Ahead of the curve - vol 6 - The decade ahead

“We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten. Don't let yourself be lulled into inaction” Bill Gates

Our Decade Ahead edition looks at the themes set to dominate the headlines over the next ten years

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What jobs will our children be doing by 2030?

Watch this space – the decade ahead for the private space economy

THE PRACTICAL FUTURIST LOOKS AT THE DECADE AHEAD Andrew Grill, former IBM Global Managing Partner and Practical Futurist, gives us his predictions for the decade ahead...

It might be hard to believe that ten years ago, Instagram had just launched alongside the very first iPad, the latest iPhone had the number 4 after it and Blackberry and Nokia phones were still a thing.

Since 2010, we’ve also seen the introduction of Uber, Airbnb and Amazon Alexa.

Not only have these technological advances made our lives different, they have also changed how we spend our work and leisure time.

Without realising it, we’re probably more efficient because we can get almost anything anywhere, anytime.

CONTENTS THE DECADE AHEAD WATCH THIS SPACE RETAIL 2030 WORKFORCE OF THE FUTURE WATER 2030 TACKLING CLIMATE CHANGE FROM SPACE GREY MATTERS A RECIPE FOR THE FUTURE BRAIN IMAGING AGE OF CONNECTIVITY WILL THE 2020s BE ROARING?

It is said that “The last best experience that anyone has anywhere, becomes the minimum expectation for the experience they want everywhere”. Over the next ten years, consumers will have higher expectations from any company they deal with, expecting an Amazon or Netflix experience with every interaction.

From where I sit as a Practical Futurist, I’ll outline several trends that might emerge over the next ten years that are explored further in this magazine.

WORKFORCE OF THE FUTURE: WHAT JOBS WILL OUR CHILDREN BE DOING BY 2030?

The workforce of the future will be driven by people, place and purpose. The skills employees will need will change over the course of the next decade, with a focus on digital literacy.

Purpose will become a more valuable attribute when choosing the best company to work for. Studies have shown that Gen Y and Gen Z are more purpose driven, meaning companies that can best fulfil the reason for going to work will attract the best candidates.

We will see the rise of the Gig exec, who spent the last ten years as a millennial wondering why people work for the same company five days a week, 12 months a year. The executive of the future will rent their skills and brand to a number of companies that share the same purpose and aspirations.

TACKLING CLIMATE CHANGE FROM SPACE With powerful satellites and AI image enhancement, we can expect to see governments better prepared to monitor the impact of climate change from space. The role of AI in analysing millions of images over time will be to start building a picture of where the most damage is being done to the planet. Just as for years we have utilised remote weather stations to look at climate changes, the ability to “see” the Earth as a whole and in real time will greatly aid governments and industry to better see the impacts of climate change.

In this edition of the magazine we look at the work that Oxford Earth Observation and its unique platform are doing to address climate change and make the planet more climate resilient.

Climate change is affecting every country on every continent. It is disrupting the global economy and affecting lives. We take for granted that water is an unlimited resource, but with every drop we are edging towards a crisis that could have unthinkable humanitarian, economic and political consequences.

This will mean that one person may have several ‘employers’.

This will impact how we secure intellectual property, as well as account for units of effort that are traded with this Gig exec.

Employees willing to live the gig lifestyle are likely to be more fulfilled, and transfer complementary experience between each of the companies they choose to rent their time to.

A radical rethink will be required on things like pensions, accrued leave and IP ownership. We’ll have more personal brands than there are companies, and see the rise of the corporate influencer, intent on leveraging their contacts rather than their likes to improve the fortunes of the companies they touch.

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MEGATRENDS AFFECTING THE RETAIL SECTOR The retail sector has been one of the most disrupted sectors over the previous decade, thanks to the rise of online shopping fuelled by a near-unstoppable Amazon.

The high street will change rapidly, with the physical space being transformed from a place where stock is held, to a place where we experience multiple products and services, and have them fulfilled from ‘dark stores’ where robots will control the whole supply chain from pick to pack.

We should also expect to see a greater mix of stores and brands within what used to be a single supermarket or department store. Just as retailers such as Selfridges and Harrods have pioneered concessions as a way of delivering a rich experience under the same roof, we can expect to see major retailers divide up space with co-working spaces, restaurants and coffee shops as the need for the ‘big box’ retail spaces diminishes as consumers embrace online shopping.

Amazon already has Amazon Key, an in-home solution, where the delivery driver can unlock your front door to deliver your order, avoiding those ‘parcel pirates’ intent on stealing your latest purchase from your porch. In America, if you own a GM or Volvo, your Amazon purchases can be delivered to the boot of your car.

While drone deliveries become the norm in some locations, it will be strategic ‘dark warehouses’ placed in highly populated areas, restocked in a near-real time fashion that will meet the demand for the ‘I want it now’ same-day delivery promise that will be required to secure the sale this decade.

HEALTH AND DATA VALUE EXCHANGE The rise of wearables over the last century has set up the healthcare industry to take advantage of literally billions of augmented humans around the world. Initial trials involving Apple Watch, where users consent to share their health data with researchers, allow consumers to trust that their health data will be used for good.

With a rich stream of health information, AI will start to predict health issues potentially down to a city level. The challenge will be to prove that there is a fair value exchange of data to ensure broad adoption.

When challenged by this prediction, I remind people of the time caller ID was introduced in the mid 90s. Initial privacy concerns disappeared when consumers realised it was useful to know who was calling and it became the default setting to share your number. I predict this will happen with health data within the next ten years.

The ability for your health care professional to have intimate knowledge of your state of health in between surgery visits will become the norm. Patients will understand the value exchange and positive benefits of a more relevant health treatment, powered by months if not years of personal health data.

There could be a fine line, however, between providing raw data to our health professionals and to our insurers.

Pharmaceutical companies will also be able to reduce the length (and hence cost) of clinical trials, thanks to patient data powered by AI assessments. It can also be the solution to the cost of care for the increasingly ageing population.

FACIAL RECOGNITION

THE INTERNET OF THINGS (IOT)

Facial recognition has become another grey area as much publicised instances of misuse have emerged.

The promise of “measuring anything, anywhere” will quickly become a reality in the early 2020s.

The recent case where people walking through Kings Cross in London were being tracked by their faces led to the initiative being scrapped. More transparent education is required before the public will learn to trust that this technology is not being used against them. Expect to see more trials and better use cases emerge over the next decade, resulting in the technology being treated the same way we now view caller ID on our phones. Rapid identification will extend to the way we shop, use public transport and even connect with the right people at a business conference.

Now that sensors can literally be placed anywhere, imaginative use cases are being developed that range from being able to see how many people are using desks in an office, through to understanding if the toilets in an office need cleaning more often.

