Andrew Zolli: Futurist

Andrew Zolli is a foresight and global trends consultant, specialising in the analysis of critical trends at the intersection of culture, technology, and global society.

Zolli's firm, Z + Partners, helps global companies and institutions see, understand, and respond to complex change. He is also the curator of the PopTech conference, an elite annual gathering of thought leaders that explores the social impact of technology and the shape of things to come. In addition to his work with large multinational organizations, Zolli advises a number of cutting-edge, not-for-profit, public policy and venture-backed start-ups.

Zolli formerly served as chief marketing officer of strategic branding consultancy Siegel & Gale, where he helped develop new designs, businesses, products, and services for companies including The Weather Channel, Netscape, Kodak, American Express, Forrester Research, and IBM. He helped found the company's new media practice, and helped envision and develop next-generation approaches to product development, user experience, and communications. He also created and led the company's research and development lab that explored digital user experience and interface design. Under his direction, the lab developed significant virtual reality and graphics applications for the web.

Future Fundamentals - Transportation

"Energy and transportation are big economic determinants of success. But between today and 2030, global energy use will balloon by almost 50%. Where are we headed?"

How do we move people and products with less carbon? We can, and will, solve the issue through the continued development of new transportation technologies designed to be super green.

The answer is not to reduce transportation but to increase its effectiveness. For example, through high-speed rail and the return to using sails to freight cargo across seas to save fuel. Instead of smaller planes, larger ones and more variations are likely, such as the new Airbus A380, that can transport as many as 850 passengers. Airports around the world, such as one in Auckland, New Zealand, are modifying runways and other facilities to handle this huge double-decker plane.

We need cleaner alternative ways to keep our planet moving: the future of transportation is rich with opportunity.

Andrew Zolli provided expert insight on Transportation for a print advertorial.