Financial Services Ireland

EY Megatrends Report

EY Megatrends 2020 and beyond

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Understanding megatrends will help you see opportunities where others don’t.

The world changed in March 2020. Almost overnight, the Covid-19 pandemic strained health care systems to the breaking point, put much of the global economy on an indefinite hiatus and radically reshaped societal norms and interactions. For businesses everywhere, these events are undermining established assumptions while catalysing new models and approaches.

The pandemic and its fallout on businesses has been the greatest global disruption in modern history. It is permanently changing the future of society, work, geopolitics and businesses. If conducting future-back planning based on megatrends and scenarios was important before, it is now critical. This way of thinking and resetting for the future will determine which companies exit the pandemic cycle in a renaissance and which will become irrelevant.

EY Megatrends provide leaders with a framework for navigating this unprecedented change and charting future growth. Authored by the EY global think tank EYQ, the megatrends report explores “what’s after what’s next?” by identifying the trends that should be on leaders’ radars and the longer-term realignment of markets, society and the global order.

The megatrends discussed in the report, which you can download below, existed prior to the pandemic and will continue to move forward in its aftermath. While Covid-19 has upended much of the world, the basic framework of the megatrends — the forces driving them and the future working worlds they enable — remain as relevant as ever.

The report explores:

  • Decarbonisation
  • Techonomic cold war
  • Behavioural economy
  • Synthetic media
  • Future of thinking
  • Work and life unbounded
  • Microbiomes
  • Synthetic biology

It also discusses future working worlds, including:

  • Africa’s new century
  • New economic metrics
  • Mending social fabric

You may also find it useful to review our latest insights and thinking to support you in leading through these volatile times; don’t hesitate to reach out if you have a question.

Eoin MacManus

Managing Partner, EY Financial Services
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