FutureSkills and FutureTrends

It is so easy to get stuck in today and not look at tomorrow.

The reality that is unfolding around us is that of a fast globalising
world in which our daily actions are creating change on an unprecedented
scale.

There are some significant patterns of change that is emerging
globally and that will characterise how we view the future. We draw
heavily from the FastFuture – Shape of Jobs to Come Report (2010) to
share some insights of new and emerging trends that are shaping our
realities.

The key areas of change in society was analysed by drawing from the
top think thanks in the world and they are discussed below.

1. Demographic Shifts

There are no more nation states representing single cultures – so in
reality there are people from every country in every other country.
Global travel has created pockets and communities that are still fairly
nationalistic but in 2-3 generations there is a massive transformation
away from “old” cultural models to new ways of working. The official
population of Europe in 2010 was 738 million people. Africa recently
overtook Europe and stands at a population of 1022 million people. It is
a new age in which people, space and living conditions are a choice and
not only a birth right introduces new cultural and socio-economic
realities, conflicts and opportunities.

2. Economic Turbulence

Economic turbulence is here to stay. The cycles may be shorter or
longer but the reality it will not go away. The balance between
commodities, energy and consumption will go through multiple shocks and
corrections and whole economic clusters will go up or down at a
time.

3. Politics Gets Complex

In a new world – the role of the state will also change and politics
will become both more transparent and complex. SOPA, ACTA and other
legislative practices have shown that laws have a global impact and
require a global focus (and skills). Global problems also will require
global solutions – and while it was always convenient to look to the USA
for solutions – increasingly every country will play a role. Take the
recent insurance policy that had to be taken against economic collapse
where a every country had to pay in some billions in case of a future
rescue package. Really complex solutions require massive collaborations
of government, business and organisations all over the world and solve
ever-larger geopolitical problems.

4. Business 3.0 – An Expanding Agenda

We are still working through understanding new concepts such as the
cloud, big data and the post 2010 enterprise. The new business – called
Business 3.0 by some will look at the role of business in which
previously undesirable functions of state become big business.
Globalised companies and changes in revenue and earnings recognition
relative to stock markets are changing the reality of accounting,
finance and business. Large corporates have both a more social agenda,
but also increasingly an obligation to be present in the countries they
profit from – and not only the countries they are listed in.

5. Science and Technology go Mainstream

We are in an unprecedented time of knowledge sharing and innovation
with the internet having precipated a knowledge boom that allows
everyone to challenge their previously held assumptions, but also
advance at a much higher rate. Science and technology is surrounding us
all and together with aesthetics means that we are getting devices that
are more compact, function and that start taking care and empowering
people to do more.

6. People living longer

People living longer are a reality. It will challenge every model
that has ever been built on the assumption that people retire at 65. In
reality people will start hitting 150-200 within our lifetimes. This
will lead to a whole new world of service delivery, generational issues
and industries. It will also change resource consumption patterns,
wealth patterns and general approach to education, development and

7. Rethinking Talent, Education and Training

Talent is changing. It may not exist right now, or it may be sitting
in South America. Models for contributing to solutions and execution
will emerge unlike some of the early models that we have seen.
Crowdsourcing is one strategy, but when we start seeing proprietary
cloud structures emerging the possibilities become a lot more radical.
We have seen business models like Groupon, Pinterest, FormSpring and
other businesses emerging overnight and changing the way that businesses
market, consumers consume and that people work. All of a sudden the
retailer sitting at a counter is busy uploading specials into a system
and a person sitting at home is running their own reseller of products
and services.

This will fundamentally change how talent gets managed, how education
and training gets done and when and where people consume information
that is relevant to them being skilled in ever more on demand learning
styles. the institution believes that through our eLearning and mobile
offerings we will continue to provide new and innovative ways to
accelerate workforce readiness and development.

The digital divide will be more of reality than ever – with those
that can access knowledge and utilise it effectively accelerating ahead,
and those that do now – falling ever further behind.

8. Global Expansion of Electronic Media

With your mobile device you can currently control your life. This
will only get more and more advanced and ubiquitous. One device to rule
them all? Who knows – anything is possible. With nano technology
advancing and cloud computing a reality, we will also soon be able to
package nearly any level of desired functionality into any form factor.
What does this mean – don’t be surprised if you can watch TV on a cup,
take it off and stick it onto your fridge, crumple it up and put it in
your pocket and then drop it on your desk at work and start typing on
it.

9. A Society in Transition

As we are moving from one society into a new one there are many
traditional institutions that will be changing – a lot of hard questions
that will be answered by laws, big fights and global crisis and scandal.
This has and will increasingly lead to high ethical and legal standards,
a loss in faith in traditional institutions and a reshaping of a future
world of work. The information age has moved NGO’s to a new business
model often expressed as social entrepreneurship. Businesses have taken
on more social responsibility and government increasingly have to find
ways to stay out of the way of progress, rather than being the primary
movers in creating progress.

10. Natural Resource Challenges

We currently have 7 billion people. It is likely to double. This
means a couple of things. A lot more waste, a lot more production –
bigger markets and bigger challenges. Smarter materials will be required
and recycling is huge. Even as we speak there are major initiatives in
most countries to increase recycling capacities. The mines of the future
are the dumps of today.

