Changing the world for the better

Dr Isa Hofmann explains how innovation on the cutting edge is essential to a sustainable future.

“It is important to bank on the power of cross-sector innovation that points towards a new business model - one that respects environmental issues and societal prosperity”
-Dr Isa Hofmann

“What will be of importance tomorrow is most probably what we ignore today.” Starting with this reflection from the former Intel CEO, Andy Grove, let’s take a look at recent worldwide trends that will have an immediate impact on our businesses. We distinguish four megatrends: globalisation, mobility, neo-ecology and health and body.

The world has become a global village, distances and borders are easy to overcome and this is no longer merely an economic phenomenon, but affects all areas of life – education, consumer habits via mass media, private ambiances and relationships. We all experience extreme mobility in space and time, in our daily life when driving to work, travelling for business meetings, even when moving house.

The increasing awareness with regard to environmental offences and ecologically harmful processes needs to be taken seriously. Companies who want to be successful need to envisage doing business in a much more sustainable way in the coming decades, proving they have a respect for nature and mankind and adopting this new business model according to social compliance. The concept of neo-ecology will shift the coordinates of our entire economic system. The LOHAS community (Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability) is steadily growing and already accounts for 30 percent of consumers.

The new body consciousness on the borderline between leisure, fashion, medicine, nutrition and cosmetics is perhaps the most radical evolution. Society is facing a paradigm shift: work conceptions, values and personal identities are being redefined and these new perceptions will change the imaginations, desires and wishes of each of us in the global community. Within the next decade, intangible values like friendship, authenticity, meaningfulness, commitment and sustainability will gain new momentum and have a major impact on shopping and consumer habits as well as lifestyle concepts.

In these periods of financial crisis, it is even more important to bank on the power of cross-sector innovation that points towards a new business model – one that respects environmental issues and societal prosperity. There is tremendous potential based on the innovative power of companies dedicated to research and development and the development of new technologies and materials.

Forward-looking entrepreneurs create markets, create values: environmental security, global energy, collective intelligence, new materials and emerging technologies will enable the necessary paradigm shift that a growing global community of conscious consumers is asking for. When shaping the future, we need to reflect our points of origin. In architecture, a new doctrine has come up to respect the bio-climatological conditions and combine them with modern technologies and materials. It’s a new symbiosis of simplicity and authenticity, combined with artificiality based on innovative materials.

New membrane types that guarantee a perfect temperature control in buildings by solar reflection and absorption; translucent aerogel-filled roof panels that play with natural light sources; photocatalysis that enables new air purification technologies; functional coatings that keep off the heat; and membrane types with advanced polymer coatings and integrated photovoltaics on the top layer of roof constructions that generate energy: these are just a few examples of the fascinating opportunities for technical textiles in architecture.

The challenge is to combine these new technologies with ancient knowledge. The traditional patio in Andalusia or in the Arabian villages is a perfect bio-climatological environment, producing fresh air by the evaporation of water combined with vegetation. The aligned incidence of light in old temples and mosques when creating suspense and a special atmosphere for meditation and spiritual contemplation is another example. We have a fabulous opportunity to create new ecologically healthy cities emanating positive energy where people love to live and work in.
 
“Issues we don’t think about today and tomorrow, won’t be seen and lived the day after tomorrow on our market squares and in our streets,” postulated Ortega y Gasset, the famous Spanish philosopher. We need to surrender our sightlessness for the future and give up our compulsion to always control everything from scratch. We must modify our visions – be open to new horizons – if we want to be successful, creative and remain competitive in a new and sustainable way.

Dr Isa Hofmann is CEO of privately owned consultancy firm IHOFMANN.