Food 2030: sustainable, healthier, personalised

- Change, Incorporated: Successful companies will be those that improve the health of the planet and its population.

 - Smart diets: Technology will enable consumers to construct hyper-individualised approaches to physical and mental health.

Source: Mintel.

- High-tech harvests: Consumer trust in food science and technology will strengthen as these become vital tools to save the food supply.

Mintel, which is all about what consumers want and why, has announced three trends that will shape the global food, drink, and food service industries over the next 10 years:

Expect to see consumers further prioritise plants in their diets, with the planet's health in mind as much as their own. Food waste will lead the way for more sustainable consumption and innovation.

Consumers will gain a better understanding of what makes them unique using health-testing services, artificial intelligence-enabled apps, and increased personal data collection. Meanwhile, with consumers expected to live longer, many will want to learn how their diet can benefit long-term cognitive health.

Expect to see brands use science and technology to create new products, shorten production time, and confirm trustworthiness. Meanwhile, new ingredient-growing regions, such as those in Africa and India, and agricultural innovations, including floating farms, will emerge to tackle global food insecurity.

Alex Beckett, Associate Director, Mintel Food & Drink, says:

Change, Incorporated

“In the next decade, consumers will be hungry for leadership and demonstrable change on environmental issues, ethical business practices, public health, and other important causes. Consumers will reward brands that take action and improve important societal issues. The companies that will win in the next 10 years will be those that fuel the new era of conscious consumption. Tomorrow's conscious consumers will be looking for eco-friendly packaging and products, while also seeking guidance on how to make their diets more sustainable.”

Smart diets

“Looking ahead, more consumers will be able to gain in-depth knowledge of their biology through personal health testing kits which will empower them to personalise their diet and health regimes. Analysis of these tools will inform consumers of the steps they need to take to address every aspect of their health, including brain and emotional wellbeing. As a result, in order to succeed over the next decade, brands will need to offer more personalised product offerings, develop smart home solutions, and assist consumers in addressing mood and brain health.”

High-tech harvests

“Science will interlace with the food supply chain to boost yields and combat climate change. Celebrating the sustainable, health, and cost benefits of lab-grown food will be crucial in educating consumers about nature-identical alternatives. But the food and drink industry will be compelled to elevate the role of nature, and humans, in the storytelling of these new, modern solutions. Transparency of information is essential to building trust in a future where scientists play as integral a role as farmers. And championing the people behind the food—whether it is grown in a laboratory or a field—will remain a timeless way of building trust with consumers."

Dell: Here's what Singapore business leaders think about future human-machine interaction

- Great potential on the horizon: 80% of business leaders in the Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) region expect their workforce and machines to work as integrated teams within five years

- Leaders are divided on what this future means: 58% of Singapore business leaders think automated systems free up time, but around four in 10 disagree

- Singapore organisations are united in the need to transform and how, but not moving fast enough: only one in five believe they are leading the way, embedding digital in everything they do

Source: Dell Technologies infographic. More than half of respondents globally think schools should teach how to learn, and not what to learn.

We are entering the next era of human-machine partnerships with a divided vision of the future, according to global research* now available from Dell Technologies. Nearly six in 10 (58%) of Singapore business leaders forecast that automated systems will free up their time. Similarly, 58% believe that smart machines will work as admins that connect individuals to highly personalised goods and services, while 42% disagree. The findings reveal that a reliance on machines will lead to greater efficiency, unity and possibility than ever before.

Singapore business leaders (45%) predict this will impact their ability to compete over the next decade. However, they are less prepared compared to their global counterparts – citing a lack of digital vision and strategy as a top barrier. Singapore business leaders are not progressing quickly or deep enough and only 21% of those surveyed say digital is ingrained in all they do, compared to the global average of 27%.

The quantitative research conducted by Vanson Bourne follows Dell Technologies’ seminal story, Realizing 2030: The Next Era of Human-Machine Partnerships. That study forecasts that by 2030, emerging technologies will forge human partnerships with machines that are richer and more immersive than ever before, helping us surpass our limitations. Business leaders in the APJ region agree: 80% of respondents expect humans and machines will work as integrated teams within their organisation inside of five years.

