World Futures Fall 2021

"The Building Automation Systems Market was valued at USD 60.31 billion in 2020 and expected to reach USD 112.93 billion by 2026 and grow at a CAGR of 11.02% over the forecast period (2021-2026). Building automation systems, otherwise known as building automation and control systems (BACS), are automated systems that integrate and connect different facility technologies, including HVAC, lighting, surveillance, and security, among others, through information flow to a monitoring point."

"The global energy management system market was valued at USD 8.2 billion in 2020 and expected to reach USD 19.91 billion by 2026 and grow at a CAGR of 16.2% over the forecast period (2021 - 2026). The increasing focus toward issues, such as managing energy consumption, optimizing the use for renewable energy sources, and reducing carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions, is creating a demand for EMS. Further, cloud services effectively minimize operational costs of software development and maintenance and direct the monetary costs, cost of time, and spent resources on maintaining the in-house IT professionals and infrastructure on gathering, storing, and analyzing energy data.​ Cloud services are an ongoing trend responsible for the growth of the market studied."

"The smart homes market was valued at USD 79.13 billion in 2020, and it is expected to reach USD 313.95 billion by 2026 and register a CAGR of 25.3% over the forecast period (2021 - 2026). Across real estate companies and the architect ecosystem, the 'new normal' defined through the social distancing results in a requirement to go back to the redesign basics and reinvent the residential real estate product by factoring in new-age designing, efficiency, and innovation. As the redesign happens, the need for a totally new set of amenities has resurfaced and gained prominence. What the customer will need in the 'new normal' has undergone a revolution in the crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is leading to a paradigm shift in residential spaces."

"The wireless occupancy sensors market is expected to register a CAGR of 18.3% over the forecast period (2021 - 2026). Energy-saving has been crucial for growth in any economy, as a result, the government is also coming with several policies to save energy, which will drive the market in the forecast period."

"The wired occupancy sensors market was valued at USD 2.15 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach USD 6.57 billion by 2026, at a CAGR of 7% over the forecast period 2021 - 2026. The increase in demand for the stable and high-accuracy sensor will drive the wired occupancy sensors market in the forecast period."

"Beijing is isolating itself on the world stage after taking an aggressive turn on the diplomatic front in recent years, according to the report, which was released earlier this week. That behavior has sparked rising blowback, even from countries traditionally on friendly terms with the regime. "China is its own biggest enemy when it comes to influence," the report"

"A baby girl born in Singapore weighing the same as an apple is believed to be the world's lightest baby to survive a premature birth and be discharged healthy. She finally headed home with her grateful parents after 13 months of fighting for her life in the hospital. Kwek Yu Xuan was born at 24 weeks and 6 days gestation on June 9, 2020, at Singapore's National University Hospital (NUH). At birth, she weighed just 212 grams (0.46 pounds), making her lighter than the smallest survivor on the Tiniest Babies Registry managed by the University of Iowa."

"Several prominent professors at U.S. colleges have participated in China's talent acquisition program, according to leaked documents from a Chinese regional authority. The professors worked with the Thousand Talents Program (TTP), a controversial state-backed recruitment plan criticized by U.S. officials for its role in transferring Western research and technology to China."

"Banks said CalPERS' massive investments in China were estimated in 2018 to be $3.1 billion in at least 172 Chinese firms. He also noted that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently told a meeting of the nation's governors that included Newsom that CalPERS "is invested in companies that supply the People's Liberation Army (PLA) that put our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines at risk.""

"A landmark legal case is laying the groundwork for communities to sue parent companies for the damages of their subsidiaries... "The [supreme court] ruling, in my view, was a watershed moment in the accountability of multinational companies, and which would, in my view, most likely increase the ability of impoverished communities in Africa to hold powerful companies to account," said Charles Adeogun-Phillips, a former UNwar crimes prosecutor and international legal expert. "I also think that this will mark the beginning of a more regulated global environment in which subsidiary companies will be made responsible for human rights abuses, happening abroad.""

"an international team of researchers has found that these vegetables can be grown in a variety of soilless production systems in small spaces indoors, with or without artificial lighting. The findings are especially relevant amid a pandemic that has disrupted food supply chains"

Google has launched a new website called Find Food Support, which puts important resources on how to locate free and affordable food in the US in one place. Perhaps the most useful feature the website can offer is a new Google Maps tool that can point you to the nearest food bank, food pantry or school lunch program pickup site.

Grocery delivery service Instacart will soon begin accepting food stamps as a form of payment within its app. The company announced that "in the coming weeks," it's beginning a pilot with grocery chain Aldi to accept food stamps for its same-day delivery and pickup service.

Please add a short description here...and...is this H1, H2, or H3...in your view?

It leads to new ways to activate our brain to be more eficient during certain tasks.This achievement helps to identify the roles played by individual neurons in coordinating and carrying out behaviors which could be a cornerstone of future neural interface technologies. This research begins to teach us how the brain processes and executes goal-directed behaviors in higher-order species, giving the knowledge and tools to begin making sense of neural circuitry and coding. (Sanchez, Justin)

DARPA is always a great source! Is this H1, H2, or H3...in your view?

Global Sales Brands (Mercedes, IKEA, Walmart, Amazon)-companies with extensive data about their consumers will use fintech to offer financial services to customers, profiting from good risk and pushing bad risk to banks and insurance companies. So far this year, investors have poured $4.25 billion into embedded finance startups, almost three times the amount in 2020

Impacts and Implications are huge...great find!

Not everybody is happy about Musk rolling into south Texas. There are issues with the environment as well - the area he picked is ripe birds and other critters that need protecting from big business.

The battle lines are drawn!

Australia has lost about 30% of its koalas over the past three years, hit by drought, bushfires and developers cutting down trees

I did not like because I am anti-koala!