Dr. Patrick Dixon, Europe’s leading futurist upbeat about Sri Lanka’s future

Dr. Patrick Dixon, a globally-acclaimed futurist and a growth strategist, says he is very upbeat about Sri Lanka’s future and our culture of innovation.

Dr. Dixon, the Chairman of Global Change Ltd. and the co-founder of Global Innovators, made this observation when he addressed CEOs of the Sri Lankan firms at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce recently.

“Plans for establishing a Colombo International Financial City is a symbol of confidence and of future economic growth. With a highly skilled workforce and strategic location, the nation has a great future, as part of Asia’s rapid rise in global influence and power over the next 50 years.”

Dixon was in Sri Lanka to help promote a new mobile payments platform: “ROKA PAY was designed and built here, with potential to transform mobile payments in many nations – just one example of Sri Lanka’s excellence in innovation.”

The futurist, who was ranked among the world’s 20 most influential business thinkers alive today by ‘Thinkers 50’, was speaking on ‘The Future of Almost Everything” – the title of his latest book. Dixon advised business leaders to keep agile: “The world can change faster than you can hold a meeting so we need to be flexible in strategy, and think ahead. But at the same time, many mega-trends are changing relatively slowly and predictably, which is the basis of corporate strategy.”

“If you’re a fashion house, a six-month horizon may be far enough, but banks need to plan at least five years ahead because new technologies take time to integrate and launch. Insurers typically calculate risks over a10 years ahead, stretching to 25 years for pharma because it takes 15 years to bring a new drug to market.” said Dixon.

His address was conducted at the auditorium of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and the welcome address was delivered by Tilak De Zoysa, past Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.