IRI2038 Futures Study

Resource Type
Publication
Authors
Christian Crews, Dr. Ted Farrington, Lee Green
Topic
Foresight
Associated Event
Publication


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The IRI2038 Futures Study examined hundreds of trends, weak signals, and implications on its way to developing the four future scenarios reported in this book. Frequently, themes emerge across multiple scenarios, suggesting that we should pay serious attention. Here are the top ten potential future trends, signals, or themes that stood out the most, in no particular order:

  1. The Hollywood Model – With the technical workforce largely freelance 25 years from now, the job of an R&D leader will look more like that of a Hollywood producer as a new crew will need to be cast for almost any research project.
  2. MOOG’s Everywhere – Massively Open Online Games such as “The World Without Oil” and “Innovate2038” will become routine events designed to engage the entire organization’s collective intellect to solve problems of real importance.
  3. Crowdsourced Funding – Many companies will crowdsource a portion of their R&D budget and use it as a component of portfolio management.
  4. Augmented Humans – Half the resumes coming across a hiring manager’s desk may be from individuals who have done something to artificially enhance their physical or mental capability to better match the job requirements. What will be the implications for human capital management?
  5. The Era of Women – With the underrepresentation of women in some areas of science and engineering finally behind us, how will their increased presence in senior R&D roles impact the management of research and technology?
  6. Cognitive Computing – Future versions of IBM’s Watson computer will analyze all available data to answer even the most complex questions, ending data overload but ushering in the era of knowledge overload.
  7. OI Becomes a Sellers’ Market – Open Innovation (OI) will change from the current buyers’ market to a sellers’ market, with OI partners choosing with whom they work based on the organization’s reputation as a partner of choice and how easy it is to work with.
  8. Nurturing the Innovation Ecosystem – A large portion of the R&D executive’s time will be spent nurturing an innovation ecosystem made much more complex than today with new innovation entities and the freelance workforce.
  9. The End of the Patent – For many industries, speed-to-market will replace traditional intellectual property as a basis for competition.
  10. The End of the Time Zone Problem – While you are sleeping, your intelligent avatar will sit in that midnight meeting with headquarters, giving you a download the next morning.