THE big trends that are going to shape the business landscape of the future were discussed at the North Hants Business Expo.

Self-styled futurist Ray Hammond spoke about various trends as he gave a fascinating glimpse into what lies ahead.

The first trend he spoke about was the world population explosion where, by 2050, the global population is expected to have doubled, leading to serious water, food and energy implications.

Next was climate change, or as he prefers to call it climate chaos. Explaining that climate change implies something neutral, Ray said: “There will be a lot of people who don’t believe in it. I don’t care – it is real – it’s happening! And it’s going to affect their business. So I’m afraid we’ve all got to factor that in.”

He added: “The third big trend that is going to drive everything is the ongoing energy crisis – look at the price of fuel today.

“We are going to see this going on and on – so any business planning must consider the ongoing energy crisis. If I were doing a spreadsheet for the next two years, I’d put in a 20 per cent increase for that period.”

Globalisation is another trend to watch out for, according to Ray, whose talk was sponsored by North Hampshire Enterprise.

Ray, who has recently returned to the UK after travelling in China, said: “We’ve had a nasty recession here, but in China they don’t even know what a recession is.”

He said that the issue to tackle with globalis-ation is to ensure it is ethical and sustainable. An example of how globalisation has had a positive impact is that 50 million people have been lifted out of poverty since China joined the World Trade Organisation in 2001.