As we enter the U.S. presidential election year, the world faces extraordinary geopolitical challenges. We are in a Hot War in Cold Places — the Arctic, space, and deep tech — and a Cold War in Hot Places, including Africa and the Pacific, not just in Ukraine. Read More >

Russia, China, and the U.S. seem to be on a collision path, though that may be a precursor to a deal. China and the U.S. are racing to establish a base on the moon and infrastructure in space. Space-based technology looks set to deliver many solutions to Earth-bound problems, including unlimited clean, green energy through space-based solar power, unlimited resources from asteroid mining, and unlimited internet connectivity that will raise the value of every square inch on Earth. The reach for abundance could trigger either conflict or a peaceful resolution of geopolitics on Earth.

Meanwhile, the pace of technological innovation in all fields is increasing faster than our capacity to understand it, especially in AI. Dr. Malmgren sees AI as more our friend than our enemy; after all, it is a reflection of us. It will create a wave of new jobs as we see ever more abundance unfold.

Dr. Malmgren has been a manufacturer of robotics, automation, and AI-led software. She says the future lies in “shardware,” which is when hardware and software combine to create value. The West is getting good at “shardware” again, but we have to open our imagination to possibilities such as computer chips being manufactured in space and being directed into off-Earth manufacturing.

Dr. Malmgren explains the grand landscape of geopolitics that extends far beyond Ukraine and into technology, including AI, life sciences, and the space economy. These developments mean that many practical and geopolitical problems can now be more easily addressed and resolved.

The U.S. presidential election, she argues, will also be driven by technology. Bill Clinton came to office on the back of Saturday Night Live, playing the saxophone on TV. President Obama rode the YouTube wave. President Trump relied on Twitter. The next president will be a Podcast President, meaning there will be a reduced focus on sound bites and traditional media channels, and a deeper focus on policy substance than we have seen in years.

As usual, the U.S. is likely to elect someone no one imagined possible three years before. Nobody had heard of Clinton or Obama, and few imagined that George W. Bush or Donald Trump could win. After predicting that Trump could win in 2016, at a time when this seemed impossible, Dr. Malmgren now sees a fascinating new scenario that depends heavily on geopolitics. Most of the key candidates are environmentalists and Bitcoin supporters. This will accelerate us into a different future.

Key Takeaways

• Understand that today's battlefields extend far beyond Ukraine, spanning the globe and reaching into areas of critical strategic importance, including outer space.

• Gain a refreshingly optimistic perspective on how AI and emerging technologies will create greater abundance, opportunity, and prosperity for humankind.

• Explore key opportunities for international collaboration and learn why Dr. Malmgren believes peaceful and prosperous resolutions to many of today's geopolitical challenges remain possible.

• Identify the pivotal signals to watch during U.S. presidential election campaigns and understand how emerging media trends may contribute to the rise of the first "Podcast President." Read Less ^

As an economist, Dr. Pippa Malmgren decided to help build the world economy rather than simply talk about it. She helped launch an award-winning company that manufactured aerial, terrestrial, and marine drones, giving her firsthand experience with how automation, robotics, remote control systems, AI, advanced materials, and supercomputing come together to create entirely new possibilities. Read More >

A lifelong optimist, Dr. Malmgren reminds audiences that automation, robotics, and AI have historically created more jobs than they have eliminated. She explores the emerging sectors reshaping the global economy, including space infrastructure, space manufacturing, automation, robotics, remote-control systems, AI-driven technologies, and the rapid advances occurring in life sciences and materials science.

These developments are enabling humanity not only to create new materials, but also to engineer life itself. Increasingly, we are combining traditional "dry" computers with biological or "wet" computers to create synthetic systems that may exceed our current capacity to imagine what is possible.

At the same time, computational power is expanding exponentially. Today's supercomputers and quantum computers can solve problems in seconds that would once have taken thousands of years to process. Humanity has never possessed such extraordinary problem-solving capabilities.

