When HP chief technology officer Shane Wall talks about the world three decades from now, he steers clear of technology. That’s startling, given that he is also global head of HP Labs, the advanced research group within the world’s leading PC and printer manufacturer.
“In HP Labs we invent all manner of incredible things in basic areas like biology, physics and 3D printing. Those give us an idea, but we’re careful not to extrapolate those into the future, because by extrapolating you miss disruption. Instead, we look at people. The key mega trends identified by HP for the next three decades revolve around rapid urbanisation, changing demographics, hyper globalisation and accelerated innovation.“People are moving out of rural areas and densifying cities. Cities themselves are getting bigger. “In 1991, there were 10 megacities – defined as urban areas with 10-million people or more. By 2013, there were 41, by 2030, there will be over 60.
“That is going to change our go-to-market approach. Currently, we focus on countries as markets. Now we are seeing how important cities are becoming. “That happened at a systems level and eventually brought artificial intelligence and machine learning into being. The algorithms were invented 10, 20, 30 years ago, but because of scale we have seen that only now are they becoming usable.”What does this mean for consumers and businesses? On the one hand, it represents massive opportunity. On the other, even greater challenges.
A big question is: What can prevent it from happening? The answer is highly relevant to South Africa.