Dr. James Canton

Media Testimonials

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"Dr. James Canton serves notice that new technologies sweeping the financial services sector will rock your world in the next three to five years"
New York Times

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"Dr. Canton predicts that the value of networks of interaction will increase exponentially as soon as fast bandwidth becomes available"
Fortune Magazine

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"Dr. Canton is named Digital Guru for his timely insight and digital predictions"
CNN

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"Dr. James Canton has seen the future and warns to guard against complacency, not technology"
Wall Street Journal

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"Dr. Canton is one of the top 21 speakers for the 21st century"
Successful Meetings Magazine

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"The major future trend that will affect everyone in business in the future will be the emergence of the innovation economy. Innovation will be the currency of the future marketplace" Indicated Dr. Canton.
US NEWS & World Reports

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"Dr. Canton says there have been more technological innovations that have caused changes in culture and business in the past 25 years than in the previous 10,000 years"
Selling Power Magazine

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"Dr. Canton says identify areas of vulnerability, have security teams at the ready and conduct through security tests at least every 90 days to insure your organization's economic sustainability in the event of attack."
CEO Magazine

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"Dr. Canton is a futurist who envisions a whole new business world"
Wireless Review Magazine

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"Dr. Canton predicts that the CFO of the 21st Century needs to understand technology better than the CIO of the 20th Century"
eCFO Magazine

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"The merging of the physical and the virtual world will have a profound impact on education, entertainment, and health care. Doctors will be on the Net as they operate on patients; education will become an experience of cyber-traveling to engage in synthetic adventures; entertainment will become interactive, sensory, and infinite in its possibilities" Predicted Dr. James Canton
Business 2.0 Magazine

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"Dr. Canton forecasts that consumers will be given a full sensory experience in cyberspace that will come to rival walking through a physical mall"
Executive Technology Magazine

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"Dr. Canton provides fresh takes on the Global Digital Economy"
Yahoo

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Client Testimonials

Web 2.0: The Future of the Internet

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Radical evolution of the Internet will continue to transform business, communications and society in fundamental ways. This keynote forecasts the key trends that will shape the Internet--starting with Web 2.0 and going deep into the future--telepresence, social graph, virtual reality, social networking, pervasive mobility, sensing and the impact on consumers.

Dr. James Canton
CEO
Institute for Global Futures

Read some Client Testimonials

Population - Demographics - Workforce

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Keynote Audio Podcasts

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  CIO Magazine Interview's Dr. Canton
  Sponsored by IBM
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  Technofutures and the Innovation Economy
  Consumer Bankers Association
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  The Extreme Future
  Trend Buro's 11th Annual Trend Day
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  NPR and The Extreme Future
  NPR Interviews Dr. Canton on new book, The Extreme Future
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  Natl. Agri-Mktg. Assn. and The Extreme Future
  NAMA Interviews Dr. Canton on Agriculture in The Extreme Future

Download Free Book Chapters

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Please find selected chapters from the book Technofutures: How Leading-Edge Technology Will Transform Business in the 21st Century by Dr. James Canton

• Welcome to the Extreme Future chapter 1
• The Four Power Tools - chapter 2
• Future of E-Business -chapter 7
• Future of Health Care chapter 10
• High-Tech Innovation and Leadership chapter 14

Societal Implications of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology

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Introduction

The rapid evolution of advanced technology has constantly served up innovation after innovation in super-compressed time frames - from the mapping of the Human Genome and cloning to supercomputers and the Internet. Information technology is now responsible for as much as one-third of the U.S. Gross National Product. This is an astounding metric validating we are entering an era driven by accelerated technology developments, that have increasingly a significant economic value. The rapid advance of new technology has moved beyond our ability to accurately forecast with precision the impact on economics, business and society. We need to approach this challenge with new predictive models that are designed for the real-time complex changes that emerging technologies are influencing. This is perhaps most relevant given the challenges of nanotechnology.

We are in the midst of a large-system paradigm shift driven by accelerated exponential growth of new technology. We are witnesses to faster, more comprehensive change shaped by new technology than any civilization in history. This is but the beginning of a new wave of technologies, such as nanotechnology, that will redefine, reshape and eventually transform economies and societies on a global scale. Nanotechnology is a continuation of the next chapter in the acceleration of advanced technology and, perhaps more importantly, it may point towards the transformation of the future global economy. Nanotechnology may become an essential large-systems strategic competency that will require coordination among all sectors of society in order to become a force for enhanced social productivity. This technology is fast emerging. Nanotechnology may well shape the sustainability and wealth of nations, organizations and entire industries in the future. A central concern here is the necessity for us, together as a nation, to plan today to meet the readiness challenges that most certainly will lie ahead.

If Nanotechnology, the manipulation of matter at the atomic level, at maturity achieves even a fraction of its promise, it will force the reassessment of global markets and Economies and industries on a scale never experienced before in human history. The ubiquitous nature of nanotechnology as a fundamental design science will have applications for numerous industries: manufacturing, health care, and transportation to name a few. Since we do not know what yet is possible we can only speculate on the potential. Those societies and interests that develop the next generation tools will be first to building the nanoeconomy of the 21 st century.