FastFuture published a report on the jobs of the future looking at
what 2020-2030 may look like in terms of going to the office. Are you
looking forward to becoming a body part maker, or maybe an old age
wellness manager? The world of work will change and will change
dramatically in the next couple of years. (See full List of Interesting
new jobs here)

In South Africa we have an emerging view that we will become an
industrialised knowledge economy and that the future lies in building
our skills and knowledge around creating and managing innovation.

The question that needs to be posed is if we are looking forward far
enough into the skills that may be required tomorrow and starting to
build those today.

Forward-looking organisations are constantly looking at how to empower managers and
leaders of today and tomorrow to deal with this ever more complex
society.

The top 20 FutureSkills

1. Body part maker Advances in science will make it possible to
   create living body parts, so we could need living body part makers, body
   part stores and body part repair shops.

2. Nano-medic Advances in nanotechnology for creating sub-atomic
   devices and treatments could transform personal healthcare so we would
   need a new breed of nano medicine specialists to administer these
   treatments.

3. Pharmer of genetically engineered crops and livestock New-age
   farmers will grow crops and keep animals that have been genetically
   engineered to increase the amount of food they produce and to include
   proteins that are good for our health. Scientists are already working on
   a vaccine-carrying tomato and therapeutic milk from cows, sheep and
   goats.

4. Old age wellness manager/consultant We will need specialists to
   help manage the health and personal needs of an aging population. They
   will be able to use a range of new emerging medical, drug, prosthetic,
   mental health, natural and fitness treatments.

5. Memory augmentation surgeon Surgeons could add extra memory to
   people who want to increase their memory and to help those who have been
   over-exposed to information and need more memory to store it.

6. ‘New science’ ethicist As scientific advances speed up in areas
   like cloning, we may need a new breed of ethicist who understands the
   science and helps society make choices about what developments to allow.
   It won’t be a question of can we, but should we?

7. Space pilots, tour guides and architects With companies already
   promising space tourism, we will need space pilots and tour guides, as
   well as architects to design where they will live and work. Current
   projects at SICSA (University of Houston) include a greenhouse on Mars,
   lunar outposts and space exploration vehicles.

8. Vertical farmers Vertical farms growing in skyscrapers in the
   middle or our cities could dramatically increase food supply by 2020.
   Vertical farmers will need skills in a range of scientific disciplines,
   engineering and commerce.

9. Climate change reversal specialist As the impact of climate
   change increases, we will need a new breed of engineer-scientists to
   help reduce or reverse the effects. The range of science and
   technologies they use could include filling the oceans with iron filings
   to putting up giant umbrellas to deflect the sun’s rays.

10. Quarantine enforcer If a deadly virus starts spreading rapidly,
    few countries, and few people, will be prepared. Nurses will be in short
    supply. And as death rates rise, and neighborhoods are shut down,
    someone will have to guard the gates.

11. Weather modification police The act of stealing clouds to create
    rain is already happening in some parts of the world and is altering
    weather patterns thousands of miles away. Weather modification police
    will need to controland monitor who is allowed to shoot rockets
    containing silver iodine into the air – a way to provoke rainfall from
    passing clouds.

12. Virtual lawyer As more and more of our daily life goes online, we
    will need specialist lawyers to resolve legal disputes which could
    involve people living in countries and regions with different
    laws.

13. Avatar manager / devotees / virtual teachers Intelligent avatars
    or computer characters could be used to support or even replace teachers
    in the classroom. The devotee is the human that makes sure the avatar
    and the student are properly matched.

14. Alternative vehicle developers We need the designers and builders
    of the next generations of vehicle transport using alternative materials
    and fuels. Could the dream of zero-emission cars or even underwater and
    flying cars become a reality within the next two decades?

15. Narrowcasters As content on the television, radio and the
    internet becomes increasingly personalised, there will be jobs for
    specialists working with producers and advertisers to create news,
    entertainment and information tailored to our personal interests. While
    some personalisation will be done by computers, customised narrowcasting
    to individuals could be performed by humans.

16. Waste data handler As data and information about us increases on
    computers everywhere, we may need waste data handlers to securely get
    rid of our data so we can’t be tracked or have our identity
    stolen.

17. Virtual clutter organiser Clutter managers will help us organise
    our electronic lives. They would look after our email, make sure our
    data is stored properly and manage our electronic passwords and
    profiles.

18. Time broker / Time bank trader Time has always been precious and
    time banking already exists. In the future there may be other
    alternative currencies that will have their own markets where they can
    be traded.

19. Social ‘networking’ worker We may need social workers for people
    who may be traumatised or marginalised by social networking.

20. Personal branders This job would be an extension of the role
    played by celebrity stylists and publicists. Personal branders will work
    for anyone to create a personal “brand” using social networking sites
    and other media. The sorts of issues they will be dealing with will be
    what personality are you projecting via your Blog, Twitter, etc? What
    personal values do you want to build into your image? And is your image
    consistent with your real life personality and your goals?

Source:

http://fastfuture.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/FastFuture_Shapeofjobstocome_FullReport1.pdf