Global Revolutions Forum offered promises & perils for 2025

By Frances Altman
VCU School of Business

Virginia Commonwealth University's 10th Annual International Business Forum drew over 500 students and guests for an afternoon of discussions, questions and answers focusing on "The Seven Global Revolutions That Will Shape the Future." All 10 of VCU's Annual International Business Forums have been made possible by a generous grant from the Universal Corporation and support from Mr. Allen B. King, chairman, CEO, and president of Universal Corporation.

Other supporters of this year's event included the VCU School of World Studies, the Society of International Business Fellows, the Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce, the Richmond Export-Import Club, the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, the World Affairs Council of Greater Richmond, the Greater Richmond Technology Council and the Virginia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

The seven challenging global revolutions-- population growth, resources management, technological innovation and diffusion, economic integration, conflict and governance were projected to the year 2025 by Erik R. Peterson, senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) located in Washington D.C.

Some startling facts uncovered by Mr. Peterson's presentation included:

• Global population is increasing by 77 million people every year or 2-1/2 persons every second until it will reach 8 billion by 2025. 
• Food, water and energy (natural gas and oil) are the major resources to be managed, with demand skyrocketing in the next 20 years, particularly in Asia and China. Although there will be no shortage of world food supplies (yet), water usage will be depleted faster than Mother Nature can replenish it.
  
• Technology and innovation are evolving even faster with breakthroughs in biotechnology and genomics leading the way. Through genetic therapy many individuals may easily reach 120 years of age.

Mr. Peterson defined work and learning as the same thing, and predicts that an individual may expect to make a half dozen job changes in a working lifetime. Today, 2.8 billion people live on $2 a day. The 225 richest persons' income equals the combined earnings of 2.7 billion workers.

Mr. Erickson sometimes painted a perilous picture, indicating that there has been a quantum leap in terrorism since September 11, 2001 and the horror of that day has become a standard that all future terrorists will benchmark their efforts against. The real danger from terrorists is that so many details on weapons of mass destruction have been published. Those who would do us harm have easy access to such information from the Internet. More to the point, we are losing the ways to control the growth and spread of such information.

Will these revolutions lead us into peril and instability, or promise and prosperity? To Mr. Peterson, the answer is "yes" to both. But the nature and degree of each will depend on our understanding of each revolution and our ability, as a global society, to respond strategically to each and all of the seven revolutions that will shape our destiny.

All of the seven revolutions are discussed on the Center for Strategic and International studies website www.7revs.org/, or learn more about the Center at www.csis.org.