Trend Report VLC 2023

THE FUTURE OF DIGITAL SOLUTIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE AVIATION

Aviation plays a crucial role in global transportation, but its environmental impact has raised concerns about its long-term sustainability. Amidst the backdrop of global political and economic turmoil, as well as rapid technological advancements, we delve into what lies ahead for the sector of digital solutions in sustainable aviation. Will these advancements fundamentally change how aviation companies operate? Can sustainable aviation businesses thrive in the future? And how do environmental challenges and societal inclusivity factor into this equation?

Trend Report Fall 2023

The Future of Maritime Shipping

The maritime shipping industry is of paramount importance as it serves as the lifeblood of the global economy, facilitating the movement of approximately 80% of the world’s trade by volume and 70% by value. Its cost-efficient and vast network of sea routes connects producers, consumers, and nations, ensuring the availability of goods, raw materials, and energy resources worldwide. Beyond economic significance, it creates millions of jobs, supports energy security, and plays a pivotal role in sustainability efforts, making it an indispensable driver of both prosperity and environmental responsibility on a global scale.

Trend Report Spring 2023

THE FUTURE OF COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

The BMBF Research Hub 6G-life is a university-based research project committed to shape the communication landscape of the future aiming at the upcoming 6th generation mobile communication system. 6G research has just started and 6G deployment is expected to begin in the year 2030. Enough time to create significant impact! One objective of the pro-ject is to strengthen the technology sovereignty in Germany. In this way, the project does not only strive for scientific research excellence to impact the technology development for 6G, but also to educate the engineers for tomorrow and to lay the ground for new startups in Germany to be able to bring the know-how to the market. Therefore, 6G-life has teamed up with CDTM to develop and execute entrepreneurial education in the area of 6G. This trend seminar on “the future of communication technology” where 6G-life took the project partner role is one important milestone of the collaboration with CDTM in 6G-life.

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The Future of Mittelstand - Cover

Trend Report Fall 2022

The Future of Mittelstand

The Mittelstand is an integral part of the economic landscape of Germany. Its importance for Germany cannot be overstated as its influence is not limited to the economical aspect, but extends to German culture in general. At the same time, the Mittelstand is not being spared in a world that is battered by challenges from all directions, be it economical, environmental or technological. Amid this turmoil, we are taking a look into what lies ahead for the sector. Will current technological developments fundamentally change how these companies are operating? Do the economics of the future even allow for Mittelstand businesses to exist? How do environmental challenges and societal divides play into this?

Trend Report Spring 2022

Tackling Climate Change in the AI Era

Climate Change is one of the biggest challenges of our time, confronting us with cascading effects if no action is taken now. Using AI in sectors such as agriculture, energy and transportation can lead to economic benefits while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. How can we tackle Climate Change with the support of AI solutions? How can this technology be leveraged to create tangible impact and pursue a transformation that creates opportunities for all? How to develop ethical and trustworthy AI systems without a large carbon footprint? This report looks into these questions and provides an understanding of the potential of AI for tackling climate change in the next 20 years. It describes trends (political and legal, economic, social and environmental, technological, business models) that explain the current and upcoming challenges of climate change, identifies potential future scenarios, and innovates new business models, ensuring a balance between sustainability, technology, and future prosperity.

Trend Report Fall 2021

The Future of Waste Management

How will we be managing our waste in the future? An ever-increasing standard of living and the promotion of a consumerist world have also brought along a sharp increase in waste generation. Germany, for example, produces the biggest share of packaging waste in Europe. These changes in our production and consumption patterns have introduced the need for a whole new universe of recycling methods and technical innovations. How can we best deal with all the trash we produce? How will we recycle our waste, and reuse or repair products in the future? How will legislation influence product design and repairability? How can we improve our consumption and recycling habits in our everyday lives?

Trend Report Spring 2021

Smart Living of the Future

Digital technologies are constantly pushing us towards an ever more connected world and have a significant impact on our daily private and business lives. Smart Living devices and services have introduced a whole new universe of individual interaction and customization to our homes, while data privacy concerns still limit the consumer adoption of promising appliances and applications. How will we live in the future and spend time at home? Which activities will we pursue at home, and which not? How will environmental changes influence our habits in our everyday lives? What will be the long-lasting effects of Covid-19, remote work, and changing family models? Which drivers will particularly impact our living spaces in the future? Who will use and own the data? In a nutshell: What will the future of Smart Living look like in 2041, twenty years from today?

