What's Emerging February 2022
A newsletter on interesting stuff that is emerging around the world so you can think about strategy
Welcome to our end of February newsletter.
In the next few weeks, Paul will continue working with a council on their community vision. Paul will also continue working in his role as advisor for foresight and strategy to Save the Children Australia. He is also running a project on how to maximise the adoption of new irrigation technologies in the Dairy and Cotton industries via the use of Sense Maker narrative collection techniques. He will also be continuing work on the new project with Vision Australia on their 10 year vision and strategic planning and working with the General Melbourne Cemetery Trust on strategy. He will also be speaking at the Australian Veterinary Association Conference at the Gold Coast in May and an agriculture conference on the future of plant protein as human food, and an innovation day for the complementary medicines industry. He is also helping to organise a conference on the future of the farm later in the year. He has also joined a new global research project led by Simon Wardley from the UK. More on that later.
Please Contact Us if you want to talk about any of these approaches for your organisation or industry or want a presentation for your organisation or conference.
The Emergent Futures Team
In case you missed it. The most popular link from the last edition:
A productivity trick from Sahil Bloom
Paul: A simple calendar review trick that could change how you do things….Read more
What are we Writing About?
The last two weeks has been dominated by writing scenarios for clients that are commercial in confidence so we have nothing public to share in this edition.
What’s Emerging
Bionic eye implants enable a blind person to see again
The implant is being tested in clinical trials in Europe, but this is the first patient to receive it. But read it conjunction with the next story …. read more
THEIR BIONIC EYES ARE NOW OBSOLETE AND UNSUPPORTED
BARBARA CAMPBELL was walking through a New York City subway station during rush hour when her world abruptly went dark. For four years, Campbell had been using a high-tech implant in her left eye that gave her a crude kind of bionic vision, partially compensating for the genetic disease that had rendered her completely blind in her 30s…. Read more
EV chargers for V2G and V2H to arrive in Australia within weeks, after long delays
Unlike standard one-way EV chargers, bidirectional chargers can also discharge energy from an EV, which means they can be used to power a home (known as vehicle-to-home or V2H) and its appliances, or to export energy to the grid (vehicle-to-grid or V2G)..….. Read more
Milan confirms ambitious new cycling network linking 80% of the city to bike paths
The ‘Cambio’ Biciplan project was designed in consultation with the Dutch spatial economic research firm Decisio and is part of the city’s goal to secure a 20% modal shift to cycling. ..…… Read more
Danone releases new tool to help farmers measure regen ag’s potential returns
Leveraging farm-specific data from SEC’s EcoPractices platform, R3 can forecast potential return on investment for different regen ag methods. This can help farmers decide which practices are best suited to being implemented on their land..…..Read more
Solar-paneled Canals Getting a Test Run in San Joaquin Valley
The project is based on research commissioned by a company called Solar AquaGrid through the Sierra Nevada Research Institute and UC Water. Environmental engineering graduate alumna Brandi McKuin was one of the researchers who showed that covering the 4,000 miles of California’s water canals could reduce evaporation by as much as 82%, saving about 63 billion gallons of water a year. That’s comparable to the same amount needed to irrigate 50,000 acres of farmland or meet the residential water needs of more than 2 million people......….. Read more
This Wearable Smart Camera Can Detect Voice Commands Without a Sound
As convenient as it to ask Siri to skip to the next track or load up songs from your favorite artist without pulling out your phone, there are times when verbally interacting with smart assistants isn’t an option. So researchers at Cornell University developed a wearable smart camera that can detect voice commands even when the user doesn’t mutter a sound...…. Read more
Flippy the Fast Food Robot Just Got Hired in 100 Restaurants
White Castle announced plans to install the robot at more than 100 restaurants this year.......….. Read more
Meta’s social VR platform Horizon hits 300,000 users
That’s a 10x increase in about three months. But can the growth continue?......…..Read more
Going to private school won’t make a difference to your kid’s academic scores
A recent study showed NAPLAN scores of children who attended private schools were no different to those in public schools, after accounting for socioeconomic background.....….….Read more
MeaTech Achieves Cultured Meat Milestone by Developing Muscle Fibers from Stem Cells
According to the announcement, MeaTech has achieved the formation of living muscle fibers to a point where they “mirror key characteristics of farm-raised meat.” To achieve the results, MeaTech isolated bovine stem cells, which were then proliferated in the lab. From there, they were able to differentiate these cells into matured muscle cells with improved muscle fiber density, thickness, and length. ..…….Read more
The US Copyright Office says an AI can’t copyright its art
The board found that Thaler’s AI-created image didn’t include an element of “human authorship” — a necessary standard, it said, for protection......…. Read more
Think Twice Before Scanning That QR Code
Scanning a Quick Response, or QR code, is convenient and easy. And it is contactless, which can make people feel safer in public places such as restaurants, many of which substituted the codes for paper menus.
But cybersecurity experts say QR codes also created new opportunities for fraudsters, who can tamper with them and direct victims to malicious websites to steal their personal and financial information....…Read more
ALASKA AIRLINES LAUNCHES FLIGHT SUBSCRIPTION PROGRAM
Flight Pass offers two plans for subscribers – one requiring booking at least 14 days before travel starting at $49 per month for six roundtrips per year, and one that allows booking up to two hours before departure starting at $199 per month for six roundtrips per year. Subscribers can also pay more for either 12 or 24 roundtrip flights per year within each plan.......……. Read more
Business Tips
Charging, range, power and space: All-electric SUVs under $90,000 compared
Whether charging speed, cargo space or driving range is the most important factor when choosing an electric SUV, there are already numerous options on the local auto market to choose from.…… Read more
Google Workspace adds pageless documents, AI-generated summaries, and deeper ties to Maps and Gmail.
The update may be seen as part of a broader effort to compete with startups such as Notion and Coda, which are reimagining document editing around free-flowing, dynamic pages. Those products have also caught the attention of Microsoft, which announced an entirely new document editing app called Loop last November..……Read more
Are you trying to leap directly from data to action? It’s not that simple
No matter how much you want to, you can't get actionable insights *directly* from data. You need to apply knowledge.…. Read more
Escape the Drama Triangle
Paul: A useful framework..……Read more
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