We already submit to facial recognition when we pass through immigration checkpoints at major airports, removing the need for long lines of the past. The more systems that use this type of facial challenge to grant secure access to facilities, the more accepted the technology will be. Consumers will see the positive benefits, and prefer to smile rather than swipe.

Just as Amazon’s Go frictionless shopping is removing checkouts in supermarkets, expect facial recognition to grant you access to anywhere you’re allowed to go with just a glance. In this decade, anywhere consumers can save seconds on a purchase or activity will be embraced, leaving us with more time to do the things we enjoy. In transport, this could ease congestion as passengers move seamlessly without the delay of paying on board.

THE DECADE AHEAD FOR THE PRIVATE SPACE ECONOMY We can expect to see astronauts landing on the lunar South Pole by 2024. As NASA works toward its long-term goal of establishing a human settlement on Mars, we’ll see if Elon Musk’s claims that his Space X rocket will set off for Mars with humans on board comes true.

It is even predicted that as we look at what jobs our children will be doing by 2030, there will be space tour guides as Earth orbit travel becomes an affordable luxury.

Practical Futurist Andrew Grill has been predicting technology trends for over 30 years, and has worked for companies such as IBM, Telstra and Optus. As a Futurist, he has presented to and advised the Boards and management teams of DHL, Nike, Nestle, Bupa, Barclays, Euler Hermes, Mars, Vodafone, Arriva, Johnson Matthey, Taylor Wessing, Bunzl, De Beers, Sanofi, NHS, Thomson Reuters, Royal London, ANZ, KPMG, Schroders, and Mercer.

The ability to literally bake sensors into concrete thanks to ten year battery life will mean that the built environment of this decade will be the most instrumented on record.

We’ll start to see sensors everywhere measuring temperature, vibration, sound pressure, wind loading, alcohol levels and even stress that can lead to better informed and real-time decisions on how to better use any available space. The time-and-motion clipboard driven studies of the past to see how work gets done will be done in real time. This decade, it will become normal to expect that the room we are in is literally listening to us and anticipating our needs.

Anything that moves will be measured, and by combining this rich data with AI and machine learning, real-time ‘digital twins’ will be developed to simulate wear and tear or predict the optimal office configuration.

I see IoT as one of the most promising technologies of the last ten years and we will see a rapid expansion before the end of 2020, leading to significant investment in the underlying sensor, communication and battery technologies this decade. This will mean that by 2030, sensors will be tiny, almost invisible, and able to communicate anywhere in an extremely inexpensive way.

WATCH THIS SPACE – THE DEC ADE AH E AD FOR TH E P R IVATE SPACE ECO N O MY In r e ce n t ye a rs t h e a n sw e r t o t h e q u e s t i o n ‘ w h y g o t o s p a c e ’ ha s ch a n g e d. T h is is b e c a u s e t h e n a r r a t i v e h a s s h i f t e d fro m spa ce be in g so m e t h i n g t o e x p l o r e , t o s p a c e b e i n g so me t h in g t o e xploi t . P u t s i m p l y, s p a c e i s f u l l o f t h in g s w e n e e d - v a l u a b l e t h i n g s . T h i n g s t h a t a s t e ch n o lo g y a cce l e r a t e s w i l l f a l l i n t o t h e r a n g e o f o u r g r a sp. S o a s t h e n e x t d e c a d e c o m e s in t o ro t a t io n , w e w i l l e n t e r t h e a g e o f spa ce co mmer c i a l i s m , a n d w i t n e s s t h e rise o f t h e p r i v a t e s p a c e e c o n o m y.

Th e p ath to th e p ri v ate s p ac e ec o n o m y is a l rea d y well esta b l i sh ed . S p a c e X , V i rg i n G a l a c ti c a n d A ma zo n ’ s B l u e Ori gi n a re h o useh o l d n a m e s .

We’ v e h a d o ur f i rst h a n d f u l of sp a c e to uri sts. I n 20 18, t he Ja p a n ese sp a c ec raf t H a y a bu s a2 a rri v ed at th e R y ugu a ste ro i d to retri ev e mi n era l s a s p a rt of a mi n i n g p ro j ec t. S o a s th e d e c ad e unfo l d s, w h at a re th e key h u rd l e s th at th i s a l rea d y mul ti -b i l l i o n d o l l a r i n d ustry m ust o v erc o m e ?

I T I S EA S Y TO U ND ERS TA ND HOW A S I Z EA BL E PA RT O F TH E F U T U RE S PAC E ECO NO MY W I L L BE A RO U ND T HE R E MOVA L O F ‘S PAC E J U NK ’.

BY 20 30, T HE U K

M i n i n g v s Th e 19 78 S p a c e Tr e aty M i n i n g reso urc es f ro m s p ac e i s ye t to b ec o m e a sc a l a b l e real i t y, w h e n i t i n ev i ta b l y d o es th ere ma y b e a b i g l e g al p ro b l em. I n 196 7 th e w o rl d ’ s s u p e r p o w e r s s at d o w n a n d a greed to reso l v e c on c e r ns re g ard i ng the m i l i ta ri sati o n of sp a c e a n d t h e s o - c al l e d ‘St ar Wars’ p ro gra mme. But th i s treaty m ay h av e u nfo re s e e n c o n seq uen c es fo r th e f uture of s p ac e m i ni n g :

“Outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means.”

GOV ER NMEN T I S A I MI NG TO HAVE C A PT U RE D 1 0 % O F T HE GLO B AL S PACE

Article II, 1967 O uter Space Tr eaty.

W hat thi s mean s i s th at n o b o d y ‘o w n s’ spac e , a nd nobody ‘ow n s’ th e reso urc es w i th i n i t. W i t h wordi ng thi s v ague, i t i s l i ttl e w o n d er th at c o un t r i e s hav e already moved to un d erm i n e th i s treaty - an d a c ou ntry really a h ea d of th e c urv e i s Luxemb o u rg .

L u xembou rg i s po si ti o n i n g i tsel f a s th e ma i n ‘ h o s t ’ nati on for i nternati o n a l c o mp a n i es to regi ster an d ru n thei r compa n i es f ro m. N ev erth el ess, i f f u t u re confli c ts are to b e av o i d ed th e i d ea of ' o w n ers h i p ' of spac e resou rces m ust b e reso l v ed - a n d a g re e d at an i nternati ona l sc a l e.

