Signals of Change

Evolving Sovereign Wealth Funds SoC297

Sovereign wealth funds represent an evolution away from traditional foreign-exchange reserves in the management of a country's wealth. Future possible regulation and the need to transition many economies away from a dependency on nonrenewable resources could lead to changes in the focus of SWF investments.

Biogerontechnology SoC298

Biogerontechnology is the field of inquiry that seeks to advance knowledge of the fundamental biological mechanisms of aging in order to develop the technological means to extend human life span and to postpone the costly and disabling conditions that humans experience late in life.

Second Incomes SoC299

Consumers in the developed world—worried about the credit crunch, increasing food and energy prices, and declines in the value of their properties—are supplementing their primary incomes by engaging in small-scale online commerce, effectively creating second incomes. Web sites such as eBay have already spawned a generation of microentrepreneurs.

Online Behavior Alters Offline Behavior SoC300

Researchers and social scientists are noticing that behaviors that people acquire in online and virtual environments have a tendency to spill over into the real world. The interplay of virtual- and real-world behavior patterns will not only provide potential product and service opportunities for companies, but also require the attention of all companies whose employees work with online systems.

Epigenetics: Orchestrating Human Development SoC301

Consumer preoccupation with genetic tests runs the risk of ignoring important new research that portrays a complex and elegant interplay of nature and nurture in shaping our lives. Epigenetics explores how environmental cues can alter gene expression, thereby altering the development and behavior of individuals: Nurture meets nature.

Surreptitious Diagnosis SoC302

New systems are entering the market that promise to diagnose diseases, behavior, or intentions nonintrusively—in many cases, from a distance. These systems will enable users to diagnose people without their even knowing that they are undergoing diagnosis: surreptitious diagnosis. Users could apply the results of such analyses—unbeknownst to the subject—in a wide variety of ways, from criminal investigation to employee screening, raising many ethical and legal issues.

Insights

Migration and Regional Competition D08-2570

Migration has always played a major role in the development of human culture, civilizations, and economic and commercial progress. Throughout human history, people have migrated to regions that offer more space, better climate, less crowding, and better resources. In some eras and regions, migration was the primary factor shaping the most influential developments. For instance, migration drives most of the stories behind the historical development of the United States into a commercial and military superpower. Although migration has always been an intrinsic part of human—and therefore economic—development, global developments are creating a situation in which we are likely to see migration processes take on dramatic new roles and dynamics. Scan™ has examined various aspects of developments involving migration in a range of Signals of Change in the past several years. This study collects and summarizes the several trends that Scan has identified to provide leads for companies looking for migration-related developments that will provide threats or opportunities in the near future. Author: Martin Schwirn. 8 pages.

Scan™ Meeting Digest: 19 March 2008 Meeting D08-2571

This document is a digest of the Scan™ abstract clusters that participants in the 19 March 2008 Scan meeting identified. The digest includes a description of the Scan process for people who have never attended a Scan meeting, a list of the clusters that meeting participants identified, and a one-page description of each cluster's premise and supporting abstracts. The document has active links that allow the reader to access the supporting abstracts for each cluster in Scan's online abstract database. The document also has links to previously published Scan documents relating to the particular cluster. Clusters of abstracts for this March meeting included economic meltdowns, ill literacy, our future bubbles, media literacy, innovation and communication, enforced late-life working, the Googleization of appliances, diagnostic innovation, rethinking free trade, engineering affective experiences, and global soft modeling. Compiler: Martin Schwirn. 45 pages.

Calendar

Scan™ Abstract Meetings

Scan abstract meetings (in which SRIC-BI [now SBI] staff participate in a free-form discussion of current Scan abstracts) are open for client observation/participation on:

• 21 May 2008 at 9:00 am
• 23 July 2008 at 9:00 am
• 17 September 2008 at 9:00 am
• 22 October 2008 at 9:00 am
• 21 January 2009 at 9:00 am.
• 18 March 2009 at 9:00 am.

Please contact your SRIC-BI (now SBI) marketing representative to schedule participation in any of the Scan Abstract Meetings.