Trend Report Fall 2020

Independent Living for the Elderly

Increasing innovations in the healthcare industry have made life expectancies higher than ever. Similarly, technology has also revolutionized the way we connect with one another and go about our daily lives. However, the elderly population still faces significant challenges when it comes to dignified aging and few advancements have been made in that field. From health issues, housing, financial security and social isolation, the elderly are often left dependent on relatives and the healthcare industry. Elderly people seek independence – but many struggle due to the problems they face. How can we empower older people? What can we innovate to enable independent living? What are the solutions towards creating more connectedness with their loved ones and society in an age of individualism and changing family models? How can people change their lifestyles now to better prepare for an independent and fulfilled aging later?

Trend Report Spring 2020

Public Administration in the Digital Era

Our interaction with public and governmental institutions and processes have largely remained unaffected by new digital technologies. With an increasingly complex social environment and growing population of digital native citizens, new technologies provide an ideal starting point to enable – and even demand – a shift towards a digital public administration. This new environment requires government and public administration to re-evaluate its roles and responsibilities towards citizens in order to steer digitalisation into a direction in conformity with the social market economy. Their interaction with citizens – both digitally and personally – need to be evaluated and designed in a way to increase both efficiency, security and trust in public and governmental authorities. This report identifies current trends that affect the future of public administration until 2040 and derives four future scenarios as well as five related business ideas.

Trend Report Fall 2019

Parentech – The Future of Parenting

The advancement of technology and the increasingly dynamic environment have permeated all aspects of all our lives in simple and complex ways – even for children at young age which raises the question: To what extent has this changed parenting to-date, and what will raising children and the interaction between parents and their children look like in 20 years from today? Parents face many questions nowadays: What role does technology play for our child, and does this change the relationship between our child and us? What leisure activities and education should our child pursue at what age to be prepared for its future? How do our family values evolve? What way can we ensure to fulfil our responsibilities as a parent while looking after ourselves? This report identifies current trends that affect the future of parenting in the next twenty years and derives four future scenarios as well as five related business ideas.

Trend Report Spring 2019


The Data-driven Future of the Dairy Industry

Dairy farmers and Dairy processors are facing a growing demand for milk and milk products from a rising, and increasingly urbanized world population, a growth of the middle-class and a change in food patterns against a back-ground of higher quality requirements, animal health and production standards. With such an increasing complexity in the dairy business, new technologies – such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data Analytics and Computer Vision – provide an ideal starting point to enable the shift towards a data-driven future of the food chain from farming via processing to retail.This opens up new potentials for more efficient and sustain-able milk production and pro-cessing on the one hand and new business opportunities for farmers and process suppliers on the other hand. But which technologies are best suited for shaping the future of dairy? Which data is available and accessible for further utilization and potentially contributes to new business models? How will the urban-rural environment be shaped by digital technologies? How could a cow-friendly and sustainable farm of the future look like? And what are the implications for dairy farmers, dairy processors and their suppliers in Germany and abroad? This report identifies current trends that affect the future of the dairy business until 2039 and derives four future extreme scenarios as well as five related business ideas.
Trend Report Fall 2018

Trend Report Fall 2018

The Digital Future of the Construction Industry

Digital technologies are constantly pushing us towards an ever more connected world and have a significant impact on our daily private and business life. Whereas our living environment becomes more and more reliant on digital technologies, the construction industry – responsible for building this environment – is still almost entirely detached from the digital age. However, with the increasing complexity of future cities, new technologies provide an ideal starting point to enable the shift towards a digital construction industry. This opens up new potentials for more efficient and sustainable construction processes on the one hand and new business opportunities for construction contractors on the other hand. This report identifies current trends that affect the digitization of the construction industry and derives four future scenarios as well as five related business ideas.

