Demographic Change
Over the next decades, the global population will continue to grow and age. In fact, only developing countries will experience a population boom, with populations in industrial countries stagnating or shrinking. Global migration movements will increase, while shifts in the current population structure will result in demographic upheavals.

Health Thrives
The health care market is turning into one of the most important future markets overall. The reasons are manifold. Rapid progress in medical technology and pharmaceuticals makes radically new procedures possible. Growing life expectancies and greater personal responsibility in health issues are both behind the strongly increased demand for health products and services, as is a gradual shift of focus towards aspects of general well-being.

Cultural Diversity
Persistent transnational migration flows will shape societies? future character. In the migration target countries, fusion of the coexisting cultures? widely varying beliefs and lifestyles will bring forth new hybrid cultures. However, clashes between traditional and modern thinking, as well as opposing value systems, also threaten new cultural conflicts.

Digital Life
Worldwide, the number of people with access to computers and the Internet is growing continuously. The Internet has become the main channel for art, culture, and commerce. Soon, the Evernet ? access to the web anywhere, anytime ? will become status quo and an everyday social phenomenon.

Globalisation 2.0
For two decades, global economic integration has been growing strongly and will continue to do so. In doing so, globalisation will change in style and become more regional, more Asian, and come under increasedv governmental influence.

Knowledge-Based Economy
More than ever before will knowledge prove to be the powerhouse of the global economy. Increasing offers of knowledge services and a new degree of innovation dynamics will also intensify competition for high potentials. In the future, people without access to education will fall behind even further in their development.

Business Ecosystemsy
Increased competitive pressure forces businesses to focus on their core competencies and unlock new innovation potential. Collaborations with the business environment and the virtualisation of business processes take centre stage.

Changes in the Work World
Tertiarisation will continue to have a formative influence on the world of work. In addition, future developments will be characterised by more flexible working methods and employment structures, primarily driven by innovations in information and communication technologies.

New Consumption Patterns
Consumption behaviours are changing worldwide with widely varying regional patterns. While innovative financing and business models provide poor sections of the population in the developing countries with access to global markets, demand for status symbols and luxury goods is increasing in up-and-coming emerging nations. In western consumer societies, a growing number of people strive for sustainable consumption.

Energy and Resource Reversal
Global consumption of water and energy is rising, driven by population growth and economic development. Even though fossile resources will continue to play a major role in future energy supply, their increased scarcity will mean that use of renewable resources, improved energy efficiencies, and decentralised power supplies will become more important.

Climate Change and Environmental Impacts
Population growth and increasing industriali-sation have made anthropogenic (man-made) climate change the biggest global threat. Clean technologies will become highly significant for avoiding the pollution of air and water, rise of sea levels, and future natural disasters. Regulation and changing consumer behaviour will increase corporate responsibility for a sustainable global development.

Urbanisation
The size and number of cities will continue to grow, in particular in developing countries, as the promise of better living conditions lets rural inhabitants move to the urban areas in ever greater numbers. As a result, the number of large metropolises and megacities will rise continuously. This worldwide boom in urbanisation will make higher demands on mobility, environmental protection, and investments in infrastructure solutions.

Biomimicry / Learning from Nature
The use of nature as a model is experiencing a late comeback on the current level of technological development. Today, the focus is not only on transferring natural functionalities to technologies, but also on fusing Nature and technology. In this development, life sciences play the role of a leading technology and provide fundamental knowledge for a large number of technology firsts.

New Political World Order / Growing Threats to International Security
The end of the East-West conflict triggered changes in the political world order: a new power structure emerged, spurring into action both old and new superpowers. Whether Europe will have a say on this new international stage will be decided by its future constitutional state.
Globally, threat potentials are increasing, among others as a result of natural disasters, terrorism, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, etc. Security is no longer a responsibility solely shouldered by the state, but is increasingly privatised: offers of security services are expanding, and their customers will more often be businesses or private individuals.

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