FUTURES OF RAW MATERIALS

Greentech is hot, and possibly overheating. Surging green investments in still-to-be-proven technologies may overinflate this market bubble. Much depends on whether greentech’s issues can be efficiently addressed and whether governments will step in – and step up funding – if investor money dries up.

With the exponential growth of Asian economies, the consumption balance is shifting from the West towards the emerging markets in Asia.

As more and more consumers demand sustainable products, manufacturers and policymakers are urged to respond to their needs and change the current linear growth model. With the “Right to repair” movement and self-healing materials, we may soon witness products with a longer lifetime, and a rapid transition towards the circular economy.

In our article series, we zoom in on some specific areas and industries in the world that will emerge after the COVID-19 pandemic. This third instalment is based on an analysis by Futures Platform, with insight from the founder and chairman of energy company St1 and climate change advocate Mika Anttonen and Futures Platform’s Senior Foresight Analyst Max Stucki.

The current pandemic has shown that global supply chains are highly sensitive to disruptions in times of crisis. It is possible that sooner or later the Western countries will start to repatriate at least the most critical supply chains from abroad. The key driver behind the repatriation is to ensure the security of supply. However, in some cases, economic benefits may play a part as well.

3D printing and Hyperloop may not seem an obvious combination. Still, they may help in easing the tight housing market and provide more flexibility and options to live in different sized cities.

The COVID-19 has shaken the lives of everyone, but the crisis will be overcome. However, economic, political and social changes are unavoidable. For this reason, it is important to anticipate the world after Coronavirus to ease the recovery.

About 90% of the world's commodities are carried by the international shipping industry, annually. Liner shipping also transports around USD 4 trillion of goods yearly. There are more than 8,000 thousand of ports in over 200 countries worldwide. Here are their current challenges and future trends.

For many, Africa may seem like a continent with a sealed fate. But Africa is a vast continent, replete with nations growing and developing rapidly. Despite challenges that continue to assail it, Africa seems set to play an increasing role in world affairs. The question is, will African nations be able to follow the example of many Asian nations and do it sooner rather than later?

A team at the Tel Aviv University in Israel has achieved a major breakthrough by 3D-printing a heart with human tissue and vessels. In the future, this technology could be used to repair damaged hearts or to print entirely new ones, to be used for transplants.

Microplastics, very small plastic fragments, less than 5 millimetres in length, can be found in several places. And there’s a lot of it. A 2015 study showed that there are between 93 and 236 metric tons of microplastics in the world’s oceans. They have also been found in freshwater ecosystems, in the soil, and even in the air. Even more worrying, they have been found inside a lot of animal species.