The continued expansion of technology and the internet means we are absorbing more information than ever before. As a result, communication is shifting from words toward symbols, images, and immersive experiences. Information must be compressed. Beyond the widespread use of emojis, organizations are increasingly transforming information and reporting into immersive Web3 and experiential content.

Three-dimensional digital environments are already demonstrating remarkable applications, from accelerating recovery from burns to improving agricultural outcomes. Gaming technology is no longer simply entertainment—it is becoming one of the most effective ways to communicate, educate, and tell the story of technological change.

All of this points toward a future of greater abundance and ease. Humans can work smarter, not harder, while achieving increasingly powerful outcomes. However, Dr. Malmgren argues that technological advancement must be balanced with a more soulful approach to life. While AI optimizes for efficiency and cost, humans optimize for joy, love, creativity, and novelty. Organizations and societies must determine how efficient humans should be and how technology can best serve human flourishing.

Through personal stories, practical examples, and real-world experience, Dr. Malmgren offers a fundamentally optimistic vision of the future—one in which technology continues to create more opportunities than it disrupts, driving new jobs, extraordinary human progress, and greater abundance for all.

Key Takeaways

• Discover why technology has historically created more opportunities than it has disrupted, and why AI, automation, and robotics are likely to continue that trend.

• Understand how breakthroughs in supercomputing, quantum computing, AI, life sciences, and advanced materials are reshaping the global economy and expanding what humanity can achieve.

• Learn how immersive Web3 content, virtual experiences, and 3D technologies are transforming communication, engagement, healthcare, agriculture, and other industries.

• Explore the rise of space infrastructure, space manufacturing, and other emerging sectors that are creating entirely new economic opportunities.

• Gain insight into why the future will require not only technological intelligence, but also a more human-centered approach that prioritizes creativity, collaboration, purpose, and wellbeing.

• Understand how organizations can harness technological change to drive innovation, engagement, and long-term growth while remaining focused on human values. Read Less ^

Dr Malmgren has several award-winning books on leadership in which she talks about heartfelt leadership and soulful working: The Leadership Lab (Business Book of the Year 2020) and The Infinite Leader (International Press Award 2021). She explains what underpins the many leadership failures of recent years. The world has changed and now people need to be motivated rather than told. Leadership is more about the “ship” than the “leader”. She emphasises that in a fast-innovating world, imaginal skills now have as much or more value than analytical skills. Top down leadership simply doesn’t work when the pace of change is accelerating so fast. People now want to be inspired rather than to be ordered. Read More >

In her written and spoken work, Dr Malmgren has also introduced the concepts of Cosmopoeisis and Conscious Capitalism. Cosmopoeisis is the act of world creation, which is much bigger than creating an idea or a business or a product or program. JRR Tolkien, Steve Jobs at Apple, Phil Knight at Nike and other visionary leaders all understood that the most successful ideas are about creating a world where others can become their best selves. It is about creating an invitational space. Conscious Capitalism is not just about being green or clean. It is also about thinking through the consequences for others. Peter Drucker always said, “businesses have to be profitable,” but real brands are built on their social purpose. That means awareness of consequences is essential for all leaders these days. Awareness of supply chains and social costs are essential to brand management and corporate success.

In this speech, Dr Malmgren proposes “situational fluency” as a new area of study—the ability to understand and move between multi-dimensional spheres and silos of expertise. This will allow leaders to join the dots across the landscape of reality to create a new global narrative on which a fresh leadership approach can be based.

Key Takeaways

• Audiences will learn how to acquire sharper situational awareness, greater diversity of thinking, a willingness to lead from the heart rather than the head, and understand that the nature of leadership itself has evolved.

• In this speech, Dr Malmgren compares and contrasts old ways and new ways of leadership and explains why these shifts are inevitable and how they will touch communities, companies and countries alike. It does not matter how successful you are. It is possible to up your game.

• Understand why culture is the key. Human interest in coming together will always be the key to successful resolution of differences. Culture still beats strategy. Read Less ^