s Communications and Society Program to examine shifting workplace dynamics, organizational structure, employee management and training, and other areas of work.

The Post-PC World
For years now, functions once the purview of PCs have been migrating to other devices— gaming consoles, mobile phones, televisions, household appliances, etc. This migration of PC capabilities, most recently to smartphones and tablet computers, is giving rise to a new era of computing and technology that has been dubbed the “post-PC” world. This brief examines some of the drivers behind this shift, and possible outcomes arising from it.

Onshoring
US manufacturers have been offshoring production for decades. Now, though, companies are starting to realize that material factors are changing that will drastically reshape the cost-benefit calculation that previously has driven offshore manufacturing of goods for US consumption. This brief explores the drivers of onshoring, the sectors most likely to be affected by this trend, and the outcomes and business implications of US multinationals shifting production back to the US.

China and India, 2025
China and India, 2025, a 2011 report by the RAND Corporation, lays out scenarios for how China and India will compare economically, scientifically, demographically, and in the defense realm. This Technology Foresight brief examines the forecasts made in the report and discusses the implications of these potential changes for business.