I sit on a fair number of boards and project steering groups (start-ups, established, traditional, think-tanks and government bodies) and act as an independent advisor in the digitalization area. What strikes me:
- Most of us have heard and read about the radical techno-driven future. How data is the key part of any business and public sector steering - a data-driven economy emerging. Supported by standards, DLT, IoT, Machine Learning, AI and so forth.
- Fewer have so far taken in how the information flow has impacted the plastic human brain. How we cannot rely on communicating in the old way when the attention span is 8 seconds..
- All by now know that the speed of change is increasing exponentially. Many have a sense that nobody knows where we are going so fast. And especially those who have read Harari's Homo Deus may suspect that nobody knows where the break is.
- Still, most are optimistic - even if dystopia has gained market share not least because of global warming and the attacks on democracy.
- All of the high-level deluges are also leading to a craving for more concrete steps. What should we do today? There are so many alternatives - and it should often be on a global scale.
- Startups are bumblebees on steroids - in frantic search of the next juicy flower. But they have little resources for ecosystem standardization.
- Society at large should do more to help them to deliver. We need more open data behind standardized interfaces to get the most out of the entrepreneurial start-up boom.
- In fact, we need more high-quality regulation (did I say that? I also mean fewer nitty-gritty rules and more competition). PSD2 and GDPR are eminent showcases and the base for the coming MyData driven service design revolution.
- So, if we find time to step back to see the big picture, have more x-sector small group discussions and
get started with concrete steps all over the place, the future will be very bright.