Global futurist Jack Uldrich discusses the future of manufacturing.

If you want to stay on the right side of the future, the first thing to do is to acknowledge that the future will be different–perhaps radically different–than the present. With this in mind, here are ten game-changing technologies and trends it would behoove you to begin familiarizing yourself with today. Super Quantum Computers: Nvidia…

  “The future is here. It just isn’t evenly distributed.” In 1983, the science-fiction author, William Gibson penned those prophetic words. They remain apropos for 2016 because ten existing technologies (listed below) are poised to change the game in virtually every business sector in the coming year. Blockchain: Double-entry bookkeeping and limited liability partnerships don’t…

Yesterday, I delivered the opening keynote presentation at the American Technical Education Association’s 51st annual meeting in St. Paul, Minnesota. The title of my talk was “The Ten Trends Transforming the Technical Education of Tomorrow.” To demonstrate how fast the world of technical (and higher) education is changing I explained how Oculus Rift–a promising virtual…

A common and popular vision of the Internet of Things—which I loosely define as the connection of billions of physical objects to the Internet through the use of low-cost sensors—is the example of an alarm clock smart enough to read your daily schedule, review the latest traffic and weather reports and then communicate this information…

We live in amazing times and our world is about to become even more amazing in the near future due to a plethora of game changing technologies. To understand why, it first helps to consider just a few of the technologies and trends that did not make my list: 3D printers, flying drones, low-cost robotics,…

Jeff Bezoes gave an insightful interview on 60 Minutes last evening. One of the more interesting technologies he unveiled was “PrimeAir”–an innovative unmanned aerial vehicle delivery system. (See the video below). The technology has the potential to play out in a way similar to the video but I believe a more likely scenario is that…

In 2003, I authored a book on nanotechnology, The Next Big Thing is Really Small: How Nanotechnology Will Change the Future of Your Business. In it, I speculated that self-healing materials would soon become commonplace and, to be honest, I was a overly optimistic in the timing of my projections. Nevertheless, LG has just released…

The word literally is often misused but I don’t believe I’m engaged in hyperbole when I say Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla and SpaceX, may literally have his hand on the future of manufacturing–and I don’t believe you will either after watching these two videos. The first shows Musk demonstrating how new Leap Motion…