It i s g etti ng busy up t h e re We already hav e rec o rd s of satel l i tes c o l l i d i ng i n s pace, and thi s ca n h av e seri o us c o n seq uen c e s fo r life on Earth. But w i th th o usa n d s of satel l i tes an d hu ndreds and tho usa n d s of un tra c ea b l e f ra gm e n t s currently i n orbi t, i t i s ea sy to un d ersta n d h ow a s izeable part of th e f uture sp a c e ec o n o my w i l l b e a rou nd the remo v a l of ‘ sp a c e j un k ’ .

In 2025, The E uro pe a n S pa ce Ag e n cy a n d Swi ss startup Cl e a rspa ce w i l l l a un c h a ‘j u n k collec tor’. ClearS p a c e-1 w i l l tra c k a n d grab a decommi ssi oned satel l i te, b efo re d ra ggi n g i t b ac k t o Earth’s atmosp h ere, w h ere th ey w i l l b o th b u r n up on re- entry. A sm a l l step , b ut p o ten ti a l l y t h e begi nni ng of a co smi c w a ste remo v a l ec o n o m y.

MA RK ET.

U K a n d th e d e c a d e a h e a d B y 2 0 3 0, t he U K Go v e r nm e nt i s ai m i ng t o have c ap t u re d 1 0 % of t h e g l o b al s p ac e m ar ke t . Bu t in o rd e r t o d o s o i t n e e d s t o c at c h u p o n 6 0 y e a r s of p ro g re s s i n l au n c h s i t e t e c h n o l o g y. S o if t he U K i s t o h av e any ho p e of p l ayi n g a p ar t in t he f u t u re s p ac e e c o n o m y, i t n e e d s t o b u i l d a me a ns of g e t t i n g t o s p ac e f ro m B r i t i s h s o i l . T hat is why i t has u n v e i l e d p l an s t o d e v e l o p t h re e l au nc h s it e s o n t he U K m ai n l an d – a v e r t i c al l au n c h s i t e in t he S c o t t i s h H i g hl and s an d ho r i zo n t al l au n c h s it e s in C o r n w al l and Gl as g o w.

T he U K S p ac e A g e nc y, b as e d i n Sw i n d o n , ha s am b i t i o ns fo r t h e U K t o t ake a l arg e r s l ice of t he s p ac e e c o n o m y, an d t hi s i s no t w it hou t hi s t o r i c al c o nt e x t o r p e d i g re e . T h e U K i s a lre a dy a m aj o r p ar t i c i p an t i n s at e l l i t e m an u f act u r ing an d s e r v i c e s . W i t h a v al u at i o n fo r t h e U K of £3.8 b i l l i o n b y 2 0 3 0, i t i s l i t t l e w o n d e r t h at t h e ne e d fo r l au nc h s i t e s has m ad e a s t ro n g b u s i ne s s ca s e .

W i t h t he s e s i t e s av ai l ab l e t o B r i t i s h p e o p le a nd b u s i n e s s e s , i t i s h o p e d t hat i t w i l l l au n c h t he UK i n t o t he p r i v at e s p ac e e c o no m y and m ake t he d e c ad e ah e ad a b r i g h t an d p ro s p e ro u s t i m e for t he U K s p ac e s e c t o r.

IT’S RETAIL 2030 ‘JIM’, BUT NOT AS WE KNOW IT

e v i s u l c n i all living home

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Richard Lim, CEO

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If you think retail is changing fast – hang on tight. Warp drive is now firmly engaged.

Whether you’re just glancing out the window or helping to steer your ship, it’s going to be a hell of a ride as we whip though ‘retail hyper-space’ to witness the fallout of monolithic companies and the genesis of new dynastic mega-giants. The foundation stones have already been laid, and as we all know, a new retail paradigm is just around the corner.

So what will it look like? Imagine a buzzing tech-soup of: AI, Internet of Things (IoT), constant connectivity, big data, VR, AR, automation (on steroids), online ‘being’ in-store, drone deliveries, 3D printing and… socially, a generational mind-shift, social approval pressures, sustainability first, experience-centric thinking and… get the picture?

Here are my three megatrends that I see shaping retail in the next decade...

01. RETAIL PROPERTY Repurposing of physical space will be the name of the game. We’ll see a major reshuffling in priority order between retail, residential, office, leisure, entertainment and local amenities as relevancy becomes key for local communities.

We’ll also see experience-led propositions become the mainstay of not just flagship destinations, but for high streets and town centres too, supported by falling rental values.

This will enable independents to be able to access cost-effective and flexible units as the economics of running stores rebalances. An end to clone high streets perhaps?

Imagine large multiple retailers closing around one in five of their shops over the next decade – equating to 20% overcapacity of current retail space. This is our prediction. The polarisation between flagship destinations and ‘extreme’ convenience will continue to play out with secondary high streets clawing at the walls for survival.

I passionately believe that the continued drive towards urbanisation, falling home ownership and societal normalisation for renting (not just homes but possessions), provides opportunities for retail landlords to offer ‘full service branded living solutions’.

Adding residential space will be just the tip of the iceberg when placed in context

of an entire menu of additional services on offer: multimedia, internet, sustainable energy supply, car-sharing (e.g. Zipcar), gym memberships, doctor’s surgeries, online collection and delivery services, cleaning, discounted utility bills and even food (‘inclusive’ meals from the ground floor food court). We’re talking a complete urban living solution.

Think it’s far-fetched? It’s already happening in various parts of the world. Take a glimpse of any sustainable smart city plan (and remember to breath).

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02. THE DELIVERY REVOLUTION Get super-agitated with guaranteed next day delivery? No, well you might now. Let this sink in for a moment…

With effortless same-hour deliveries becoming the norm for city folk, coupled with last-mile delivery costs plummeting, online penetration rates can only head in one direction – for at least a time anyway.

Technology giants such as Amazon, Deliveroo, Uber and Netflix are altering paradigms of what’s possible in the frictionless delivery world of goods and services.

The next decade of online disruption will come in the form of delivery – it’s going to get faster, cheaper, fully automated, inhome, drone facilitated, and quite frankly, convenient to the point where we’ll wonder why we ever had to wait for a couple of days for that online order.

Technology will unlock yet another wave of online growth, shortening the online path to purchase for consumers. Let’s unpack the key tech here: drones, autonomous delivery vehicles, IoT, AI, blockchain, predictive analytics and amalgamations of the aforementioned.

And just on drones, Amazon and Walmart filed over 150 patents in 2018-19 on different drone technologies, from airborne fulfilment hives to parcel parachutes - yes, goods safely sailing down to us from the sky. We’ve worked with lawyers who are already ‘on the case’ (and have been for a while) concerning legalities for drones in retail contexts.

Perhaps easier to imagine is the application of in-home deliveries. Yes, again, already in operation in the UK and the US, where IoT ‘smart locks’ allow delivery drivers controlled and monitored access to customer homes to fulfil online orders. Check out Amazon Key and the UK pilot scheme between Waitrose and Yale if you haven’t already.

