Session 10

This class was technically the last teaching session for the sem. Where these 11 weeks flew away, I don't know. These weeks of TWC have been insightful, and opened my perspectives to so many different kinds of technologies and innovation, both existing and developing.

In this session, we spoke about something that is obvious, but at the same time, thought provoking. Everything we do, from this minute on, will determine our future. It is but inevitable that we go into the future. It is essential to be prepared, so we can move into the future easily.

We were shown a promotional video from SIEMENS, which identified urbanization and demographic change as two major developments in the world. It is essential to make more provisions in cities and metropolitans, as more and more people are moving from small towns to the big cities. These provisions should be such that they are sustainable as well, for example, solar trash cans, which can compact waste using solar power, to create space for more.

In order to make use of the current and future technologies, it is essential to be able to tell the winners in the future from the dead ends. Betting on a particular technology may or may not bring about the required change, as things change in the long run. It is difficult to predict the future of any technology.

In that sense, technology assessment is evaluating current technologies, but technology forecasting is predicting the future technologies. There is a drastic difference between the two, as one deals with the present, while the other with the future.

An important driver for technology forecasting is the great number of technologies being developed everyday. It is essential  to evaluate the feasibility and practicality of these technologies to make use of them in the future. Another thing which is essential is to find out the needs and prioritize them before deciding which technology to develop in. It is essential to utilize the scarce resources we possess. 

John F. Kennedy was quoted as saying that it is essential to prepare for the future and not get hung up with current issues and situation.

We also discussed certain common methodologies used in forecasting technology, like:

Strategic foresight- walking back from the future, rather than walking forward from the present,

Bibliometrics-using literature review to see how often does a word or technology come up in a text and assessing how much people talk about a certain technology,

Citizen's panel- a forum where in people can discuss their ideas and opinions,

Delphi, Futures workshop and gaming to name a few.

 Strategic foresight is walking back from the future rather than walking forward from the present.

The future is shaped by our present, and it is important to think before taking any step or action in today's time. It is necessary that we move towards a sustainable environment and a better tomorrow. We have only our actions to account for that. The last teaching session of TWC was very interesting, and was a great end to all the readings and presentations over the weeks. I would like to rate this session a 9 on 10. :)