Conference Presentation, Interview, Fireside Chat
The Future of Everything: How Technology is Changing the World
- Global trends are projected to accelerate indefinitely without a return to pre-pandemic conditions, driven by permanent changes in technological adoption and societal behaviors regarding remote work, collaboration, and online education.
- Banking models are expected to shift away from physical branches entirely, while traditional infrastructure like bricks-and-mortar schools and offices may become obsolete as digital platforms enable borderless talent acquisition and instant global information access.
- Computing power is anticipated to increase by a factor of a million within the current timeframe and potentially again in ten years, with five-nanometer chips becoming available by the end of the current year to lower processing costs and energy consumption.
- Capital costs for entrepreneurs are forecast to remain low with short-term rates near zero, facilitating asset-light business models and enabling competition against large corporations through platforms that disintermediate capital sources.
- The global population is expected to eventually see a demographic shift where individuals over 60 outnumber those under 15 or 16, necessitating new services and leveraging the fact that life expectancy gains now equate to lower insurance costs for 72-year-olds compared to historical 55-year-old rates.
- Technology is predicted to democratize access to healthcare, education, and finance, with therapeutics for COVID-19 becoming available within one to two months to prevent hospitalization if administered early, and natural animal proteins expected to be available within five years.
- Specific business projections include online education expanding from 20 million to 110 million students by 2020, GoPuff opening over 40 new micro-fulfillment centers monthly in the U.S. while investing significantly outside the U.S. in 2021, and local physical businesses revitalizing through online sales pivots.
- Supply chains face significant risks regarding delays of two to three months for goods moving from Southeast Asia to the United States, while specific demographic data notes that 41% of African-American controlled small companies closed between March and May 2020 alongside significant losses in women-led businesses.
- Valuations in the marketplace are expected to be driven more by the re-evaluation of multiples and leadership than by pure growth, with a narrowing technology gap as the 70 to 75-year-old demographic becomes increasingly tech-savvy through necessity and generational influence.
- The world is expected to move toward instant communication via real-time translation technology that disintermediates all languages, while food security supply chains must adapt to maintain efficient goods flow to importing countries and address the 70% of healthcare costs concentrated in the last decade of life.