Dr. James Canton

Media Testimonials

"James Canton claims in his book, The Extreme Future: The Top Trends That Will Reshape the World in the Next 20 Years, knowledge networks will be the foundation of our future economy."
Forbes

"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

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

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

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

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

"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

"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

"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

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

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

"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

"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

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

Client Testimonials

Population - Demographics - Workforce

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

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

Invisibility Cloaks for Smart Materials Anyone?

Invisibility Cloaks for Smart Materials Anyone?

The quest for smart materials that can render the wearer invisible has been a holy grail for physics. Arcane reports and pseudo-science have unconfirmed reports tracking invisibility for many generations. Now with advances in nanoscience, basically a material science revolution, smart materials that can "bend light" and re-frame perception of the viewer may be a step closer to reality. Why is this important? My forecast reveals this is not so much about making things invisible. It  shows that we are entering a new era of smart materials that can be designed for making fundamental new sources of energy, eating pollution, crafting fantastically smart computers and making new pharmaceuticals for disease management. 

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, say they have created materials that bring them closer to creating invisibility cloaks. Look for their research in two journals, Nature and Science. The researchers used 3-D metamaterials, or composites with the ability to bend electromagnetic waves, to negatively refract light. InfoWeek reported, "What we have done is take two very different approaches to the challenge of creating bulk metamaterials that can exhibit negative refraction in optical frequencies." Xiang Zhang, professor at Berkeley's Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center, said in a statement, "Both bring us a major step closer to the development of practical applications for metamaterials." 

This is big breakthrough. The Berkeley researchers stacked layers of silver and nonconducting magnesium fluoride and cut nanoscale-sized fishnet patterns into them for the metamaterials. They measured a negative index of refraction at wavelengths as short as 1,500 nanometers. We will reduce this with nano-computers within the next five years, this futurist forecasts. 

The Top Ten Workforce Trends

1. A global war for Smart Talent will be the top driver of competitive advantage, as educated, skilled and experienced employees will be in demand.
2. The aging of the population in America and Europe will have dramatic effect on society and the economy impacting productivity, knowledge and growth.
3. An increase in women in the U.S. workforce will change the policies, power and positioning of organizations. Women will alter the strategies of boardrooms, industries and markets.
4. A diversity savvy workforce will be required to understand and align with the diversity in the global marketplace. Diversity will be a critical competency for leaders and employees.
5. Finding, training and retaining high-tech skilled employees from a global talent pool will be the greatest challenge for every organization.
6. Incorporating innovation into the organizational DNA will be a key driver of future competitive advantage.
7. Building a sustainable, healthy and green workplace will be an essential capability for retaining talent and attracting the future workforce
8. Preparing employees to meet the challenges of a complex and stressful future, where accelerated change and risks can be managed effectively with high performance agility, will be vitally important.
9. An organization that is committed to employee development, continual education and   training, will return to the organization new skills and new competencies.
10. Attracting the next workforce, or preparing the current one, will require a new workforce culture to better understand transnational teams, online collaboration, globalization and business process transformation.

Updated from the book, The Extreme Future: The Top Trends that will Shape the World in the Next 20 Years, by Dr. James Canton.

Future Smart: Managing Extreme Change

Complex new challenges brought by the customer, technology, competitors and the marketplace will make being successful in business tougher to accomplish in the Extreme Future. If there is one skill that may offset these challenges it is navigating Extreme Change.

Managing change has become recognized as one of the key drivers of competitive advantage, growth and success for any business. Many of the challenges facing business can be overcome by better managing change. Being a faster, smarter change manager will be a vital competency for the 21st Century Leader. How leaders understand change and use change differently than the competition may become a secret weapon for building future growth and sustainability into their business. This keynote will teach leaders how to manage change for innovation to get the authentic benefits. It will also give them a glimpse of what is to come next. Key trends affecting technology, customers and competitors will be analyzed and discussed. Market research on consumers, technology and employees will be reviewed.

Dr. James Canton
CEO
Institute for Global Futures

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