With over one million people moving to cities every week globally, the world is currently undergoing the biggest wave of urbanisation in human history . As urban populations increase, future cities will also face an array of new challenges.

The accelerating competition over dominance between China and the US is starting to impact the technology industry. If the intensifying race for technology dominance between the world's two superpowers leads to a tech decoupling, it would have far-reaching implications for the future of global trade, tech companies and market regulations.

A new wave of Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) services, which allow consumers to buy an item and pay later in interest-free instalments, have lately been shaking up the traditional credit card business. As a low-commitment, user-friendly and budget-focused alternative to credit cards, BNPLs are particularly favoured by tech-savvy Millennials and Generation Z, who are wary of credit cards.

As we spend more and more time in the virtual realm, the notions of luxury and status symbols begin to manifest themselves in novel ways.

Rapid advancements in automation and ever-increasing demand in e-commerce may soon pave the way for the wide adoption of robot and drone technologies in the last-mile delivery of products. Robot couriers have the potential to solve multiple issues associated with inefficiencies in logistics such as high labour costs, energy efficiency, and traffic congestion.

Born between 2010-2024, Generation Alpha will be the longest-living, most educated, and possibly the wealthiest generation. Growing up alongside technology since birth, their life experiences and preferences will differ significantly from earlier generations.

With the proliferation of fake news, algorithmic social media bubbles and the growing capabilities of technology to manipulate human senses, our relationship with reality is evolving. As new technologies offer increasing possibilities to curate and modify how we experience both our digital and physical surroundings, our perception of what is to be considered real may be radically reframed in the future.

As populations begin to demand businesses and governments to define their success in new metrics other than financial growth and economic prosperity, new routes for future economic systems are starting to take shape.

COVID-19 can be heavily taxing on our mental health. Significantly increased internet use and overload of information are exhausting our attention and causing grave cognitive fatigues. Now may be the time to go offline and contemplate an unplugged future for our mental health.

While the value of data is rising, the loss of privacy in the digital era is becoming a reality. But giving up personal data requires trust: consumers need to be able to trust organisations to handle their data ethically and keep it safe from hackers, and other cyber threats – but also from the more obscure purposes organisations themselves might have.

The new presidential term in the US will have structural, long-lasting impacts on the global system, potentially shifting organisational priorities and operational environments.

Our team of futurists have created an interactive foresight radar with 50+ cross-industry trends, enabling teams to see the interconnections between different phenomena and collaboratively assess the implications of the election outcome from their organisation’s point of view.

As more and more consumers demand sustainable products, manufacturers and policymakers are urged to respond to their needs and change the current linear growth model. With the “Right to repair” movement and self-healing materials, we may soon witness products with a longer lifetime, and a rapid transition towards the circular economy.