Group items tagged

Australia's peak ICT research body, National ICT Australia (NICTA), has launched a "Digital Productivity Showcase" facility that displays new applications for digital communications.

"FOUR DEGREES OR MORE? Australia in a Hot World explores the unintended consequences of current domestic and international climate policies. It invites us to imagine the social, economic and ecological implications of catastrophic global warming for Australia and its region."

"Great expectations and a virtual world are among the megatrends changing the role of museums and arts organisations. The megatrends, identified by CSIRO trend analyst Stefan Hajkowicz, are a major shift in the cultural, economic, social, environmental and technological milieu that are expected to radically change the context of everything we do over the next 20 years. Some of the trends go to the very nature of why people come to museums, raising the possibility that museums, galleries and theatres could replace shops as the 'third place' where people congregate. Others will change the processes by which our organisations operate and the subjects on which we focus. Speaking at the Musuems Australia National Conference in Canberra on Shaping the Future of Museums, Dr Hajkowicz said while some changes were 'black swans' - phenomena never seen until a major change of environment - many were more like a 'kangaroo in the headlights', who sees the car coming but remains frozen. He gave the example of Eastman Kodak, which was involved in the development of the digital camera in 1975 but failed to change its business model from dependence on film and filed for bankruptcy in 2011."

Skill Australia 2050 scenarios - 

"We are Academically Qualified Futurists who provide innovative, dynamic leadership and qualified expertise in transformation practice from a futurist perspective. The purpose of our practice is to create powerful, measurable and practical results for individuals and organisations by providing the expertise and proven methodology to guide them to shape their best possible future, the future they aspire to live. We work one on one with individuals from Australia and around the world to assist them to identify, strategically plan and create significant, conscious and purposeful improvement in their life. We work with organisations in Australia to assist leaders in the strategic development and implementation of significant, cultural and business transformation."

Future Government conference  Australia, September 12-18

"A NEW citizen science project will be launched next month to help researchers assess how our marine ecosystems are changing in response to ocean warming. Currently each year over three million Australian's go fishing, diving and boating and scientists want to enlist their help to collect valuable data for the RangeExtension Database and Mapping Project. Redmap invites recreational and commercial fishers, scuba divers, boaters and scientists in Western Australia to spot, log and map any uncommon marine species not usually seen in their particular coastal areas."

"A generation of far-reaching social change lies ahead for Australia. There will be a serious struggle to adapt to climate change as water security becomes a critical issue for many coastal cities and for agriculture. "

Interactive video - trying to leave Australia and seek asylum

"We say price falls are both imminent and unstoppable. Philip Soos explains why," Collyer concluded. "This is essential reading for every citizen thinking of buying.

"Australia's Federal Government announced the National Broadband Network (NBN) in 2009. NBN's current roll-out is scheduled for completion in 2021, with market forecasts estimating optical fibre overtaking DSL broadband connections in about 2015. This paper provides a timely contribution to more critical and expansive analysis of potential Australian internet futures. First, 'schools of thought' and current technological frames (Web 2.0, 'the cloud') for the internet and its possible futures are outlined, which provide perspectives on the emergence of the NBN. We then outline five generic images of the future which, as predetermined images, enable quick 'incasting' of alternative futures for a technology topic or related object of research: promised future, social/speculative bubble(s), unfolding disruption/chaos, unintended consequences, and co-existence/'cooption'. High-level application of the 'schools' and generic images to the NBN and Australia's potential internet futures, suggests policymakers and strategists currently consider too few perspectives."

"THOUSANDS of wannabe Martians from Australia have put their hand up for the biggest relocation of a lifetime - from Earth to the Red Planet. More than 2500 Australians have applied for the one-way trip to Mars, which will double as a reality TV show. The Mars One project, which aims to create the first human settlement on the Solar System's second-smallest planet, has received 165,000 applications from astronaut hopefuls from 140 different countries. "We now have a large group of applicants from where we can start our search," Mars One chief medical officer Dr Norbert Kraft said. "Finding the best crews of qualified and compatible individuals is crucial to the success of our mission." Successful applicants will have to say goodbye to Earth forever, with the first crew of four people expected to launch into space for their seven months journey to Mars in 2022."

2013 - Australia 19, New Zealand 17 Australia primary weakness innovation output.... Global Innovation Index 2013 Conceptual Framework The Global Innovation Index 2013 (GII) relies on two sub-indices, the Innovation Input Sub-Index and the Innovation Output Sub-Index, each built around pillars. Five input pillars capture elements of the national economy that enable innovative activities: (1) Institutions, (2) Human capital and research, (3) Infrastructure, (4) Market sophistication, and (5) Business sophistication. Two output pillars capture actual evidence of innovation outputs: (6) Knowledge and technology outputs and (7) Creative outputs. Each pillar is divided into sub-pillars and each sub-pillar is composed of individual indicators (84 in total). Sub-pillar scores are calculated as the weighted average of individual indicators; pillar scores are calculated as the weighted average of sub-pillar scores. The framework is revised every year in a transparent exercise to improve the way innovation is measured.

Building infrastructure does not produce economic growth unless there is already a skilled workforce and an expanding private sector to exploit it. Job creation schemes are expensive, require continuing support and tend to divert jobs from elsewhere rather than create new ones. Worse than the waste, these regional economic development programs can prevent money from going where it is both needed and able to contribute to economic growth - in Australia's fast-growing or `bolting' regions.

The baby bust, the big tilt, whatever you want to call this bold new demographic world, it is like nothing we have experienced before. It works silently, eating away at the consumer and the tax base just as it worked for the consumer and the tax base over the past 60 years: more babies and more young migrants pumped up the worker base. But at some point it all comes crashing down. And that point is upon us or at least will be upon us in the coming decade. And it's not just Australia where the demography tilts in favour of the retirement age group. The working-age population in Japan has contracted from 87 million in 1994 to 81 million in 2010; over the previous 16 years the working-age population had expanded by nine million. Which period delivered greatest prosperity to the Japanese people?

"This is a forum where participants from different disciplines and organisations can meet and challenge each other to develop the field of participatory innovation. It will be held in Melbourne Australia from 12-14 January 2012. The conference presents an exciting programme of five tracks: "

Scenario Thinking for Small Business Survival with Professor George Cairns, RMIT University.Thursday, September 01, 2011 from 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM (GMT+1000)Melbourne, Australia

Ajay Kapur, global strategist at Citigroup, and his research team came up with the term "Plutonomy" in 2005 to describe a country that is defined by massive income and wealth inequality. According to their definition, the U.S. is a Plutonomy, along with the U.K., Canada and >>>Australia<<<. [my emphasis - TM]

"The tenth symposium of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation (CCI) focuses on the way socio-cultural research addresses complex problems and opportunities in Australia, the Asian region, and globally."

The Association of Professional Futurists (APF) is holding an 18-hour "follow the sun" virtual conference starting in Europe the morning of October 26, crossing the Americas, and finishing in Australia 18 hours later.