Andrew Zolli

Z+ Partners

Globeshakers with Tim Zak

Andrew Zolli

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The guest of our Globeshakers debut is Andrew Zolli. A forecaster, design strategist and author, Andrew is working at the intersection of culture, creativity, technology, and futures research. Andrew specializes in helping people and institutions see, understand and act upon complex change. He runs Z+ Partners, a research, foresight and design thinktank.

For several years, Andrew has been chief curator for Pop!Tech, an annual conference taking place in Camden, Maine.

Tim spoke with Andrew about some of the grand challenges facing the globe, including mass urbanization, increased longevity in industrialized societies combined with a baby boom in the developing world.

They discuss emerging technologies that may offer solutions: new open source models for financial systems in Bangladesh and Brazil; the rise of the knowledge economy; and, the outsourcing of manufacturing--not to China, but to robots!

He also profiled some of the fascinating speakers at Pop!Tech 2005, including:

• Neil Gershenfeld Director of MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms, who is developing a personal desktop 3-D printer of physical objects;
• Bunker Roy, Founder and Director, Barefoot College;
• Jessie Sullivan, a former worker at a power company who lost his arms in an accident who is now the world's first bionic man.

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Andrew Zolli is a futures researcher who analyzes critical trends at the intersection of culture, technology, and global society. His firm, Z + Partners, helps a select number of global companies and institutions see, understand and respond to complex change.

Andrew serves as Futurist-in-Residence at both Popular Science and American Demographics magazines, as well as Public Radio's Marketplace. He is also the Curator of the annual Pop!Tech conference, an elite annual gathering of thought leaders which explores the social impact of technology and the shape of things to come.

Andrew was recently named one of the Emerging Explorers of the National Geographic Society. He is also a network member of the Global Business Network, and serves as a Visiting Fellow of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation. In early 2005 he was named to Fast Company's Fast 50, the magazine's annual compilation of emerging business leaders.

In 2002, Andrew compiled and edited the Catalog of Tomorrow, which explores 100 trend and technologies for the next 25 years. Andrew's work, writings and ideas have appeared in a wide array of media outlets, including PBS, National Public Radio, The New York Times, Wired, BusinessWeek, ID, Fast Company, The History Channel and many others.

Resources:

• View mindmap for an overview of the topics covered in this interview.
• Download PDF version here.

This program is from the Globeshakers series.

For Team ITC:

• Series producer and editor: Peter Durand
• Post-production audio engineering: Stuart Hunter