But Singapore business leaders are also split by whether the future represents an opportunity or a threat, and torn by the need to mitigate these risks. In fact, business leaders are divided by what the shift into the next era will mean for them, their business and even the world at large. For instance: 

- More than half (52%) say the more we depend upon technology, the more we will have to lose in the event of a cyberattack; 48% disagree

- Nearly six in 10 (57%) of business leaders are calling for clear protocols in the event that autonomous machines fail; 43% abstained

- Nearly six in 10 (59%) say computers will need to decipher between good and bad commands; 41% disagree

Specifically, Singapore research data for lifestyles shows that:

Forecast	Agree	Disagree
Automated systems will free up our time	58%	42%
People will take care of themselves better with healthcare tracking devices	50%	50%
People will absorb and manage information in completely different ways	62%	38%
Smart machines will work as admins in our lives – connecting our lives to highly personalised goods and services	58%	42%
It will be harder to disconnect from technology	48%	52%

For workstyles, the Singapore research data showed:

Forecast	Agree	Disagree
We will be more productive by collaborating more	55%	45%
We will have more job satisfaction by offloading the tasks that we do not want to do to intelligent machines	48%	52%
Schools will need to teach how to learn rather than what to learn to prepare students for jobs that don’t exist yet	71%	29%
We will learn on the job with augmented reality (AR)	55%	45%
Not sure what the next 10-15 years will look like for our industry, let alone our employees	57%	43%

Business operations were mostly split 60:40 for Singapore respondents:

                                                                                                                                       

Forecast	Agree	Disagree
Clear protocols will need to be established if autonomous machines fail	57%	43%
The more we depend upon technology, the more we will have to lose in the event of a cyberattack	52%	48%
Computers will need to be able to decipher between good and bad commands	59%	41%
We will be part of a globally connected, remote workforce	63%	37%
Technology will connect the right person to the right task, at the right time	50%	50%

 

“You can understand why the business community is so polarised,” comments Jeremy Burton, CMO, Dell Technologies. “There tends to be two extreme perspectives about the future: the anxiety-driven issue of human obsolescence or the optimistic view that technology will solve our greatest social problems. These differing viewpoints could make it difficult for organisations to prepare for a future that’s in flux and would certainly hamper leaders’ efforts to push through necessary change.”

Eric Goh, MD and VP, Singapore Enterprise Business, Dell EMC commented: “We’re on the cusp of immense change, fuelled by emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT), that are opening up new frontiers in Singapore and on a global level. While there are differing views in the way leaders forecast the future, Singapore remains ahead of the global curve with more respondents believing in the transformative impact of technology in overcoming the digital barriers ahead.”

The findings also revealed Singapore business leaders’ attitude to the future of skills. Seven in 10 (71%) believe that schools will need to teach students how to learn rather than what to learn to prepare them for jobs that do not exist yet, compared to the global average of 56%.

However, many businesses are not moving fast enough, and going deep enough, to overcome common barriers to operating as a successful digital business. Only 21% of Singapore businesses believe they are leading the way, embedding digital concepts in all they do. Almost half (45%) do not know whether they will be able to compete over the next decade, and 53% of businesses are struggling to keep up with the pace of change.

The main barriers to becoming a successful digital business in 2030 and beyond in Singapore include:

- Lack of a digital vision and strategy: 72%

- Lack of workforce readiness: 66%

- Technology constraints: 48%

- Time and money constraints: 45%

- Law and regulations: 22%

Despite the wide range of views, the majority of businesses believe they will be well on their way to transforming within five years. Singapore business leaders say they are likely to achieve the following within five years in Singapore: 

- Have effective cybersecurity defences in place: 94%

- Deliver their product offering as a service: 93%

- Complete their transition to a software-defined business: 92%

- R&D will drive their organisation forward: 85%

- Delivering hyper-connected customer experiences with virtual reality (VR): 78%

- Using AI to pre-empt customer demands: 83%

Burton adds, “We’re entering an era of monumental change. Although business leaders harbour contrasting views of the future, they share common ground on the need to transform. Based on the many conversations I have with customers, I believe we’re reaching a pivotal moment in time. Businesses can either grasp the mantle, transform their IT, workforce and security and play a defining role in the future or be left behind.”

Explore:

Access the quantitative research report, executive summary and infographic

Read more about the Dell Technologies Realizing 2030 initiative

Hashtags: #Realize2030, #digitaltransformation

*The research was commissioned by Dell Technologies and undertaken by Vanson Bourne, an independent research company, completed in June to August 2017 with 3,800 business leaders from midsized to large enterprises across 17 countries including ANZ, China, India, Japan and Singapore. The respondents were drawn from 12 industries and key functions impacting the customer experience (from business owners to decision-makers in IT, marketing, customer service, R&D and finance, etc.). The research explores the changing relationship between technology and people, emerging technologies’ impact on business and the way we work and how business leaders and CIOs plan to succeed over the next 10 to 15 years.