In the next episode of Future Forecast, Isabelle Ringnes talks with Shivvy Jervis who will get you excited about future technologies that are ready for action. Shivvy is an award-winning futurist, speaker and broadcaster who scours the globe to find out more about cutting-edge technology to present about.
From India to technology
Shivvy Jervis grew up in Bangalore, the Silicon Valley of India, where she was already reporting on new technology as a teenager. She was fascinated to unpick people’s stories “everyone brings a completely different perspective to storytelling,” which is where her curiosity for digital news came from. New technologies can be misunderstood because the concepts are often quite alien, but Shivvy makes digital and analog technologies relatable.
TUNE IN: Hear how Shivvy Jervis demystifies the technologies that we need to know about. Shivvy is on a quest to break down barriers towards technology and shows how innovations and leadership are linked to business success.
Future landscape
So what is happening in the world of technology? Shivvy reveals the big ones to get to grips with, including:
- Emotive artificial intelligence, which relates to cognitive computing where powerful algorithms can recognize emotions. Avatars will help individuals save time, for example they can book restaurants, search for a piece of information you only vaguely remember, enhance safety when driving a car, and a lot more
- Mixed reality merges the real and virtual words. An exciting example is touch reality where you can feel, press or turn a virtual button that does not actually exist. Keep an eye out for touchless dashboards. Small businesses, such as real estate, can hugely benefit from hologram software, a popular example is Microsoft’s HoloLens
- Biometrics optimizes security, and the second generation uses more complex aspects of human biology - think veins and heartbeat (everyone has a unique ECG).
Leadership 4.0
Shivvy explains that business leaders can be apprehensive to incorporate new technologies, because they lack openness. Leaders should look into “leadership 4.0,” which is gaining ground, says Shivvy, where digital leaders encourage innovation, push for change and understand the value of individuals.
“Leadership is not just one person,” she says, it is a collective way of moving a business forward, which requires agility, visibility, flexibility and a democratic working style. You will find these characteristics in start-ups, emphasizes Shivvy and points to Shunryu Suzuki’s, fitting quote: “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.” In this spirit, leaders must evaluate their methods and challenge their assumptions to break their own barriers towards new technologies, which is key in leadership 4.0. A simple start is to be active on software applications, such as social media, this will make leaders more visible and accessible to employees, says Shivvy.
Review tech trepidation
Digital skepticism is deep-rooted because people fail to understand the benefits, says Shivvy, and they assume that new technology comes riddled with problems, such as privacy and ethical issues, expensive hardware and the lack of IT skills, when for the large part this is not the case. Of course, she emphasizes that security should lie at the heart of all technological development, and naturally, innovations should only be upgraded when the consumer can feel more secure. The downside of technology is that anything is possible, so the ethics can remain questionable and further policy and policing is needed.
Leaders have an important role to play, and by working more holistically, as leadership 4.0 encourages, they will be able to open up to and review new technologies, which will ultimately deliver innovations that will work like magic for their business.
When asked about Elon Musk’s direct brain-to-machine interface idea, Shivvy highlights that there should be limits; people should embrace new technologies to make their work and personal life a bit easier - that is the key.