In case you think innovation is dead in this decade, read this document from the Institute For The Future (IFTF). Many interesting and new perspectives on technology, economic, social cultural and political trends around the world. What are the topics? Rise of China and Asia, biotechnology and its social consequences, GeoWeb and mobile social software, space exploration competition, NGOs, renewed citizenship, rise of cooperative models of strategic management, new job definitions, offshoring of white collar workers, decline of importance of nation states, rise of Creative Class, robotics, the fragmentation of the capitalist system in different variants around the globe and more. And yes, Howard Rheingold is in here again :-)
Overviewing all of this I believe individualization will increase even more while at the same time the cooperation between people will increase on different levels and for different purposes. Individualization across time (past = rise in importance of genealogy/DNA/roots; now = physical, creative and virtual (GeoWeb); future = DNA/biotech) while forming new tribes and nomadic cooperative models with a focus on now and future (capitalist as well as global ecological and social awareness/consciousness).
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