Read more: Societal Implications of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology

Future Compass: Three Global Scenarios for 2010

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By Dr. James Canton
CEO & Chairman
Institute for Global Futures
Copyright 2003

About Future Compass
Future Compass is a process conducted by Dr. James Canton where scenarios are developed around key change drivers, trends and forces that will shape the future of an enterprise, market, industry, society or civilization. In these Future Compasses three different tomorrows are considered given varying degrees of change drivers. These Future Compasses are all possibilities yet to emerge that have vastly different outcomes, workouts and impacts on consumers, markets and society. The purpose of this overview is to summarize the results of a Future Compass Global Scenario Design seminar conducted to help clients identify and understand the key change drivers that will shape the global future in 2010. All three of these Future Compasses are probable even in different time periods. The process of Future Compass is designed to enable a learning capacity to emerge to encourage critical forward thinking. To enable folks in the enterprise to be able to better: 1. anticipate change, 2. predict the elements of future-shapers and 3. Develop a strategy to be able to shape their future.

Future Compass #1: Global Collaboration 2010

Overview
Collaboration among and between governments, corporations and citizens has produced relative prosperity. Global GDP is at 7%. Robust economies as in China, the EU and US are seeing 5%. Relative global peace, security and social prosperity are hallmarks of this era. Economic growth is steady. Global diversity is celebrated and bridges between industrial and emerging economies are closing gaps as poverty, hunger and disease are addressed. Global economic opportunity is growing and boundaries between nations are dropping. Free trade and commercial global transactions are unifying supply chains, markets and societies as peace and prosperity win out over war and desperation. Global conflicts have been averted as economic and social progress has been achieved.

Business Impact

• Integrated electronic on-demand supply chains
• Digital markets
• Few trade barriers
• Low government regulation
• Emerging markets growth
• Rise of globally diverse consumer base
• Ecological sustainability
• Robust new markets
• Increased competition
• Access to capital investments
• Sustained steady growth
• Strong ROI on R&D investment

Key Scenario Drivers

• Global IT and network deployment
• Strong investment in science and technology
• Internet and wireless infrastructure
• Rise of moderates globally united for peace
• Strong international aid and military presence to broker peace
• Increased access to health care, education and economic opportunity

Future Outlook

The outlook for the world given this Future Compass is optimistic. Prosperity, growth and development are paying off. Further efforts must be taken to insure in stability, security and prosperity. Fundamentalism has been marginalized and conflict contained.

Future Compass #2 Cultural Silos 2010

Overview
Cultural silos, walled off nations, regions and cities became necessary after the increase in global conflicts. No support for international engagement left a power vacuum-no peacemakers. And without the peacemaker's chaos ruled. The inability of the global community to contain and resolve major flashpoints in Asia, Europe and Africa left many citizens to fend for themselves. Huge gaps between the safe and the at risk population, emerged. The global growth in terrorism and crime outpaced the authority's ability to control the impact on fragile social systems. Collapse of essential services like health care and sanitation, as well as in the banking sector led to corporations stepping in to create order. In the industrialized West, security rivaled materialism. Affluence is now equated with safety, economic stability and social order. Low growth, low productivity, few prospects for change indicate a cloudy forecast for future prosperity. Global GDP is a negative percentage. Some select regions are thriving but with a regional and local focus. Innovation is gone.

Business Impact

• Insecure financial markets
• Slim access to expensive capital
• Local markets focus
• Fragmented supply chains
• Risk analysis drives decision-making
• Learning to market to the Silo Consumer segment
• Select stable yet mature markets
• Rise in protectionism
• Currency markets in flux
• Thinner profit margins
• Aging consumer segments that are shrinking
• High risk entry to new markets
• Low investment in R&D
• Low investment in new products and services

Key Scenario Drivers

• Need for security
• Protectionism
• Technology for security
• Lack of new markets
• Lack of new customers

Future Outlook
The outlook is problematic, not hopeful, pessimistic-batten down the hatches except there is no future in sight. Survival is the key and growth is unlikely. This could last a long time as the needs for communication and change are low.

Future Compass #3: A Better Tomorrow 2010

Overview
A hopeful but complicated environment characterized by moderate growth, is the best way to describe this era. The participation and international engagement of the major and minor powers in the peace process has managed to handle all the big conflicts. Micro wars still rage leaving billion or so in poverty, ignorance and with little chances for progress. Global cooperation to manage terrorism has been successful. Free trade has moved slowly but not fast enough to bring the emerging nations to where the first world lives-but there is movement. This progress has resulted in overall peace and prosperity but for too few still. The inability of governments and corporations to realize a global free trade policy has slowed down growth and development.

Business Impact

• Insecure consumers
• Marginal access to capital
• High cost of capital
• Low investment in R&D
• Tech innovations low
• Low collaboration in business
• War for talent
• Strong global diverse market opportunities

Key Scenario Drivers

• Diplomacy
• International cooperation to secure peace and prosperity
• Free Trade
• Open Markets
• Access to education
• Access to capital
• Access to talent

Future Outlook

The future outlook for this compass is promising, but guarded with hope. This is not really a fragile era but it could evolve one way or another. With international cooperation prosperity and peace will emerge. Without this global security, markets and economies as well as quality of life will drop. The prospects for progress in this scenario are conducive for a better tomorrow.

Summary

Each of these different Future Compasses requires business and governments to act different, plan differently and prepare differently. By examining the possibilities, and then mapping out the impact on the consumer, the market and the enterprise, new strategies will emerge.