The New Language of Innovation

Fellow blogger Derek Cheshire has some interesting things to say about innovation:

'As innovation changes from a hard to a softer kind of process, so the language must change to reflect this. Below are a list of terms that we commonly use in our project teams or businesses together with a new vocabulary that we should all be coming to terms with.'

Read his full article here or see all his blogs here

Energy technology scenarios and strategies for a more secure and sustainable energy future

On 22 June the International Energy Agency (IEA) presented the key findings of a new publication: 'Energy Technology Perspectives: Scenarios and Strategies to 2050'. “A sustainable energy future is possible, but only if we act urgently and decisively to promote, develop and deploy a full mix of energy technologies – including improved energy efficiency, CO2 capture and storage (CCS), renewables and -- where acceptable -- nuclear energy. We have the means, now we need the will”, Mr Mandil, IEA Executive Director, said.

For more details, see my Energy blog.

BT's insights into the future

Although dating back to last August, this futures work from BT is still challenging.

BT's futurology department has developed a technology timeline featuring the technological advances that are likely to affect our lives to 2050 and beyond. It covers all areas of life influenced by technology developments including artificial intelligence, health and medical, business and education, demographics, energy, robotics, space, telecommunications and transport and travel.

It predicts that, by 2012, children could be entertained by video tiles in the bath before sitting in a playroom with wallpaper that changes to promote energy, happiness or calm, and interacting with toys that respond to their voices with matching emotions.

As beaches become more crowded and quiet corners become harder to find, BT predicts we could be holidaying somewhere above the earth's surface by 2017. By 2040, the timeline predicts we could get a space elevator to take us up to a moon village that will have developed by then.

The purpose of the timeline is to help organisations to design technology and products with future customers in mind, with a vision of the kind of environment they will be living in. For example, looking at the future of education or lifestyles, for example, will impact the way BT enhances and develops its broadband network.

For an interactive version of the BT 2005 technology timeline.

For a static version of the BT 2005 technology timeline

For full details, dates and predictions to accompany the BT 2005 technology timeline.

The urban world in 2050

Thousands of experts, politicians, slum-dwellers and activists are meeting in Vancouver hoping to plan a way forward for the world's growing cities. The World Urban Forum will discuss ways to make city life sustainable against a backdrop of rising urban populations.

The world is fast approaching the point where the majority of the human population will be found in urban areas - the United Nations estimates suggest more than half of the world's people will live in urban areas by the end of 2007. Projections suggest that, in 50 years' time, two-thirds of humanity will live in cities.

Six experts outline their vision of the urban world in 2050:

"I would like to see cities that restored a more intimate relationship with the environment"
Hank Dittmar, Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment

"We're going to see a lot more of what I call 'post-modern urbanisation'"
Michael Dear, author of The Post-modern Urban Condition

"By 2050 in the developed world, energy sustainability will have become a very big deal"
Professor Nigel Thrift, author of Cities: Reimagining the Urban

"The more we rely on advanced technologies, the more cities seem to grow"
Stephen Graham, human geographer and author of The Cybercities Reader

"An urban nightmare in less than 50 years' time is certainly what will engulf us on current trends"
Walden Bello, director of Focus on the Global South

"What we are going to see is the reinvention of the notion of the political"
Saskia Sassen, author of Territory, Authority and Rights: from Medieval to Global

From the BBC