The Inclusive Economy & Tomorrow’s Global Citizens

In eco­nom­i­cal chal­leng­ing times SMEs, due to their high adapt­abil­i­ty and resis­tance to exter­nal­ly induced crises, have an impor­tant func­tion for the region­al eco­nom­ic. To reflect this impor­tance for the region of Upper Aus­tria, ACADEMIA SUPERIOR and the Eco­nom­ic Cham­ber of Upper Aus­tria, in coop­er­a­tion with the Eco­nom­ic Depart­ment of Upper Aus­tria and the Aus­tri­an Fed­er­al Min­istry for Eco­nom­ic Affairs, Sci­ence and Research, have devel­oped a strat­e­gy for SMEs and fam­i­ly owned busi­ness­es in Upper Austria.

The „Upper Aus­tri­an Strat­e­gy for SMEs and fam­i­ly 2030” and its cen­tral eight action areas were pre­sent­ed on Novem­ber 14th in Linz. Dur­ing this event, the futur­ist Anne Lise Kjaer talked about the chal­lenges of tomorrow’s econ­o­my and how SMEs should respond to them.

In a fast mov­ing, com­plex and con­nec­tive world, busi­ness­es need to keep up with data analy­sis and pat­tern spot­ting to iden­ti­fy future opportunities.

As cen­tral trends, on which SMEs have to respond if they want to remain suc­cess­ful, Kjaer enu­mer­at­ed eight:

RADICAL OPENNESS — Rep­u­ta­tion is your most valu­able cur­ren­cy as SME. CEOs should com­mu­ni­cate clear­ly and with total trans­paren­cy to build up trust.

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION — The dig­i­tal trans­for­ma­tion is not a des­ti­na­tion, but a process where tech­nol­o­gy must be seen as an enabler for build­ing trust and a key to high performance.

THE SMART SOCIETY — New smart tech­nolo­gies will dri­ve a bet­ter future, invit­ing peo­ple and busi­ness­es to col­lab­o­rate for mutu­al ben­e­fits. The Inter­net of Things and our increas­ing con­nec­tiv­i­ty will gen­er­ate a glob­al brain.

GLOBAL CITIZENS — Hyper­mo­bil­i­ty and a ral­ly for the best tal­ents will shape the future of work­force. Tal­ent is the most crit­i­cal fac­tor to inno­va­tion and busi­ness growth. Mul­ti­cul­tur­al­ism will be the key for busi­ness­es and regions to attract the high­est talents.

BETAPRENEURSHIP — More entre­pre­neur­ship will be the key for the wel­fare states to gen­er­ate jobs, inno­va­tions and com­pet­i­tive­ness. This leads to dis­rup­tive inno­va­tions and cre­ative communities.

GREEN GROWTH — The cir­cu­lar econ­o­my and the shar­ing econ­o­my will gain impor­tance in the future to make the most out of our resources. At the same time our atti­tudes are shift­ing towards acces over ownership.

DIVERSITY CULTURE — A cul­ture of diver­si­ty will cre­ate an envi­ron­ment which enables life­long learn­ing and lead to inclu­sive Organ­i­sa­tions. In this process empath­ic lead­er­ship inspires col­lab­o­ra­tion and inno­va­tion. This also requires a flex­i­ble labour mar­ket, where ‘fit seniors’ work as much or lit­tle as they want to top their own pensions.

SOCIAL CAPITAL — Since the term „qual­i­ty of Life” will be increas­ing­ly rede­fined, our clas­si­cal way of mea­sur­ing suc­cess will be chal­lenged. Mind­ful lead­ers try to make busi­ness for peo­ple and tell authen­tic stories.

Kjaer’s new book „The Trend Man­age­ment Toolk­it A Prac­ti­cal Guide to the Future” has recent­ly been pub­lished. In this book she explains how you can cre­ate your own map of rel­e­vant future-trends and find the right answers to the chal­lenges of tomor­row with your own toolkit.