03. SHOPS AS MEDIA CHANNELS How many times have we all heard the expression ‘blurring the lines’, referring to online retail, in-store and omnichannel? Tired of it yet?

Sorry, I think the term is going to be slung around for quite a while yet. The next decade will see the continued fusion of physical and digital realms offering inspiring blends that ignite customers’ passions, excitement and imaginations.

We’ll undoubtedly witness new store performance metrics slipping into the vernacular as ‘sales per square foot’ becomes relegated to the history books where it belongs. Contending new metrics will have to capture things like ‘media value’, ‘brand buzz’, ‘engagement’ and ‘experience’. It’s going to be wild.

Consider this for example: the physical act of a customer walking into a store will be considered as an ‘impression’ that enhances engagement within an infinitely more complex customer journey.

Don’t get me started on the customer journey now, it’s a huge topic.

As physical stores are treated more like powerful media assets, retailers will use increasingly sophisticated techniques, powered by artificial intelligence, to assess the quality and value of physical interactions within them (e.g. facial recognition, in-store analytics, video-analytics).

A particular focus will be on tracking in-store customer journeys, correlated with online shopping characteristics, to generate a single customer view. Success will be achieved by those who are able to commercially respond and anticipate their customers’ needs, and also form genuine trusting relationships with them as we move into the Information Age.

r e m o t s cu urney Jo

Another more imminent megatrend is Amazon licensing its Go technology to retailers. In the US, Amazon is in talks to bring the cashier-less technology that runs its Go stores to other retailers including airports and cinemas in the first half of 2020.

Amazon already has 16 branded Go stores where customers scan their phones, grab products off shelves, walk out and then receive a receipt for whatever they took.

They plan to start implementing their Go technology and are aiming to have hundreds of these stores working across the country by the end of the year.

Bharat Nahar, Head of Retail at Royds Withy King, comments:

“This will help Amazon grow its retail presence so the company can lower its reliance on online shopping at a faster pace and at cost lower than building its own stores. It will also help Amazon collaborate with companies that would ordinarily consider Amazon the competition. This type of collaboration could lead to further growth of Amazon’s cloud business, enable them to generate revenue from third-party in-store retailers and hold off start-ups in the autonomous checkout space”.

AMAZON IS BRINGING ITS GO TECHNOLOGY TO AN AIRPORT AND CINEMA NEAR YOU.

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02 WASTE DESIGNER

04 WHAT JOBS WILL OUR

DIGITAL DETOX THERAPIST

CHILDREN BE DOING BY 2030?

According to the World Economic Forum, 65% of children entering primary school today will ultimately end up working in completely new job types.

This is exciting news for many involved in education and employment.

09 CORPORATE DISORGAN ISER

“ORGANISATIONS WILL HAVE TO DESIGN ROLES AROUND COMPETENCIES THAT HAVEN’T BEEN MEASURED BEFORE”

06 BACKL ASH MINIMISER

01. DIGITAL CURRENCY PL ANNER The European Central Bank defines digital currency as “a type of unregulated, digital money, which is issued and usually controlled by its developers, and used and accepted among the members of a specific virtual community”. Digital currency planners will be advising their clients about cryptocurrencies and blockchain to help them manage their virtual financial portfolios.

If Mark Zuckerberg and his controversial and embattled Libra Project pushes ahead this could be as soon as this year.

02. WASTE DESIGNER In 2008, Disney trekked into the not-so-distant future by making the movie WALL-E, about a robot character that collects the Earth’s debris and forms it into useful structures. Instead of burying our waste, we will be able to take recycling and reusing to this level. Waste designers will be key players in a future economy built on environmentally friendly practices.

Upcycling, a new form of recycling, will become popular by 2030, waste designers will be fundamental to ensuring its success.

03. SPACE TOUR GUIDE With space agencies such as NASA and ESA relentless in their publicity about space explorations, as well as more and more people expressing interest in space tours, a space tour guide job shouldn’t be far behind.

With Earth orbit travel likely to be an affordable luxury by the mid2020s, it’s predicted this role will exist by 2025.

03 SPACE TOUR GUIDE

08 CROWDFUNDING SPECIALIST

08. CROWDFUNDING SPECIALIST Crowdfunding specialists help startups launch their campaigns on crowdfunding platforms such as Seedrs and Crowdcube. Without these experts, earlystage products or services in the pipeline might not get the green light. Because crowdfunding usually has a time limit to gather donations, a crowdfunding specialist’s job is to maximise donations during that period by offering advice.

There are already a number of crowdfunding experts out there. Expect this profession to become much more widespread in the decade ahead.

09. CORPORATE DISORGANISER Someone who works in this position will shake things up in business environments that have gone stagnant. A corporate disorganiser will bring organised chaos to an organisation to disrupt the status quo. This will facilitate finding new processes that bring the company up to date and streamline its functions, bringing it into the decade ahead.

These roles will become more common by 2025.

10. END-OF-LIFE PL ANNER

04. DIGITAL DETOX THERAPIST People will periodically need to “unload their digital baggage” to help them achieve more balance in their everyday life. Digital rehabs could become the norm, like spas, and a new type of therapist will be required.

A mindful digital detox and yoga retreat is being run in Iceland this year. Expect the UK to follow with their own retreats.

05. URBAN SHEPHERD Going green is a growing trend in urban development despite restrictions on available outside space.

As more cities become green through design and residents demand their own green space, urban shepherds will be needed to maintain the new green infrastructure such as vertical gardens or rooftop terraces.

This will become a reality by 2025.

06. BACKL ASH MINIMISER With too much technology causing distraction, narcissism, expectation of instant gratification, and even depression, the backlash minimiser will be in charge of overseeing damage control for people who arguably use too much technology. Their job will also be to shoot down resistance to new ideas in technology.

This function exists now and will continue to evolve into a role over the decade ahead.

07. AVATAR REL ATIONSHIP MANAGER Our relationship with the internet needs some management too. People will need someone who’ll teach them to use technology so it empowers rather than enslaves them.

This role seen as the executive assistant of today will be commonplace by 2030.

Critically ill patients may turn to euthanasia advisers to help them exit life as gracefully as possible. We may even see businesses springing up to offer oncein-a-lifetime arrangements for wakes or burials. Or maybe after-death services for the grieving family.

Although euthanasia and assisted suicide rates are soaring in Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Holland, Luxembourg, Switzerland and seven US states who already have these roles, this still remains illegal in the UK carrying a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.

Time will tell in the decade ahead about this role in the UK. Clearly, future change is inevitable and those who are ready to embrace it will reap the rewards.

