The future in the sign of massive global upheaval

Is China winning the global race for cutting-edge technology? What does China's Silk Road Initiative mean for global trade relations? What role will artificial intelligence and future technologies such as 5G or robotics play for the economy and society? And is Europe being pulverized in the strategic conflict between the USA and China? These questions were the focus of a top-class interdisciplinary panel discussion of the FERI Cognitive Finance Institute in Königstein-Falkenstein.

Artificial intelligence (AI) as a decisive power factor

"Digital disruption and its knock-on effects are already a key driver of the global scenario," emphasized Dr. Heinz-Werner Rapp, FERI board member and founder of the FERI Cognitive Finance Institute. The global economy is under massive pressure to adapt as a result of digitalisation. At the same time, there is a threat of enormous upheavals in the world of work and society, to which politicians have not yet found suitable answers. "Digitization, demographics and disparity are combining to form an explosive mix that will strongly shape the coming years," Rapp said. The intense race for artificial intelligence (AI) is also influencing the global power architecture, he said. "AI is becoming the central power factor on which geostrategic planning is already heavily focused," Rapp said. The extent to which Europe can hold its own in the increasingly intense race between the superpowers China and the US remains one of the important questions for the future, he said.

China makes the world more Eastern

"China's global role has changed fundamentally," stressed Prof. Dr. Sebastian Heilmann, former founding director of the MERICS Institute for China Studies. The China expert stressed that the country's rise was leading to an "Easternization of the world." "The established assumptions of system competition, international rules and standards no longer apply," Heilmann said. Above all, through its new Silk Road initiative and the associated investments in global infrastructures and logistics hubs, China will completely rearrange global value chains, he said. In key technologies such as quantum computing, China will assume a global leadership role by 2030 at the latest.

Prof. Dr. Robert Obermaier, director of the Center for Digital Business Transformation and professor at the University of Passau, warned companies not to overlook digital transformation. "Digitalization is more than just increasing efficiency," Obermaier said. Corresponding investments by the manufacturing industry in recent decades have brought cost advantages, he said. "But productivity remains at the same level as 30 years ago in the face of shrinking margins," Obermaier said.

Futurologist Lars Thomsen supplemented the discussion with further fundamental future trends and "tipping points" - i.e. scenarios of upheaval that will have a significant influence on industries, economies, work and society. For example, thanks to artificial intelligence, information overload will no longer be a problem in the future. Renewable energies, in combination with storage systems and smart grids, will be the predominantly cheaper alternative to fossil fuels. And the majority of new technologies will be able to respond empathetically to people's needs.

The FERI Science Talk is an established dialogue format with which the FERI Cognitive Finance Institute regularly offers top-class scientists and capital market experts a platform for interdisciplinary exchange on future trends and current developments in politics and business.