Signals of Change

The Healthful Cell Phone SoC303

The cell phone is making successful incursions into almost every aspect of our lives. The domains of health and wellness are no exceptions, as a list of new products and services demonstrates.

Privacy-Infringing Business Models SoC304

Are business models that depend heavily on access to personal data first steps to customized, on-demand services? Or are they the first dangerous missteps down the long slippery slope of privacy abuse?

Conspicuous Conservation SoC305

The rising price of oil has reached a point sufficient to force most segments of society to embark on a forced march of energy and resource conservation. What was once conspicuous consumption will become conspicuous conservation—out of necessity rather than choice.

Virtual-World Diversity and Connectivity SoC306

Online virtual environments are rapidly proliferating, generating a diversity of applications in various areas. These environments will quite possibly connect in the future to generate an immersive virtuality that will permeate social interaction, facilitating activities of all kinds.

Priming the Mind SoC307

Researchers are experimenting with some fairly interesting mechanisms capable of tapping or "turning on" cognitive capabilities. The techniques are reminiscent of priming a pump.

Regional Centers of Innovation SoC308

Regions continue their attempts to build centers of innovation excellence as a wide range of promising emerging technology areas have become focal points of governments seeking to ensure regional competitiveness. Specialization can be more of a problem than an asset.

Insights

Age, Gender, Family: Demographic Signals of Change D08-2572

Demographic changes are some of the more predictable developments that companies and governments can take into account when planning and executing strategies. Technologies, competitive dynamics, and technology-implementation advances can shift dramatically almost overnight, whereas demographic changes take place gradually, sometimes glacially, providing more lead time for planning than do technological changes. Demographers have a fairly accurate accounting, for example, of how many people will reach retirement age each year. But demographic factors can interact in surprising and unexpected ways. Scan™ has followed such developments for decades, and several demographic changes that Scan has identified are now coming together in a confluence likely to leave many companies in an unfavorable situation. Identifying and analyzing these potential changes to develop appropriate strategies could become the foundation for a powerful competitive advantage. Author: Martin Schwirn. 10 pages.

Scan™ Meeting Digest: 24 April 2008 Meeting D08-2573

This document is a digest of the Scan™ abstract clusters that participants in the 24 April 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 April meeting included media metamorphosis, corporate social nets, textile innovations, scents and sensibility, mind games, the evolving gaming industry, the new criminals, material investments take time, behavior predictors, and new metrics for a new world. Compiler: Martin Schwirn. 37 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:

• 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
• 20 May 2009 at 9:00 am.

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