Rockets, Robots, Renewable Energy (and more)

TIME TRAVEL IS NO THEORETICAL CONCEPT. IT’S REAL. IT’S happening right now. Time is marching on, and Washington area businesses are more than keeping pace — in fact, they’re already ahead of the clock. Look at the future-forward things already happening in our region today.

A constellation of satellite companies is orbiting Greater Washington. They’ll do so for decades to come, providing the financial incentive to develop futuristic launch vehicles and connect people and things — the Internet of Things, actually — in ways few people would have dared to imagine until now.

A levitating, magnetic bullet train connecting Washington to Baltimore in 15 minutes is more than on the drawing board. The technology is proven. And the train line is in development now, promising to make one mega region out of what are now disparate major cities.

The same kind of clean energy that will power that magnetic train is already making the Washington region into the capital of renewable energy. Houston has its oil and gas companies. But we have the companies that are producing the power for the next 100 years.

An ambitious new plan to use water taxis and ferries in the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers, slashing commute times, is ready and waiting for leaders to build. Today.

Tomorrow, or at least in the next two years, millions more people will be on their way to visit this region. We know that now because we know the power of the new attractions that will draw them here.

All of these futuristic developments emerged from our annual high-level event Outlook conference. The event brings thought leaders together and asks them to take a deep dive into the projects, events, and forces that will shape our region in the year ahead. This year’s Outlook did even better than that. It revealed key happenings that will shape our region in the years, indeed the decades, to come.

Gathering those kinds of visionaries together and presenting their stories here in OPPTY is one of the things the Greater Washington Board of Trade does. And we hope, in the pages to come, you discover opportunities and insights that will help your organizations engage in your own time travels.

CHARM CITY

The Greater Washington Board of Trade brought its annual, high-level Outlook conference to the new Sagamore Pendry hotel in Baltimore’s Fell’s Point neighborhood. Attendees (below right) heard Ric Edelman, executive chairman of Edelman Financial Services, discuss his new book, The Truth About Your Future, during a rooftop dinner. Other speakers at the two-day event included Arvind Manocha, CEO of Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts (bottom of page, left), Elliott Ferguson, CEO of Destination DC (below, left), and Deborah Rutter, president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (below, right).

Satellites are big business in the DC region. What are the future trends, and how can you take advantage of them?