Malcolm Gregory, Head of Employment at Royds Withy King comments:

“As the industrial revolution and later technical advances brought about new challenges for people management, so too will the emerging roles we are expecting over the next decade.

Educators will need to teach new skills and knowledge. Organisations will have to design roles around competencies that haven’t been measured before and HR professionals and their employment law colleagues will need to work out how to apply an existing regulatory structure in an environment which is changing faster than the regulations themselves.

Are you ready for the challenge?”

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WATER 2030: 6

the ticking time bomb of water scarcity

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Whenever we turn on a tap in the UK, there is an expectation that water will be there. It will be clean, drinkable and in abundance. It is an unconscious expectation we all have which is linked to living and working in an affluent, first world country. Our belief that water is an unlimited resource is reinforced by the fact that we generally do not pay for it. In our homes and places of work, we only pay for the delivery of the water, not the water itself. We think that only the Third World has issues with the availability of clean, drinkable water but we are wrong.

Cities like Cape Town have endured shortages so severe that in 2018, it faced ‘Day Zero’.

With every drop of water we are edging closer to a crisis that could have unthinkable humanitarian, economic and political consequences. Across the world, our demand is outstripping our supply at increasing intensity to the extent that a number of countries will soon start to experience scarcity in their water supply.

This includes the UK, with the head of the Environment Agency, Sir James Bevan in March last year warning that water scarcity represented an ‘existential threat’ and that, in the next 20 to 25 years, we will not have enough water to meet demand. Others are already living in scarcity with cities like Cape Town enduring shortages so severe that in 2018, it faced ‘Day Zero’; the day that the taps would run dry and, were it not for an ending of their drought, would have done.

Cities like Mexico City, which is built on an aquifer, serve as a terrifying example of poor water management. The city loses an estimated 40% of its water due to leaking pipes and is sinking in some parts by as much as 30cm a year due to over-reliance on aquifer supply.

You could be forgiven for thinking that water is a natural resource that we have a near unlimited supply of. Water makes up 70% of the planet. The issue is that only 3% of that water is drinkable, two thirds of which is in frozen form. This leaves us with just 1% of water being in a drinkable liquid form. To compound that, it is not evenly distributed around the world, both in terms of available surface water and also in natural underground ‘aquifers’ (which must be drilled and extracted at great expense). Whilst we should only be relying on these aquifers as a last resort, many countries are using them at a rate so significant that countries like India and China will run out, not in centuries to come but in the decade ahead.

Putting aside the obvious humanitarian consequences (which the UN estimates could lead to the displacement of as many as 700 million people by 2030), water scarcity will impact parts of our existence that you might not have considered. Less obvious industries such as tech, hospitality and retail will be among the worst affected sectors. More obvious industries like agriculture will also be imperilled by water scarcity, prompting significant changes in farming practices and the types of crops that are produced.

The causes are wide ranging and include climate change, contamination of otherwise usable water and also leaking pipes. Ultimately, however, the causes can be reduced to the following simple formula:

+

Exponential population growth

=

+

An increase in global wealth

Wide scale undervaluing of water

Scarcity

Israel is leading the way with a model to replicate in water management. Having been built on essentially desert land, Israel has been living with the threat of water scarcity since day one. Unlike many other countries, they saw that they had to take action in order to sustain a growing population and economy. They combine effective infrastructure, legislative oversight and value-based pricing to be the most efficient consumer of water in the world. At the time of writing they are the biggest recycler of water globally. In peak operating capacity. Israel reuses around 80% of its waste water (to put it into context, Spain is the second biggest recycler of water in the world, reusing 17%). “In Israel, there is no connection between land rights and water rights. Agriculture has to have a permit to use water and everything is metered - there is no (legal) water usage which is not” says Dr David Katz of the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Haifa.

Action is required, principally by public sector intervention.

If Israel is the example that other countries follow, domestic consumption will be prioritised meaning that the private sector feels the greatest impact from any change in legislation.

Richard Lake, Water law expert, Royds Withy King, “This could come in any combination of forms in the UK, including restrictions on consumption, a tax on water-intensive industries or the end of free water. Businesses in all sectors need to start analysing their water footprint and preparing for the impact that the aforementioned measures could have on their bottom line. Change in farming practices could lead to the altering of available produce for the restaurant industry.

In Israel, everyone pays not just for the delivery of water but also for the water itself. All water is metered, including for agricultural use, which means that farmers have had to move away from water intensive livestock such as cattle and switch to more water-conservative vegetable crops”.

A single, quarter pound burger patty, for instance, has a water footprint of 1,650 litres.

Water makes up 70% of the planet.

This has a knock-on effect on restaurants, with owners such as Oshrat Yakutiel (a former protégée of celebrity chef Yotam Ottolenghi) using almost exclusively vegetables in her Tel Aviv-based, Cafe Yael. Restaurants in the UK may need to follow suit in the not-too-distant future and consider the potential impact of a change in the pricing of water on their famously fine margins.

As for the hotel industry, a potential restriction on water consumption could have grave implications.

In Cape Town, during peak restrictions in the Day Zero crisis, water was rationed to only 50 litres per person per day. Hoteliers, particularly at the luxury end of the market, need to consider the impact a water cap would have on their ‘5 star’ appeal.

The concern has led to large hotel operators in the Mediterranean building their own desalination plants, which has led to smaller operators and groups like ‘Green in the Med’ committing to scaling back their consumption in an act of selfpreservation.

Israel reuses around 80% of its waste water.

TACKLING CLIMATE CHANGE FROM SPACE Climate change is a defining issue of humanity's development, both now and into the decades ahead. It is an issue that touches every part of our society, from politics to personal identity, affecting everything from health to where people can live and work around the world.

We can’t solve today’s challenges with yesterday’s thinking, so we met with Dr Alex Money of Oxford Earth Observation (OxEO) to find out how a new generation of technology startups are taking a fresh approach to addressing climate change.

OxEO have developed a model using geospatial satellite data to predict economic, social and environmental impacts across a ledger of physical assets.

WHAT WAS THE INSPIRATION FOR SETTING UP OXFORD EARTH OBSERVATION? Having worked for twenty years in the capital markets, first as an emerging markets fund manager and then in advisory roles, Alex was struck by the asymmetric relationship between risk and return. He observed that during the 2008 financial crisis for example, asset values gyrated wildly because the benchmarks for valuation were found to be wanting. As a capital markets adviser, Alex worked with senior management of listed companies to incorporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into their investment proposition.

In his view, the benchmarks for valuing environmental risk were generally not fit for purpose.

