I just heard an interview on NPR with Dr. Canton the author of "The Extreme Future" and "Technofuture". I reaaly enjoyed the conversation and he really had some great observations on a wide variety of the world's greatest new technical subjects. He has a good website that talks about some of these points here is one of his lists.

The Ten Top Business Trends for the New Future

1. Business and technology have fused into one system, one conversation, and one strategy, for one world. This is central to understanding the New Future.
2. Innovations are about new business models, enterprise and marketplace collaboration, new leadership and knowledge engineering.
3. Knowledge engineering, the formation and networking of knowledge-that which creates results, is the true asset of the 21st century.
4. The capture and analysis of customer information about product/service use, needs, wants, desires and behavior is mission-critical to the enterprise.
5. The integration of customer touch points across all channels is essential to future success. Watch out for the breakdowns.
6. The capacity of an organization to understand the key trends that will shape the future of technology, customers, society and the marketplace will determine the survival of the enterprise.
7. More disruptions are coming in the form of emerging markets, electronic exchanges, security breeches, and changing customer demographics.
8. Human capital, the value of talent will be the most valuable resource in the 21st century.
9. Entirely new industries will be formed by innovations yet to be brought to market. Look for the health enhancement, interactive TV nanotech, and on-demand supply chains to emerge.
10. The New Future will need New Leaders that are aware of how to attract talent, manage innovation, set high visions and execute profitably. There is a new paradigm about leadership that is emerging.

Top 10 Trends in other categories