Reverse brain-drain, women's empowerment among Frost & Sullivan's global megatrends till 2020:

Reverse brain-drain benefitting countries like India, the emergence of mega-cities and the empowerment of women workers are some of the 'mega trends,' identified by international consultancy Frost & Sullivan, that will influence and shape the world in the coming years.

World's top global mega trends to 2020 and implications to business, society and cultures, the research report by Frost & Sullivan, says the world will witness reverse brain drain, wherein the vast vacancies for CXOs in countries like India will be filled not only by returning Indians, but also by Americans and Europeans seeking better prospects.

Besides India, many other emerging nations – including China, Poland and the Philippines – will witness the reverse brain-drain, as thousands of former migrants return home to buoyant economies, with salaries almost at par with those in the west.

Frost & Sullivan, which pinned down the top mega trends influencing the world, also launched a 'visionary innovation research proramme.' Ongoing research will cover a spectrum of interesting mega trends in areas such as development of mega cities, regions and corridors, 'smart' emerging as the new green, geo-socialisation, innovating to zero, beyond BRIC: the next game changers, space jam, personal robots, e-mobility and new business models.

The objective of the programme is to provide companies with special reports to focus on the evolution of these global trends to help them drive growth and innovation in a rapidly changing environment.

''Frost & Sullivan defines mega trends as global, sustained and macroeconomic forces of development that impact business, economy, cultures, careers and personal lives, thereby defining our future world and its increasing pace of change,'' says Sarwant Singh, partner in the international firm. ''The unique feature of this programme, compared to other predictive programmes, lies in its ability to not only identify and evaluate emerging mega trends, but to also translate those opportunities to everyday business and personal life – the macro to micro approach. In other words, we are not just throwing out forecasts for the future, but showing organisations immediate opportunities and threats in the here and now.''

Some megatrends

• According to the analysis, sustainability was one of the major mega trends that shaped human, organisation and government behaviour in the last decade. The study forecasts health, wellness and well-being with a much wider definition than mere healthcare, which will include body, mind and soul as the most important factor of discussion and differentiation in this decade.
  
• Women empowerment will reach new heights, with one in three workers being a woman and up to 40 per cent of boardrooms in some nations comprising women by 2020.
  
• Another trend is that future urbanisation will drive integration of core city centres or downtowns with suburbs and satellite cities, resulting in expanding boundaries from the current average of 40km to around 64km. ''We will witness the emergence of 30 mega-cities, 15 mega-regions and at least 10 mega-corridors with over 20 million people by 2020,'' says the report. ''Urbanisation will lead to new hub and spoke business models for healthcare, logistics, retailing and many other functions, forcing organisations to re-think their 'Urban' business model.''
  
• e-mobility will redefine personal mobility in the future. Over 40 million electric vehicles, including electric pedal cycles, scooters, four-wheelers and buses will be sold annually around the globe in 2020. The opportunity in the e-mobility market is not in making cars but in its value chain, batteries (including second life and recycling), charging stations and packaging innovative mobility solutions such as 'pay by electrons,' adds the report.
  
• The next level of social networking will focus on geographic services and capabilities such as geo-coding and geo-tagging to enable additional social dynamics. User-submitted data with profiles and interests will be matched with location-based services to connect and co-ordinate with surrounding people or events. This type of geo-networking will drive markets, businesses and individuals to interact, advertise and promote in real time.
  
• Another trend identified by Frost & Sullivan is 'innovating to zero,' which examines a world of zero emissions, zero accidents, zero fatalities, zero defects, zero breaches of security and carbon-neutral factories.