Dr James Bellini

Leading British Futurologist

Welcome

Dr James Bellini – ‘historian of the future’ – is a thought-provoking speaker and moderator and a regular choice at top-level management conferences and business schools on every continent.

A graduate of Cambridge with a PhD from the London School of Economics and a respected TV broadcaster, he brings a strong focus on technological, economic and social trends shaping the world of tomorrow up to Horizon 2030 and beyond.

Announcing Project 2030

The Breakthrough Decade
The decade of the 2020s will see more breakthrough innovations and new technologies than in the whole of the 20th century. Every aspect of daily life and every business sector – from healthcare and medicine to education and urban living, from super-tech manufacturing to the infinite possibilities of space – will be transformed in ways unthinkable even ten years ago.

New Worlds

A host of bold projects – breathtaking in their ambition – will be re-shaping the global landscape. To name just a few: In Abu Dhabi, the $22 billion zero waste, zero carbon Masdar City will be approaching completion. Japan’s Shimizu Corporation, working with countless research firms and government agencies, has plans for an underwater city – the ‘ocean spiral’ – to house 5000 people in a giant sphere containing homes and businesses resting just below the ocean’s surface, with a factory powering the city by using microorganisms that convert carbon dioxide into methane. And beyond our world, NASA and its counterparts in China, Europe, Japan, India, Russia and elsewhere, alongside a burgeoning private sector space industry, aim to meet the awesome challenge of sending humans into Mars orbit in the decade of the 2030s and make popular space travel a reality.

The Future Human Agenda

But the most dramatic global challenges of the 2020s and thereafter will be in the human domain, driven by rapid population growth to 8 billion plus, unprecedented urbanisation and a growing desire for higher living standards and a fairer world. According to the UN, by 2030 we will need to produce 50 per cent more food, 45 per cent energy and 30 per cent more water compared to 2012. The global middle class by then will number close to 5 billion people, two-thirds living in Asia, many in colossal megacities.

To address this massive challenge, the UN, World Bank and wealthy nations have set the goal of completely eradicating extreme poverty by 2030. The World Health Organisation and UNICEF aim to achieve universal access to basic sanitation by this date. The World Bank has called for all countries to implement universal health care by the end of the decade. And the UN has set a goal of universal Internet access and almost 100 per cent global literacy within this time frame.

Project 2030

Can these ambitious goals actually be achieved? What new, disruptive innovations – some not even on the radar today – might open up uncharted possibilities for building a better world? And what as yet unexpected human challenges might lie ahead, driven by technological overload, bad science or unforeseen social and economic upheaval?

Led by Director of Studies Dr James Bellini, and drawing upon leading-edge sources from around the futurist community, Project 2030 will be a research-based narrative describing the unfolding future landscape of this breakthrough decade. It will pinpoint those nascent technologies and little-known scientific discoveries set to have transformational impact on the shape of tomorrow’s world. It will identify the earliest signs of potentially game-changing shifts in public attitudes and the functioning of the consumer marketplace.

And in this Century of the City, it will monitor the evolving realities of what is now a rapidly-growing urban world – both positive and unedifying. The epic journey to Horizon 2030 – and beyond – starts here, on this site. Look out for regular updates.

Recent Client Feedback

James Bellini was fantastic... A brilliant speech - definitely the highlight of the
Forum...

Thomson Reuters

Conference producer

A big thank you for speaking at these two Legal & General Surveying Services
events - the feedback was excellent...

Speaker Agency

Client

Hey guys, just wanted to say how amazing James's piece is!!! It's so well
written and interesting - best thing I've read in AGES. So do pass this onto
him!!

Publisher

Daily Telegraph

AGN International asked members to score the keynote speaker from 1 to 10
[10 being the highest] ... you were rated very positively: all scores were 8, 9 or
10 ... I look forward very much to working with you again...

Speaker Agency

Client

Dear James – I had an overwhelming amount of positive comments after your
talk...

Jurate Svarcaite, Secretary General

Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union

I attach the assessment summary for your information ... As you can see your
contribution was most well received...

Event Organiser

UK200Group

Your presentation went down very well and you engaged the audience
wonderfully...

Gayle Hedgecock

Chair BCI London Forum

James was excellent and really easy to work with ... his paper was really good
and well received...

John Cessford

Egg and Poultry Industry Conference