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Innovation has had a profound impact on the world and investment markets. In just a century we’ve moved from horse-drawn ploughs to GPS guided tractors, steam powered trains to automated metro systems, and from telescopes to cars in space.
The next decade will dwarf the past century with advancements. Elon Musk is developing brain-machine interfaces to connect humans and computers (human cyborgs). The Gates Foundation has backed the Omni Processor which converts sewage into drinkable water. They’re also backing a project to decarbonise the world by extracting carbon dioxide from the air and converting it to clean, carbon-neutral synthetic diesel and petrol.
NASA has produced a cloud machine to induce rain in arid locations. Richard Branson has backed the Hyperloop One train project allowing travel on the ground at the speed of a jet airplane. Businesses must evolve and so too does the real estate sector. With so many advances it’s timely to ask, what does the future look like for the real estate and infrastructure sectors?
Pat Barrett, Director and Investment Analyst, Property Securities Fund