Celebrate Endings, For They Precede New Beginnings

A HOPEFUL TURN OF THE CALENDAR

There’s always something about the beginning of a new year that fills us with hope and inspiration. But after a year that defies explanation, many of us aren’t so quick to proclaim “this will be the best year ever!” Instead, we’ll be happy with a little normalcy: hugging a friend, sharing a meal, seeing a concert, a dedicated workspace. These are the new aspirations.

We’re far from out of the COVID woods, yet even the prospect of taking two steps forward, one step back feels like a groundswell of hope amidst all that remains difficult. Vaccines are rolling out, a remarkable feat of science in under a year. Carbon emissions have dropped, sparking new ideas around lifestyle changes that can support sustainability.

Meanwhile, Smart medicine in the health-care industry has accelerated with remote patient monitoring helping COVID19 patients recover at home, while keeping others with chronic illness out of overburdened hospitals.

THREE WORDS FOR 2021: RETURN TO WORK

As we all start wading through our inboxes, and hit the ground running, productivity is on everyone’s mind. But as the impact of COVID19 continues to another calendar year, what can we expect as 2021 gets going?

As businesses chug back to life and leaders continue to search for answers amidst a pandemic, there are key elements in the ongoing, gradual return to work. We continue to contend with the challenges of remote working while eyeing the coming trend of flex working – which, as this article reminds us, can present varying impacts on people.

There’s no question that the pandemic has been an inflection point for how businesses view automation, diversity and inclusion. The same goes for how we work, and the importance of nurturing wellbeing, self-management, and a sense of community – “human skills” can be challenging to foster in a remote environment.

For many companies and employees across a wide range of industries, sustained, 100 percent remote work is simply not desirable, nor feasible for the long-term. Instead, many companies such as Google are opting for gradual or flexible returns, with employees splitting their time between working from home and at the office. Such flexibility not only requires creative scheduling, it also requires flexible spaces that are reimagined for employees’ specific needs.

OUR PREDICTIONS FOR 2021

Based on our conversations with leaders of Fortune 500 companies, growing tech startups and global services firms, we expect offices to regain 25% capacity flexible but permanent fashion on the other side of summer. The pressure of space per employee won’t be immediately understood during this phase. The needs of each employee - and the combinations of people returning to the office in this early phase - will teach us about the new demands workplace experience and facilities teams. Check out our predictions for how the office will transform this year including the critical role of workplace experience managers and fully interconnected office buildings in our newest article.

SPEAKING OF PREDICTIONS, HERE'S A LOOK AT SMART TECH TO COME

Congrats to our home city Toronto for landing fourth in a ranking of top tech cities in North America, behind the (no surprise) San Francisco, Washington D.C. and Seattle. Smart tech companies in these global innovation hubs will forge our collective paths into a safer, more efficient world.

News out of Arlington, Virginia is expecting the Pentagon to go big into Smart technology in 2021, piloting a diverse range of emerging innovation. These include wearable sensors, neuromorphic computing capabilities (inspired by the circuitry of our brains), and holographic displays. Meanwhile, news out of the European Union suggests that Smart tech will play an increasingly important role in combating overfishing and aiming for sustainable seas. (Check out the SMARTFISH project.)

Forbes has earmarked esports, wearables, blockchain tech, digital health and AI-spawned creativity as technology trends to watch in 2021, while others are predicting autonomous vehicles entering the mainstream, private 5G networks and Smart cities as drivers of IoT innovation. One thing is clear: the year ahead promises no shortage of innovation.

A HOPEFUL TURN OF THE CALENDAR

THREE WORDS FOR 2021: RETURN TO WORK

OUR PREDICTIONS FOR 2021

SPEAKING OF PREDICTIONS, HERE'S A LOOK AT SMART TECH TO COME

IN OUR SPACE ...

"Cats know how to obtain food without labor, shelter without confinement, and love without penalties."

- W.L George