To improve on them, he drew from the experience he gained in academia following his City career. After completing a doctorate in environmental risk at the University of Oxford, Alex began exploring the capabilities of geospatial satellite data to address the sustainable and environmental development challenges that companies and investors had been trying to tackle.

“This sparked my interest in researching water, energy, infrastructure and sustainable development. Investment in water infrastructure or renewable technologies may yield outsize return, adjusted for risk. Consistently achieving these returns might principally be a question of getting the timing right, as well as taking an appropriately long view.”

HOW DOES THE PLATFORM WORK?

“We know we’re not running our natural resources properly. OxEO is building a platform to provide operational insight into a range of environmental, social and governance risks. The platform is unique and seeks to be part of the solution.”

The platform takes data from satellite images, processes it and then compares past images to see what has changed in terms of temperature, higher/lower rainfall, land use and expansion etc. Using AI and machine learning, OxEO is then able to predict how environmental risks will change at specific points in the future. The platform provides users such as insurers, businesses and investors with decision-ready predictive information about future risk at any given point in time for specific economically valuable assets such as farms, mines, factories and production centres.

The platform allows for the understanding of future risk and helps understand the predictability of fires, floods and droughts based on historic data and data changes. This allows insurers, businesses and investors to make more informed decisions about valuable assets. Investors are interested in the nature and level of risk associated with those assets. They can use the platform to understand the vulnerability of one asset compared to another and take immediate remedial action to reduce the risk or, in extreme cases, sell or close the asset down.

ALEX CONCLUDES:

“Climate change is affecting every country on every continent. It is disrupting the global economy and affecting lives. Weather patterns are changing and becoming more extreme, water levels are rising, but conversely there are more droughts. The platform allows us to predict how an observed variable might change in the future and take action accordingly. Combating climate change and its impacts is one of the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. OxEO delivers insights and forward-looking perspectives on risk to allow businesses to make more informed decisions on how they can minimise climate change.”

“We want the planet to be more climate resilient. The capital markets can help by channelling money to areas where assets are more climate resilient and away from areas where assets are vulnerable to climate change. The platform allows for just that.”

THE GLOBAL SATELLITE DATA SET WORKS IN THREE WAYS: 1. Satellite data is processed and updated daily 2. That data is then used to make predictions: future temperature, rainfall etc. and the impact it might have on particular assets in that region 3. The owner of that asset can then make more informed decisions based on the understanding of future risk

Dr Alex Money Managing Director

T HE RE A RE MA N Y A RE AS OF T HE L AW T HAT A REN’T BL AC K OR W HIT E. G REY M AT T E R S IS OUR K N OW-HOW P ROG R A MME T O HE LP YOU DISC USS T HE SE IN T RIC AC IES.

A FEW YEARS AGO, FACIAL RECOGNITION

FACIAL RECOGNITION BENEFITS:

SEEMED LIKE A SCI-FI FANTASY. TODAY, WE

CAN

SCANNING DESPITE

UNLOCK

OUR

OUR

FACES.

THE

BENEFITS

PHONES

BY

BETTER SECURITY AND AUTOMATION

HOWEVER,

THAT

FACIAL

RECOGNITION BRINGS TO COMPANIES AND INDIVIDUALS , THERE ARE CERTAIN GREY AREAS THAT ARE A SUBJECT OF CONCERN FOR EVERYONE.

FACIAL RECOGNITION IS AN AI-BASED TECHNOLOGY THAT RECOGNISES HUMAN FACES. THE TECHNOLOGY CONSIDERS A NUMBER OF ASPECTS FOR SUCCESSFUL FACIAL RECOGNITION SUCH AS JAWLINE, CHEEKBONES, DEPTH OF EYE SOCKETS WHICH ALL HELP THE TECHNOLOGY TO REMEMBER THE OWNER OF THE FACE.

ENHANCED SECURIT Y With the help of facial recognition it will be easier to track down criminals and identify terrorists, but it can also have more domestic uses.

Facial recognition can be used as a security tool for locking personal devices and for home security cameras. Many home security cameras have facial recognition which lets you create a database of friends and family members who regularly visit your house. When the camera sees a face it determines whether or not it’s someone in your database of known faces.

BET TER EXPERIENCE Ticketing and concert promoters are also testing facial recognition to stop ticket touts and issues with delivering tickets. Premier League champions Manchester City are trying out technology by which fans will gain access to the stadium simply by showing their faces. The team have hired a Texan firm to deploy facial recognition systems in a pilot scheme. There will be a single super-fast lane for supporters at the 55,000-seat Etihad stadium. A face scan will reveal whether the fan has a ticket. The lane is expected to operate a traffic light system: green for go, amber for stop. There is no need for a turnstile. Its designers say the technology is so speedy that fans could run past scanners at the rate of 50 per minute.

There are also commercial benefits. As a game lasts only so long the ability to sell food, beverages and T-shirts is limited to that time. So, if you can get them in faster, it makes everybody happy.

SEAMLESS INTEGRATION This is one of the biggest benefits of facial recognition. It is already being incorporated within air travel with the ambition to fully integrate the technology as part of the entire end-to-end, ‘couch to coach’ transport experience. In China commuters can quickly go between bus and rail transport without queueing to pay helping with congestion and carbon emissions as people move on and off quicker.

With the number of air travellers expected to double by 2030, removing friction from the experience to increase passengers throughout all stages of the journey is critical to avoiding the alternative of building ever-larger airports.

So, based on the above, facial recognition seems amazing. It’s fast, accurate and provides outstanding results in no time. On the surface it looks like everyone should be using it, integrating it with their security cameras and enjoying the benefits now.

However there are some big concerns about facial recognition which invoke a lot of criticism regarding the legality and ethics of its application.

AN EPIDEMIC OF INTRUSIVENESS BREACH OF PRIVACY

MASSIVE DATA STORAGE

If the Government can track down criminals and terrorists, it can also track down people like you anytime, anywhere. It opens the door to secret Government surveillance of innocent or mostly innocent people.

AI technology requires massive data sets to learn in order to deliver accurate results. This requires powerful data storage which might cause a problem for small or medium sized companies.

It’s not just the state being intrusive. A recent investigation found that privately owned sites including shopping centres, property developers, museums and casinos had been using facial recognition.

A trial in Manchester’s Trafford Centre scanned over 15,000,000 faces before being stopped by the Surveillance Camera Commissioner.

VULNERABILIT Y IN RECOGNITION No one doubts that facial recognition technology is very accurate.

However, a slight change in camera angle or even a change of appearance can lead to an error. In one trial, 81% of ‘suspects’ caught on camera were simply innocent bystanders. This is one of the reasons a group of cross-party MPs, experts and civil liberty campaigners called for a halt to facial recognition trials to give Parliament a chance to debate it properly.

