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Thursday, 20 March 2008

Well prepared for the future!

Bayer MaterialScience is preparing for tomorrow’s world by setting up the "Future Living 2020" network project. Let's take a look forward to the year 2020.

Global economic processes will be controlled by a small number of fully networked megacities, resulting in a concentration of power with a strong pull-effect. While the surrounding areas will visibly decline in importance, the giant cities will act as nodal points of global trade, capital and information flows and attract increasing numbers of people. Everybody will want to share in the prosperity of the small ruling class. The infrastructure in these megacities will struggle to cope with the influx of people, and the huge gap between rich and poor is likely to lead to increased levels of crime and the proliferation of slum dwellings. These pulsating, round-the-clock oligocenters will literally burst at the seams.
"You need only think of today's metropolises such as São Paulo and Mexico City," says Eckard Foltin, head of the Creative Center in the New Business unit at Bayer MaterialScience, explaining the results of the "Future Living 2020" networking project. "We're talking about cities with millions of inhabitants, experiencing uncontrolled growth and with major social and environmental problems. However, one example that bucks the trend is Shanghai. Despite having an overcrowded center with enormous pulling power, growth there is controlled because politics and industry are working hand in hand."

An interdisciplinary approach

Future scenario…? "Future Living 2020"? It's time we explained a bit more. Bayer MaterialScience and domestic appliance manufacturer Vorwerk began the "Future Living 2020" networking project at the end of 2003 with the aim of gaining an accurate picture of the future. Under the direction of renowned corporate consultants InventionNET of Kelkheim, near Frankfurt, Germany, which specializes in the field of future business development, the companies worked with well-known partners from industry and research to analyze the work and leisure habits that people will evolve in the future and the resulting demands on high-tech materials and their manufacturers. Involving Hella KGaA, Melitta Haushaltsprodukte, REHAU AG + Co., Pfleiderer AG, Busch-Jaeger Elektro GmbH, Sonus, Mensen Creationeers, Degenhardt-Consult, HOCHTIEF Construction AG and the University of Applied Arts Vienna, the project covered a variety of different sectors and areas of expertise.