The study presents over 80 growth opportunities arising from 21 identified risks, which are designed to help policymakers, businesses and individuals take immediate tactical and strategic actions and draw plans to lower impact. The researchers say that unpreparedness to address these challenges, which are looming across the globe, will adversely impact businesses, societies, economies, cultures, and personal lives.

“Risks are now increasingly interconnected, which, if amplified, can trigger a ripple effect across industries, regions, and diverse stakeholder groups. Therefore, mitigating them will involve measures to quantify relevant risks, estimate the probability of occurrence and the adoption of a cohesive, interdisciplinary, and multipronged approach,” said Murali Krishnan, Visionary Innovation Group Senior Industry Analyst at Frost & Sullivan.

Krishnan added: “With an estimated 200 billion connected devices by 2030, the risk of sophisticated cyber attacks will escalate. Therefore, companies should invest in future-casting tools that help identify the impact of such risks to their business, thereby detecting vulnerabilities and avoiding disruptions.”

“Over 40 million Americans are at risk of flooding from rivers, nearly 300,000 have lost their lives to the COVID pandemic, and close to $1 billion in costs will be borne annually by economies as they become victims to cyber attacks. The stakes are high, claiming both lives and resources. Businesses must look to invest in early warning systems that help future-proof them against the known and the unknown. Understanding risks and its levers can become a growth opportunity if used as a tool to create value,” noted Archana Vidyasekar, Visionary Innovation Group Research Director at Frost & Sullivan.

The researchers suggest that to tap into growth opportunities emerging from the short-, mid- and long-term risks, organisations could focus on the following:

Short-term risks

Privacy and disinformation risks: Organisations must adopt a “privacy-by-design” approach, which goes beyond accepted privacy standards and assumes global regulatory compliance.

Rise of infectious diseases: Advanced technologies such as next-generation sequencing (NGS) and CRISPR-based diagnostics will enable new approaches in the treatment of infectious diseases.

Water crisis: Innovation in agricultural practices such as vertical farming and optimised crop selection can play an important role in reducing the ongoing water crisis.

Mid-term risks

Urbanisation: Urbanisation stress will trigger the demand for smart solutions such as intelligent grid control and electrification, smart buildings, and smart storage solutions.

Climate change risks: Organisations will emphasise investments in buildings with net-zero energy consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions will increase minimally.

Long-term risks

Artificial intelligence (AI) as a threat: AI can be a strong reason for the polarisation of jobs across the world, but investing in collaborative computational capabilities can help allocate an ideal division of tasks between humans and robots based on their distinct capabilities and deployment costs.

National identity crisis: Great business opportunities exist in providing digital authentication of eGovernment services such as digitisation of birth, marriage, and death certificates, passports, and driving licenses.