So how do we harness the benefits of facial recognition without hurtling towards a surveillance state? Microsoft’s President and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith commented: “Facial recognition software is one of the core battles still to be fought. Microsoft has already voluntarily imposed limits on how and to whom it sells the technology. We’re not willing to allow our facial recognition services to be used for mass surveillance … if an agency in any government wants to deploy facial recognition in a manner that we believe will result in unfair bias and discrimination, that’s something that we won’t do”.

A RECIPE FOR THE FUTURE These days, food is a hot topic. Dining out, as well as dining in, is changing in leaps and bounds. At home, we are increasingly conscious of what we consume and how that impacts on the environment. When eating out, we look for substantially different experiences than those that were in vogue only recently. The new decade is set to bring even more change and innovation into the leisure and hospitality sector.

PERSONALISATION From massive chains to quirky independents, it’s hard to cut through the clutter and drive more diners in a busy sector. Add to that the modern consumers’ demand for tailored experiences, and personalisation - capturing and then tapping into individual preferences - is the way many are choosing to stand out.

Fast food chains are leading the way: McDonald’s recently invested $300 million into the acquisition of Dynamic Yield, a startup focused on creating data and personal preferences-based algorithms that drive purchasing decisions. This is a move that clearly signals a shift toward using customer interests and predictive analytics to improve profits.

BIOMETRICS ‘Service with a smile’ is standard.

But what if it’s service with your smile? Restaurants and bars have been experimenting with both facial and voice recognition to offer a smoother customer journey. As ever, the US and China are leading the way. In California and Beijing, fast-food restaurants have been using kiosks where simply looking at the screen will re-order whatever you previously ordered.

In bars, facial recognition stands to remove the often impossible task of trying to catch the barman’s eye. With new technology, they will be able to take your drink order fairly - ahead of those people who literally just walked in!

Voice recognition serves particularly well where customers are encouraged to use apps. This tech is already here: the aptly named Dom, Domino Pizza’s virtual assistant, can take orders through simple conversation.

ROBOTS AT YOUR SERVICE With technology making these leaps, are we going to need restaurant staff at all? We’ve got robots and drones, and while they are not going to be awarded Michelin stars anytime soon, they already can serve, clean and prep.

Not surprisingly, restaurant robots have come from Japan. Back in 2016, Japanese developers unveiled a sushi robot capable of creating 3,600 pieces of nigiri per hour. Closer to home, The Tea Terrace, a small chain of restaurants in the South East of England, has introduced its first robot waitress. Theresa, who also hails from Japan, comes with autonomous navigation and obstacle avoidance, voice conversation and automatic dish delivery.

But what do customers make of that? In a survey commissioned

by Oracle last year, 18% said being served by a robot would improve the guest experience, but 50% said they would find it invasive and 40% would visit less.

The verdict so far: use robots to assist human staff, not replace them. Customer service is still about human interaction.

VIRTUAL REALITY Virtual reality (VR) has been in use for nearly three decades, but recently it has been going mainstream. Used to train pilots and surgeons, VR has huge potential for staff training, kitchen design and efficient management. But why stop there? Guest entertainment is the next frontier. A Los Angeles-based vendor currently offers a package of devices – including goggles and scent producers - which will have you convinced that you are having your dinner in the ocean, complete with fishes and other marine creatures swirling around you.

3D PRINTING We cannot talk about the future of restaurants without mentioning 3D printing. Modern restaurateurs believe that printing of cutlery and furnishings will be mainstream as early as 2025. Food printing is not a novelty either. A major enabler for food customisation, it’s a vital concept that has the potential to transform the agri-food supply chain and redefine sustenance for a growing global population.

So, anyone for a personalised 3D printed steak ordered in a facial recognition kiosk and served by a robot? Book us a table in 2030.

THE BRAIN SCAN THAT CAN REVEAL PTSD – AND IT’S ONLY GETTING STARTED One key advancement in brain imaging, and a little bit of AI, could revolutionise neuroscience in the next decade. Indeed, it’s already started.

Brain imaging has revolutionised our understanding of many conditions, including traumatic brain injury (TBI). Emerging advances in neuroimaging stand to shine further light on patients with mild TBI who continue to be a significant clinical conundrum.

The key barrier for older imaging techniques is the resolution they can achieve. Better imaging is required for more indepth understanding of varying levels of injury, and this is already emerging through ‘functional imaging’.

A technique called Magnetoencephalography (MEG) stands out. It has many advantages which will be able to rapidly push forward our understanding of mild traumatic brain injury. In fact, the potential for MEG to increase our understanding of mild TBI is already here.

Magnetoencephalography measures tiny magnetic fields generated from the brain, allowing us to study the brain in what is called ‘the resting state’ with a patient just sitting in a scanner not doing anything but looking forward at a fixed dot. The data generated from this type of scan means you can look for the presence of pathological slow waves, which suggest underlying structural damage in the cortex of the brain.

In mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) this scan could show reductions in connections between key areas, while in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) you might see abnormally strong connections between different areas. We can now use artificial intelligence to look at this data in even more detail, revealing characteristic changes for many different pathologies including mTBI and PTSD. These techniques are so powerful that it is getting to the point where you can say, almost to 100% certainty, whether a patient has evidence of an mTBI or PTSD. In addition to the ‘resting state’ scans, you can acquire data when challenging the brain. With mTBI, research undertaken in the 1970s recognised that patients struggle when asked to complete cognitive tasks that get progressively more challenging. A well-established technique, Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT) can be very sensitive to the presence of cognitive problems following a mild traumatic brain injury.

MEG image showing abnormal slow waves

Ian Carrier, Royds Withy King

The problem, however, has been certainty: how can you be sure that there is not another cause for cognitive problems?

MEG makes it possible to ask a patient to undertake this task while scanning the brain, and it is possible to see exactly what pattern of changes are underlying the abnormal performance on the test.

In sports and blast injury mTBI, MEG will have a particularly important role in helping unpick whether or not sportspeople or soldiers are fit to return to the field of play or to be redeployed. It will do this by helping to untangle the underlying cause of patients who have persisting symptoms after one-off significant injuries to the head. Clinicians should also be able to track any progressive brain injury that is occurring as a consequence of multiple sub-clinical hits.

Dr Allder, Consultant Neurologist at Re:Cognition Health concludes:

“In this arena, I suspect that MEG will be combined with both structural MRI and functional techniques that image brain inflammation to revolutionise our understanding and ability to manage both the significant emerging problem of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in sportspeople and chronic blast injury/brain injury in soldiers. With this level of insight into brain injury on offer, we could have diagnostic functional imaging units as a fairly routine part of neurological practice by the end of the next decade”.