Trend Report Spring 2018

Digital Companions in the factory of the future

Digital technologies are constantly pushing us towards an ever more connected world and have a significant impact on our daily private life and business environment. Whereas we are already used to talking to our personal digital devices in the form of Siri, Alexa, or other voice and virtual assistants, our workplaces still heavily rely on non-personalized, manual processes. This is especially true for factory settings. Increasing complexity – due to individualized manufacturing – can be met with digital companion systems based on new technologies, such as Natural Language Processing and Artificial Intelligence. This opens up potentials for increased efficiency on the one hand and a more enjoyable working environment for employees on the other hand. But which technologies are best suited for digital companions? How are employees’ needs best addressed? Which data is available or needed?
This report presents current trends in the field of manufacturing. Four scenarios are derived from these findings that vividly depict possible futures. In the final part, five business ideas are elaborated and validated in each of the four future scenarios.

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Trend Report Fall 2017

Customer Interaction in the Telco Industry

Digital technologies are enabling an ever more connected world – in a private as well as business context – and have a significant impact on the telecommunications industry. Services are becoming more readily available and convenient for telco customers and businesses are able to optimize and automate processes. Increasing digitization, however, also leads to new and different customer expectations in B2C and B2B interactions. These developments lead to a growing urgency for innovative ways to turn insights on telco customer behavior into future-proof business models. This report presents current trends in the field of customer interaction in the telco industry. Four scenarios are derived from these findings that vividly depict possible futures. In the final part, five business ideas are elaborated and validated in each of the four future scenarios.

Trend Report Spring 2017

Creating and Sustaining Healthy Habits

The increasing concentration of living and working space in urban environments is making it more and more difficult for people from any age group to engage in sports activities and practice healthy nutrition. Furthermore, through an increasing digitization of our daily life and an increasingly connected world, the border between work and spare time is becoming more and more indistinguishable. These trends lead to a growing urgency for innovative ways to create and sustain healthy habits – taking into consideration how people eat, move, and live mindfulness. This report presents trends in the field of healthy habits. From these findings, four scenarios are derived that vividly depict possible futures. In the final part, five business ideas are elaborated that propose novel ways to address the above mentioned challenges.

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Trend Report Fall 2016

Digital Innovation in Diabetes Care

Diabetes is a set of chronic metabolic diseases, in which the body can either not produce enough insulin or not process insulin correctly, resulting in raised levels of blood glucose. Diabetes not only has a high prevalence – currently affecting one out of eleven adults worldwide – but is also a very serious condition: In 2015, diabetes caused more adult deaths globally than HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria combined according, to the International Diabetes Federation. Current trends, such as the obesity pandemic, increasing life expectancy, and urbanization lead to a growing prevalence of the disease and the need for innovation in diabetes care. This report presents trends in the field of diabetes care. From these findings, four scenarios are derived that vividly depict possible futures. In the final part, five business ideas are elaborated and validated in each of the four scenarios.

Trend Report Spring 2016

Fighting Hunger in the Digital Era

The supermarket – the modern land of milk and honey! Located just around the corner, it provides us with a magnificent selection of food and beverages: fresh fruits and vegetables from all over the world, meat and fish in abundance, coffee from Brazil, rice from Thailand, beef from Argentina – every product available 24/7. For most inhabitants of the industrialized world, purchasing and consuming food is easy and convenient. No dirty hands, only a few dirty dishes. Food consumption has become so easy and cheap that it is done on an excessive level: since 1980, the number of obesity cases has doubled globally and reached more than 1.4 billion adults in 2008 according to the World Health Organization Fact sheet No. 311 (2012). This report presents trends in the field of fighting hunger. From these findings, four scenarios are derived that vividly depict possible futures. In the final part, five business ideas are elaborated and validated in each of the four scenarios.

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Trend Report Fall 2015

Entrepreneurship in Bavaria

Entrepreneurship plays a crucial role in modern knowledge societies. Startup companies enter the market with novel products, services and business models, fostering innovation and economic development. A vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem can be a major source of employment and contributes to the competitiveness of one’s economy. Acknowledging the importance of entrepreneurship, policy makers become increasingly involved in creating entrepreneurship-friendly environments. However, identifying suitable concepts for entrepreneurship support requires a thorough understanding of entrepreneurs’ requirements and recent trends in the entrepreneurship ecosystem. This study identifies recent trends in entrepreneurship and applies entrepreneurial means to come up with novel concepts for the creation of a more entrepreneurial-friendly ecosystem in Bavaria.