Future Tech: How to Capture Value from Disruptive Industry Trends

Amazon's Fire phone. Google Glass. Facebook Home. Quikster. New technologies alone don't always cause industry changes.

Future Tech explains how the four forces of technology, policy, business models and social dynamics work together to create industry disruption and how this understanding can help to predict what is coming next. Technology is generally viewed as the single force that disrupts markets. However, history is rife with stories of technologies that have failed to meet such hyped expectations. In Future Tech, the author reveals that true change only results from combining the forces of science and technology, policy and regulation, new business models (i.e. sharing economy) and social dynamics (whether or not people adopt it). Whether these four forces align explains why some technologies, such as AI, blockchain, robotics, synthetic biology and 3D printing, stick and why others fail. With an understanding of these four forces, business executives and policymakers can explain what technology is likely to stick and even anticipate what is coming next.

By 2030, the global labor force will be led by an elite set of knowledge workers enabled by robotic AI. To help individuals thrive in this workplace, Future Tech advises readers to develop their human capabilities of creativity and adaptation, develop deep expertise in one domain while being well-versed in dozens more, and develop a personalized approach to acquiring and processing information and deliberating decisions.

About the Author

Futurist Trond Arne Undheim, PhD, host of the Futurized.co podcast, is a global thought leader on the role of technology in society, a frequent keynote speaker, panelist and convenor of public debates. A four-time author and based in Wellesley, Massachusetts, he is Venture Partner at Antler (global early-stage VC), Venture Partner at Hitachi Ventures (a company based in Japan), a Lead Ecosystem Evangelist at Tulip (digital manufacturing platform), a non-resident Fellow at the Atlantic Council (Washington, DC-based think tank), a Founder of Yegii (search engine for industry professionals) and a serial entrepreneur. The author was formerly Program Director of MIT Startup Exchange, Director of Standards Strategy & Policy at Oracle and National Expert for e-Government at the European Commission. He has a PhD on the future of work and artificial intelligence and cognition, and an M.A. in sociology from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.