Lesson 10

Hi everyone!

Last week, the main topic of discussion was Technology Assessment and Forecasting. The session was about developing a framework for what comes next-- how we can predict what kind of technologies will be invented in the future and what we can do to ensure we achieve our objectives.

As usual, we watched many videos during the lesson and I found two videos especially interesting! The first was called "Mega Trends"-Moving Forward. The video featured a very large corporation, Siemens, which do businesses in many areas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWXG-TsDAqc

They look forward to develop devices and technology to help in health care, security, and green technology. As more people are moving to the urban areas, population within the urban area increases. Thus, areas such as power supply, health care, mobility and security need to be taken care of. Siemens carry out various operations to tackle this increase in population- they look forward to provide sources of water and purify them, build security systems and facilitate access to buildings where protection is paramount and invent technologies where patient data can be recorded electronically. These processes and technologies can increase efficiency and save valuable time and cost incurred.

The second video that I enjoyed was the one on “ Future, Technology and the Next 50 years Megatrends”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0ZhKRTFzZ0&feature=related

I found this video particularly interesting because it covers most of the predictions people have for the future. As it was taken a while back, a few predictions/forecasts presented in the video have already been introduced and are currently used by consumers. For instance, he could see the changes in the gaming industry. With technology making virtual reality possible, children now use the Internet to access toy websites such as “barbie.com” to “interact” and enter into the “barbie world”. While on the other hand, children in the past actually purchased Barbie dolls (in physical form) and play with them. He mentioned on other possible inventions in the next 50 years—cloud computing, the change in work environment and augmented reality, just to name a few.

With regards to the topic at hand, I feel that forecasting the future of technologies is indeed the right approach. It is important to dream big and work towards achieving it. Without goals and ambitions, various stakeholders will not know which direction to head towards and we may even face a stagnated economy. Hence, to prevent this from happening, it is pertinent to note the importance in being forward looking and adaptable to changes. With that, I end my post for week 10 J

(I would rate the lesson 8 out of 10! Although the lesson was rather insightful, I found it difficult to understand the technicality of such forecasting methods.)