Future of the Entrerpeneur
“Being an entrepreneur isn’t about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen.” So said Scott Belsky, co-founder of Behance, a leading online platform for showcasing creative work.
It is this ability to turn ideas into practical innovation that makes entrepreneurs so valuable.
From a European perspective, the unique skillsets and sensibilities of entrepreneurs will become increasingly important over the next decade. This region faces enormous possibilities, but also some seemingly intractable problems - ranging from challenges relating to migration, to problems with the Euro.
In Britain alone, faced as it is with adjusting to a post-Brexit reality, entrepreneurialism will play a vital role in reshaping the landscapes of business, finance, politics, education, media and even social services.
Opportunities for innovation will increase manifold with the rapid adaptation of already emerging technologies. In architecture, for example, quickly erected 3D-printed houses are now going on the market in China. Meanwhile, designers are biulding using transparent timber, which has better thermal qualities than glass.
In the next ten years, as yet undreamt of techniques and tools will boost even further the upswing in inventiveness across many sectors of industry.
If you’re an entrepreneur, consider for a moment the huge opportunities presented by the following …
The Fourth Industrial Revolution …
We are about to see the death of old-school factories, where every facet of a complicated manufacturing process is covered under one roof. Entrepreneurs and owners of small to medium enterprises will seize on exciting opportunities to break into previously innaccessible and unaffordable prodution chains. Operating costs will come down as machines become self-repairing and, via the Cloud, self-educating. Ideas will potentially be realised more quickly, freeing up mental energy for solving even more intractable problems.
Of course, human beings will need help to make the rapid transitions that will be required, not just between jobs but across entirely new forms of livelihood. Again, entrepreneurs will see opportunities in the mental health and re-training sectors.
Education 4.0 …
Educational entrepreneurs will thrive in an environment in which schools will no longer operate as under-one-roof entities. Factories for learning will morph into smaller, cloud-connected learning units, spread over vast distances. Much of the learning process will be carried out remotely, with physical attendance by students or teachers rarely required. Indeed teachers’ roles will change dramatically as artificial intelligence begins to provide autonomous online and virtual reality tutorials. At the same time, entrepreneurs will investigate new approaches to humanise the automated learning process.
New Politics …
E-voting and even e-citizenship will change the face of political engagement in most of the world’s most advanced - and rapidly developing - nations. Technologies that encourage regional and global citizenship will lead to a situation where, for many people, national identity is an optional luxury rather than an existential necessity.
Political entrepreneurs, as well as those operating in the social enterprise space, will offer opportunities for people to buy directly into security, financial and political agencies which are trans-national in nature.
Medicine Goes Shared Ownership …
A decade ago, few people imagined that medical consultations and treatment could be augmented - or even replaced - using digital technologies. Today, Skype doctors are growing in influence. The near future offers the advent of AI medicine, with “intelligent” machines providing diagonoses, prognoses and even surgical procedures. Healthcare entrepreneurs will invent new ways to harness automation and digitisation for medical care - including the use of skillshare systems in which trained nurses provide online care.
These are just a few of the ways in which entrepreneurs will reshape the future across many sectors of society and industry. Entrepreneurs, inventors and innovators need to begin exploring the future before it arrives! Getting ahead of the change curve guarantees a stake in shaping the future.
Those who would reshape the future must engage present change. Entrepreneurs must begin now to upskill and upscale, because tomorrow holds great rewards for innovators who begin to create now!