Ian Carrier, Partner and brain injury specialist at Royds Withy King adds: “The ability of MEG to increase our understanding of mild traumatic brain injury will mean huge numbers of claimants in compensation cases will be able to prove their legal cases whereas before there was uncertainty. Cases were decided on subjective opinion because medical experts did not have concrete evidence to explain why the disabling symptoms were ongoing.

It will also mean enormous advances in the nature of the therapeutic treatment offered, because the cause of the ongoing problems has been clearly identified. It is often the case that problems such as headaches, memory problems and mild personality changes are labelled as pure psychiatric issues when in fact the cause is organic brain damage, or vice versa. This will in turn mean NHS funds can be spent on the right treatment and support leading to a better outcome for all concerned”.

THE AGE OF CONNECTIVITY

SELF-DRIVING CARS TAKE TO LONDON ROADS Last year trials in the busy streets of south London saw driverless cars carrying passengers in the boroughs of Croydon and Bromley. Passengers were not alone in the Ford Mondeos adapted with sensors and self-driving technology from the British company Five AI, as there was a safety driver who could take control in an emergency and a safety technician in the front passenger seat.

Recruited by insurers Direct Line, passengers completed questionnaires before, during and after their ride. The Transport Research Laboratory (TRL), which led the trial commented, “Automated vehicles represent the future of transport and have the potential to deliver tangible, widereaching benefits in relation to reduced congestion, faster and cheaper commutes, fewer collisions and cleaner air. We’re very excited about entering this phase of the project to create credible and real-world insights on the willingness to use and attitudes towards a shared, automated service, which will go a long way to helping us understand how these services can meet users’ need”.

However, there are huge implications as Richard Brooks, partner in Royds Withy King’s Personal Injury team adds, “The buzz around driverless cars seems to have reached new heights in the face of the latest trials taking place throughout London. But people should remember that the software that ‘drives’ these autonomous machines has been predominantly developed in the USA. Whilst this may sound fairly innocuous, what it means is that these robots have learnt to drive in

balmy weather conditions on wide, straight, grid-based roads.

On this side of the Atlantic our streets present a very different challenge, with narrow, windy roads, cars parked on both sides of the street, poor visibility due to weather and roundabouts (which aren’t a common feature in America) all contributing to potentially flummox these American robots.

Perhaps even more of a challenge is how companies developing and researching the latest AI software are going to tackle the philosophical implications of a robot making a split-second decision when confronted with a potentially life-threatening situation. You can envisage a legally novel situation in which the vehicle occupant denies liability for an accident blaming instead the software developer for the ‘decision’ by the vehicle to take a particular course of action. I am quite sure manufacturers have considered this but they do not share the information. I am equally sure that the Police and road safety organisations have some frustrations about the privacy maintained by the car companies who are resistant to sharing data about the performance of autonomous vehicles especially following accidents”.

IN SPITE OF THESE CHALLENGES, THIS L ATEST TRIAL OF DRIVERLESS CARS IS UNDOUBTEDLY A HUGE STEP FORWA RD IN DEVELOPING A GENUINE, ROADREADY, AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE.

5G 5G, the fifth generation of mobile wireless communications, promises to lower latency, offer greater stability, the ability to connect many devices at once and move more data thanks to faster speeds. These features have the potential to supercharge business.

•

5G will generate three times more traffic than the average 4G connection

•

5G networks will be 10 to 20 times faster than 4G

•

5G will make mobile internet faster than hardwired fibre connections

H OW E V E R , TO R E AP TH E B E N E F I T S, B U SIN E S S LE AD E R S MU ST:

• Budget for the investment • Plan for the new wave of automation and artificial intelligence • Have data analytics tools capable of gleaning insights • Ensure their leaders and employees understand 5G and how it can support business goals • Create a 5G strategy Businesses must prepare today in order to achieve the performance improvements that technology offers in the decade ahead.

FLYING TAXIS COMING TO A ROOF NEAR YOU Vodafone’s ambition is to develop an air traffic control system for drones and aerial taxis as part of its 5G strategy. Only with 5G can autonomous flying aerial taxis start and land with centimetre accuracy in the future.

Vodafone plans to provide 5G infrastructure across Europe for aerial taxis and commercial drones for logistics and postal deliveries. Every drone needs mobile radio and fast networks to regulate the right of way in air traffic. They become the traffic control system for aerial taxis and drone mail and they make drones identifiable.

Increasing urbanisation and congestion on the roads will increase the demand for aerial taxis. A key challenge, in addition to public acceptance and aerospace aviation legislation, is creating the necessary infrastructure: landing zones, electricity charging stations and mobile communications. 5G will help with all of this.

As aerial taxis become a reality over the decade ahead, rooftops in London are being leased as landing pads. Skyports, a landing infrastructure firm, has already agreed 15 rooftop licences for landing pads across London. The city is set to be one of the biggest markets for aerial taxis.

Phil Banks-Welsh, Head of Drone law at Royds Withy King comments:

“ TH E SE AR E IN CR E D IB LY E XCITI N G D E V E LO PME N TS IN U N MAN N E D AE R IAL V E H ICLE TECH N O LOGY A N D TH E CH ALLE N GE IS TO CR E ATE A LEGISL ATIV E F R AME WOR K TH AT W I L L F U LLY E N AB LE TH IS TECH N O LO G Y ”.

Will the 2020s be roaring?

The new decade, which is widely predicted to be the era of the new technology revolution, will be shaped by innovation breakthroughs and dramatic changes in the way we live, work and play. As lawyers ahead of the curve, we have done our research into the innovations that will define the next ten years.

The launch of Libra Facebook's own blockchainbased crypto currency

2020

Driverless cars on the UK roads

2021

2022

Uber Air to launch flying taxis

Modular homes commonplace in the UK – with houses built in just ten days

2023

2024 50% of the G2000 (world’s biggest companies) will have a Chief Trust Officer to manage trust across security, finance, HR, risk, sales, production and legal

Space X rocket will set off for Mars with humans on board

2025

Space X rocket will land on Mars

2026

The population of Earth to reach 8 billion people

Digitally connected technology will have transformed how we work and virtual workspaces will allow a geographically distributed team to collaborate in the same way as if they were sitting together

2027 High Street spending will hit £227 billion as retailers get to grips with the megatrends in the sector

2028 UK cities will be smarter than they are now using more sophisticated tech and enhancing the human experience of urban life

2029

2030

These predictions are based on the research of our team of influencers, decision makers and researchers and their educated guess is as good as yours...

WORKFORCE OF THE FUTURE

UK is set to be the fastest growing country in Europe, with its population overtaking France by 2030 and have one of the most diverse populations in the world