THE WORLD IN 2020: THE YEAR OF MORE WALLSTWEETS!
Dear SBS Stakeholder,
Welcome by the start of a new decade, where climate change, digital transformation and a private flight to the moon are making headlines.
We start the decade with the year of the “wallstweets”, where the US President will create the headlines via his Twitter account and influence the world stock markets. In November 2020, there are elections, and Mr. Trump will be re-elected. Why? Voters do not like brutal changes; we had all previous US Presidents for 8 years, unless there is something very big happening to affect the popularity of the current President.
2020 will be a good year for sports fans. Olympic Games, European football nation’s cup in several cities across Europe, and our Roger Federer will positively keep surprising the world.
From a business perspective, these are the issues to look for:
Social media will change. It is not important to have 5000 friends, of which, 4970 you do not even know. Connections will have to become meaningful and if each post will show the real identity of the writer, Internet will become fairer and internet bullying will decrease.
Eco-consumers will conquer your supermarket and companies need to adapt quick! Eco status products were very costly but have a look at the price evolution: A Tesla Roadster costed 10000 Swiss francs in 2009 being only one on the market, whereas today they have few models to choose from and you can purchase a Model 3 for 45000 Swiss francs. Electric and autonomous cars are the reality in the next 10 years. We need to tell the consumers that the eco-evolution will cost money and new forms of eco-taxes will appear, but from an innovation point of view, it is a wonderful time!
Linear TV will die slowly and will eventually phase out. More and more people we will pay for subscriptions, on-demand and other sharing streaming services. Through effective data gathering, we can increase convenience and personalization for the users. The biggest risk to this is cybersecurity and digital dependence. Invest in a solid working ICT system, because cyberattacks will increase.
Overall, there will be less economic growth this year on a global scale. De-globalization through increased tariffs and trade wars and the global economic dominance issue will dominate the news in 2020. Brexit and US-China trade war will keep the headlines and the population on the African continent will grow to 1.7 billion people by 2030, according to the UN Population Agency. Don’t this about country marketing anymore, megacity marketing is the only way to go, preferred in a digital version.
From a human perspective, think about your lonely neighbor this year. It is horrifying to read that someone died in an apartment block, and nobody knows the person.
Finally, those who think to refresh their office space; white and blue is perfect for the Chinese Year of the Rat, which starts on January 25, 2020.
Stay healthy and Happy 2020! Keep on having SBS learning FUN!
Bert Wolfs, Ph.D.
Academic Dean