Healthcare

Rather than having a system of ‘sick-care’ that fixed people after things went wrong, by 2030 we’ve transitioned a good part of the system to real “healthcare,”  anticipating what people are likely to become sick with. Based on that knowledge, we’ve realigned the architecture of the healthcare system to deal with health care issues on a proactive, rather than reactive, basis.

How? Genomics, mobile devices, embedded in-body health sensors and real time analytical predictive healthcare dashboards led us to a world in which we could predict the emergence of particular health care issues and risks on a real-time basis. This resulted in a fundamental realignment of resources to manage any particular issue; “disease management” became a world of “disease action planning.”

We also rode the acceleration of science into a world of advanced ‘body part replacement surgery.  Everything, from from kidneys to eyes, teeth implants to skin grafts, are now grown in labs for use in surgical and other medical procedures.

Insurance

We used to get insurance coverage based upon our historical behaviour or past actions. By 2030, insurance policies are written and adjusted in real time based on real-time data and activities. Rather than looking back to assess and underwrite insurance risk, we increasingly do so by looking forward based on what we know right now.

P&C, life and all other aspects of insurance have been dramatically affected by the arrival of continuous real-time risk monitoring technology!

Not only that, but the very concept of risk has changed. We’ve learned that the faster arrival of the future means that we now see the faster emergence of new risk issues, which in and of itself requires different forms of risk assessment. This has led to shorter “instance oriented policies” or what we might call “just in time insurance.”

AI based risk assessment has also taken on a huge role, with the emergence of real-time risk assessment dashboards.

Retail

While we used to go to stores to get the stuff that we need, in 2030 we now find that the majority of what we buy comes to us via a wide variety of automated, intelligent, last-mile delivery technologies – delivery bots, automated drones and more. Many homes now have drone pads on their driveways and robotic storage lockers that safeguard products after delivery. When you actually do go out to buy things, your car takes care of much of the process; it has become a shopping cart with credit card payment technology built in.

Malls? They’ve become  become museums if not just entertainment hubs; the entire focus for commercial retail real-estate has evolved to  logistics hubs, shipment warehouses, drone-ports and more.

Construction

We used to send people and materials to a site for assembly into a building. Now, as we enter 2030’s, we generally assemble the building offsite with robotic technology and 3D-printing technologies, and send it to the site for a final fast assembly. Essentially, we’ve gone from building homes on site to building them in factories. AI and robots drive this manufacturing process; brick laying robotic masons are everywhere, as is the ability to 3D print in concrete.

We’ve also seen the continual arrival of all kinds of new material science and new concepts –  solar energy generating windows, anticipatory smart building technology and more.

Energy and Utilities

We’ve moved from a world of centralized energy production based on big facilities generating energy from carbon and nuclear to a massively distributed architecture based on the input of millions of small, local, renewable energy resources. We’ve gone from essentially dumb, one-way grids to highly intelligent two-way smart grids that feature accelerated load balancing; they support millions of production and input sources. And the architecture of the grid itself has changed. For example, most cars and trucks have now become a part of the energy grid through vehicle-to-grid battery connectivity, storing energy during off peak hours and feeding it back into the grid later on. Most utilities have also found themselves operating in the highway and road-building industry, as electrified roads and charging infrastructure appeared everywhere to support a world that involves a majority of electric-battery vehicles.

We continued to see dramatic faster decline in renewable energy cost due to the acceleration of the computer technology involved, as well as the payoff from massive investment in battery technology at the start of the decade.

Manufacturing

We’ve transitioned from a world of mass production, with millions of products that are all the same, to one of mass customization, based on 3D-printing, advanced materials, agility-based manufacturing methodologies and iterative, regenerative product design concepts. The year 2030 sees a change to manufacturing models that once seemed like science fiction.

End-of-runway manufacturing and the end of the concept of inventory has taken hold as additive manufacturing concepts now permit the production of a lot of products closer to the consumer. This has resulted in a massive reduction in the cost of shipping and transportation. The concept of ‘inventory on hand’ has come to an end and supply chain ideas have been turned on their head.

Highways and Infrastructure

They’ve become smart, intelligent, connected roads in 2030. Your self-driving car doesn’t just drive itself, but talks to other vehicles around it, to sensors embedded in the road, and to light poles and other road-tech that helps to guide it on its voyage. Amazon and other disruptors now provide for pay-per-access to the best route based on real time embedded road-sensor technology. Not just that, but the very roads themselves charge the batteries of the cars that drive on them, although you have to pay a premium to do so.

Technology

We used to have computers, which were physically separate devices that we carried around or plopped on our desk. Now, intelligence is embedded everywhere around us in 2030; in our clothing, eyeglasses, cars, homes and factory. It’s just there. We don’t even think about it much anymore, except when some hacker re-programs our 3D food printer and serves us up anchovy-flavoured jello as a joke. When it comes to bandwidth, yottabit capacities have arrived – look it up!

Legal and Professional Services

The world of law and other professions is now driven by the acceleration of legal risk and hyper-complexity. This came about as the result of the rapid emergence of new risk, an era of “hyperconnected, shared risk,” more complex – and faster – corporate partnership risk, and other factors that came about as the result of a faster-moving economy. IP or intellectual property issues went through the roof in terms of complexity as AI came to drive the discovery of new ideas, new knowledge, and new products – who owns the output of a computer generated mind-idea?

Entertainment and Media

The explosion of deep-fake technology in the early part of the decade made redundant the concept of CGI technology in film and media. Instead, stock-footage of ready-to-fake video exists online. Actors have mostly become irrelevant. Instead, avatars are ready off the shelf to be turned into the next great performance. We began to see the arrival of virtualized entertainment business models, with technology leading to highly customized, just-for-one entertainment productions based on the rapid assembly of this deep-fake inventory. The ability to create your own personal version of a movie with your own unique storyline became a part of the new world of entertainment.