Work and Workforce Dynamics: The Keys to Success

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The where, when, how, what and who of work and the workforce are experiencing changes the combined impacts of which will be significant for almost all organisations whatever their size, sector or markets. To compete effectively, organisations need to understand the scale of these changes and explore the implications of these trends impacting all aspects of the organisation from sales to operations and everything in between. Workers too need to chart their future careers by knowing the likely opportunities and risks presented by changing markets, industries and employment models.

SELECTED INSIGHTS

WHAT IS CHANGING?

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?

Will future mobility lead to future instability?

 COMMENT
As we increase our mobility, we increase the fluidity of our workforce, our lifestyles, and our cultures May create large scale variability that can be detrimental to a region, its government, and radical shifts in supply and demand

Report raises ethical concerns about human enhancement technologies

 COMMENT
Drugs and digital technologies that will allow people to work harder, longer and smarter are coming soon, say scientists and ethicists, so we need to decide now how best to ensure they are used properly Although human enhancement technologies may benefit societies in important ways, their use at work also raises serious ethical, political and economic questions that demand broad consideration. These questions include, how do the public view these technologies, what are the consequences of their long-term use in individuals?

Apple said to be exploring switch from Intel for Mac

 COMMENT
Apple may be moving away from Intel chips for their future MacBook line. Estimated to happen in 2017 The line between laptops and tablets will get blurred in the near future. Apple is looking forward to hybrid laptop-tablet computers. The changes will not only change how users interact with technology, but will also reshape entrenched markets

Perpetually connected: are wearable computers and bio-implants the future of mobile?

 COMMENT
We are entering a pivotal era in which we will become inextricably intertwined with computational technology that will become part of our everyday lives in a much more immediate and intimate way than in the past Are you prepared for a world where your mobile device melds directly with your cortex, or do you assume functional wearable computers and BCIs are to remain purely entrenched in the realm of fiction?

3D printing ‘factory of the future’ launches in New York City

 COMMENT
3D printing is reaching industrial scale ? while still supporting human-scale enterprise. That?s the goal of what is billed as the world?s largest 3D printing factory, just opened in New York City The technology is poised to change the face of big industry. Ultimately, with its lightweight footprint, high levels of customization, and speedy delivery, 3D printing promises to make domestic manufacturing more competitive than overseas manufacturers

10 wearable health tech devices to watch

 COMMENT
Wearable medical technology is becoming a hot commodity. As the devices shown in this article come to market, they have the potential to help both patients and clinicians monitor vital signs and symptoms These devices will also increase the move towards personalised health, and depending on how we react to sharing our health data in the future, the generation of huge data sets about global health and disease

Are droids taking our jobs?

 COMMENT
Robots and algorithms are getting good at jobs like building cars, writing articles, translating ? jobs that once required a human. So what will we humans do for work? Andrew McAfee walks through recent labor data to say: We ain?t seen nothing yet. But then he steps back to look at big history, and comes up with a surprising and even thrilling view of what comes next

‘1000 genomes barrier’ broken

 COMMENT
A landmark project that has sequenced 1,092 human genomes from individuals around the world will help researchers to interpret the genetic changes in people with disease Will enable scientists to begin to examine genetic variations at the scale of the populations of individual countries, as well as guiding them in their search for the rare genetic variations related to many diseases

Will academia be destroyed by massive open online courses?

 COMMENT
For those readers who paid no attention to recent developments, a MOOC is massive open online course; it is a tuition-free course taught over the Web to a large number of students After years of college tuition escalating faster than inflation, the very value of college education is being seriously questioned; an Internet entrepreneur is even offering a skip-college fellowship. In this environment, the prospect of higher education at a dramatically reduced cost is simply irresistible

Beginnings of bionic

 COMMENT
Michael McAlpine?s shiny circuit doesn?t look like something you would stick in your mouth. It?s dashed with gold, has a coiled antenna and is glued to a stiff rectangle. But the antenna flexes, and the rectangle is actually silk, its stiffness melting away under water. And if you paste the device on your tooth, it could keep you healthy The electronic gizmo is designed to detect dangerous bacteria and send out warning signals, alerting its bearer to microbes slipping past the lips. A sign of things to come in increasing bionic uses