Workshops

Ageing population: the coming demographic deficit

Sheila Moorcroft, Dr. Tracy Ross and Jens Jacobsen

The world’s population is ageing. Over the next two decades falling birth rates and extended life spans will cause a demographic deficit in the world’s population. Across the globe the population will stagnate or shrink while the number of people in retirement will explode. What are the opportunities for businesses to adapt to this changing demographic certainty? These disruptive demographics create new market opportunities but introduce new challenges for companies and societies alike.

The future of transportation

Professor Glenn Lyons, Jens Jacobsen and Gavin Lewis

Good transportation is crucial to the economy of countries and their societies. It supports travel, growth, commerce and leisure and is essential for a successful economy. This workshop is focused on the future of transportation and the factors that are shaping transport and travel over the next 30 years. Topics to be considered may be inclusive of some or all of the following: how governments respond to increasing demand for travel; delivering an environmentally sustainable and safe transportation system; faster delivery and greener enjoyable journeys; and the role of technology and information in supporting these goals.

Creating a knowledge-based economy: information integration

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Leticia Gutierrez Villarias, Dr. Cathy Dolbear and John Darlington

One of the greatest challenges faced by our industry, and indeed the future information economy as a whole, is that posed by our need to exploit our existing information resources in new and innovative ways. At the heart of the problem is finding efficient ways to integrate information collected for different reasons and held in diverse ways. New technologies – such as the semantic web and ontologies – that offer the potential to enable these challenges to be met are emerging. This workshop delivers an insight into these technologies, identifies how they may be exploited and how soon.