Futurist Jack Uldrich explains why Unilever’s new “Compass” initiative offers other companies a sustainable path toward the future.

Global futurist Jack Uldrich discusses the future of manufacturing.

As a professional futurist, I don’t claim to predict the future. However, the two things I’m confident in stating are: 1) Today is the slowest rate of change we will ever experience again; and 2) the greatest change today is the rate of change. The world is accelerating and it’s imperative that business leaders spend…

Early Sunday morning, the first 3D printer was launched into space. This news is yet another sign that the field of 3D manufacturing is maturing. The zero-gravity 3D printer will possess the ability to use thermoplastics capable of withstanding high temperatures. Longer term, it is hoped that future versions will utilize more  advanced materials, including aluminum…

It’s been a decade since I wrote, The Next Big Thing is Really Small: How Nanotechnology Will Change the Future of Your Business, but the field is really coming into its own. A few months ago, I shared a video of Samsung’s self-healing smartphone which uses advanced nanomaterials to eliminate scratches. Now, I’d like to…

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…

Twenty-five years ago, 20 megabytes of storage cost approximately $800. Today, Google and a handful of other cloud-based storage providers offer 100-times as much storage for free. Fifteen years ago, the idea that a world-class encyclopedia could be created and maintained by free labor would have seemed impossible. Today, Wikipedia is routinely access by millions…

NASA recently demonstrated that a 3D printed injector could withstand high heat and 20,000 pounds of thrust. This is yet another sign that 3D manufacturing is poised to blast-off in the near future. Interested in other post on 3D manufacturing from futurist Jack Uldrich? Checkout the entire chapter on 3D manufacturing from his latest book,…

Cody Wilson of Defense Distributed delivered a real “shot heard around the world” last week when he demonstrated an operational 3D printed gun. As profound as this event is, the future is about to become even stranger–and more frightening. This is because researchers at Duke University have just created a simple invisibility cloak using a…

In the early 1960’s, Andy Warhol made experimental music videos with the Velvet Underground. Today, thanks to low-cost computers, the Internet and platforms such as YouTube, millions of people are making their own music videos. In this same way, in New York City and other locations, innovators are today experimenting with 3D manufacturing. Tomorrow, millions…