Archive of papers and presentations from the conference
Target audience
About LEO
Press and media information and links to articles about the conference
Conference supporters
Organizing committee
NCC prize paper
LEO conference home page

 


Business Computing:
the Second 50 Years

The Guildhall conference for business leaders

NCC Prize Paper

The NCC Prize for the best paper on The World and Business Computing in 2051 has been awarded to Dr Chandra S. Amarvadi associate professor in information systems at Western Illinois University

Read the winning paper

Other papers submitted for the competition

Michael Gough, Chief Executive of the National Computing Centre and chairman of the judging panel, said "The standard of the papers received was remarkably high. Dr Amaravadi's is outstandingly thought-provoking. It considers every aspect of the world and business computing in 2051, from global politics to the effect on people's everyday lives. It combines vision with restrained judgement, exploring the extension of technologies we know about today into wider society rather than plunging into science fiction."

Dr Amaravadi's vision of the world in 2051 is of a global economy consolidated by technology developments, where hunger, disease, violent crime and war have been virtually eradicated - at the expense of more central control and of higher stress levels on the skilled worker, but nevertheless leading to a new age of enlightenment.

Examples of Dr Amaravadi's predictions include:

  • The global consolidation of different industries into particular geographical locations (for example fashion to France and Italy, factory automation to Germany, Japan and Taiwan). The consolidations cause a catastrophic level of job displacement, but the need for mathematicians, engineers, physicists, bio-physicists and pharmacists is as acute as ever.
  • Universal mandatory four year degrees and constant and ongoing screening and psychological profiling of individuals in the workplace to ensure performance related development.
  • Individuals who do not pass the Standard Employability Examination assigned jobs such as the care of the elderly; or they may opt for a life of leisure without a vote.
  • Personal Identification Devices (PIDs), reduced to the size of a button by nanotechnology, issued to every citizen of the world and capable of communicating with any computer or communications system.
  • Proprietary company offices replaced by shared IT Centres rented out on a per use basis.
  • Governments left free by the automation of bureaucratic procedures to focus on the advancement of their societies and their well-being.
  • A counter culture calling itself the Moron movement which favours a return to the simple life of the twentieth century. Some of the more radical members are known to vandalise, plant bombs and steal information. The movement is secretly encouraged and funded by governments as a harmless outlet for the meek and the disgruntled. Infiltrators in the group's leadership ensure that no real damage is done by it.
  • The declaration of Egypt, Greece, Iraq and Italy as world heritage sites with the consequent removal of all polluting industries from these countries.
  • Capitalism outlawed by the Swiss, making the country a haven for non-profit organisations.

Brief biography of Dr Chandra S. Amarvadi

Details of the NCC Prize Paper Competition

 

page last updated 28 November, 2001