Insights · January 30th, 2025

World-renowned futurist speaker Nikolas Badminton is curious technologist and explorer of possible futures that discusses development and our places – as businesses, communities, countries and governments – and he does this through the frame of changing global geopolitics.

Over the past 10+ years of running conferences, the Futurist.com Think Tank and speaking to over 450 clients – from The White House to NASA to Disney to The United Nations and everyone in between – Nikolas sees geopolitics play a critical role in shaping our modern world.  The work we do with clients, and the experts in the Futurist.com Think Tank, influences policy, strategy and visions of the futures we need to deliver on. Nikolas and his team helps leaders look at what is happening today and out to the 10+ yr horizons with hope and resiliency. With the knowledge and tools to explore futures to create competitive advantage.

Today, we are announcing launching a new part of our research, consultancy and futurist keynotes with the Geopolitical Technology Futures Keynote.

This is of particular interest to the following industries – private equity, finance and insurance, agriculture and food supply, high tech, pharmaceuticals, healthcare and wellness, telecommunications and media, fashion, governments and NGOs, military and defense, aerospace and space, supply chain and manufacturing, and more.

Futurist Keynote: Geopolitical Technology Futures – looking to 2035 and beyond

Join world-renowned futurist Nikolas Badminton as he explores how emerging technologies are reshaping global power dynamics and strategic competition. From Artificial Intelligence application and supremacy and quantum computing to global supply chains and the critical water-energy-food nexus, discover how nations and industries are leveraging technological innovation to gain strategic advantage.

This keynote examines transformative shifts in cybersecurity, renewable energy, supply chains, and financial systems. Learn how urban technologies, biotechnology, and defense innovations are revolutionizing societies and redefining national security. Plus, explore how space commercialization and arctic technologies are opening new frontiers of geopolitical competition.

Gain crucial insights into:

  • How AI and quantum computing are driving a new era of technological collaboration and rivalry
  • The intersection of digital sovereignty and cybersecurity in shaping national security and power dynamics
  • Critical resource management in an era of climate change, decarbonization, and technological transformation
  • Strategic realignment of global supply chains and financial systems
  • The evolution of defense, space, and arctic sovereignty and technology innovation

This keynote is essential for business leaders, policymakers, and strategists navigating the complex intersection of technology and geopolitics.

Areas of Exploration

We are actively researching, and delivering insightful custom futurist keynotes that tap into the signal and trends across the following areas:

  • Artificial Intelligence and tech advantage: The current strategic rivalry centers on technological supremacy and economic influence rather than a military playbook. Areas of exploration include – semiconductor supremacy and advanced computing capabilities in Artificial Intelligence (and AGI, ASI and robotic ecosystems), and new secure global networks;  the international competition to achieve quantum supremacy and its implications for cryptography, scientific research, and economic advantage; and the global distribution and investment in research and talent in these frontier technologies.
  • Cybersecurity & Digital Sovereignty: The creation of effective cybersecurity as an enabler of digital sovereignty by protecting digital assets, while digital sovereignty provides control over security implementations and infrastructure; and, governmental control over data, digital infrastructure, and cyber capabilities (data localization laws, internet governance, and cyber awareness).
  • Critical Water-Energy-Food Nexus: This represents the critical interdependence between three vital resources. Areas of exploration include – Increasing competition for transboundary water resources and the impact of climate change; critical mineral supply chains (with a focus on the ‘Electric 18’) for clean energy technologies; grid modernization and energy storage technologies as strategic national assets; Agricultural technology – especially automation – and biotech as strategic sectors, precision agriculture, vertical farming in urban environments, and synthetic biology and alternative protein development; and strategic food production and global supply. 
  • Renewable Energy Transition: The shift toward renewables has become a key battlefield for technological and economic influence. Areas of exploration include – global super grids, decentralized power grids, competition for dominance in solar, wind, and battery manufacturing; strategic control of rare earth elements and critical minerals that are foundational for the technologies; and, the decarbonization and electrification of transportation and industry.
  • Global Supply Chain Evolution: The strategic realignment of supply chains focuses. Areas of exploration include – strategic partnerships and near-shoring of critical industries; advanced manufacturing capabilities and automation; automated, trackable and intelligent logistics networks; biotechnology and pharmaceutical production capacity; and supply chain resilience, market access and trade relationships, and industrial policy coordination.
  • Global finance Systems – The fragmentation and standardization of financial systems around the world to create separation of operation and competition. Areas of exploration include – central banking digital currencies (CBDC) and the likelihood of digital US, Euro and Yuan trading cabals; the rise of cryptocurrencies and its inclusion in global financial system dialog; the extension of payments into multi-modal superapps and social media platforms; and, new patterns of financial influence, advice and behavior with younger generations.
  • Biotechnology & Biosecurity: The geopolitical implications of advances in genetic engineering, synthetic biology, and biotech capabilities. This has become especially relevant post-COVID for both healthcare and national security.
  • Urban, Education and Demographic Technology: Given increasing urbanization globally, the geopolitical importance of smart cities, urban resilience, and infrastructure modernization;  technologies that aid in the evolution of education for a modern age; and, platforms needed to address aging populations in developed nations, including automation, healthcare tech, and pension systems.
  • Intelligence, Military, and Defense Evolution: The need to evolve global capabilities for security and defences. Areas of exploration include –  the combines use of generally available technologies and Open source intelligence (OSINT) platforms and networks; new ways of fighting to achieve battlefield advantage with AI-enabled and autonomous swarm technologies; the use of civilian access; conflict with a blend of strategic weapons, tactical operations, and dominance in information warfare; and advanced webs of multi-domain systems working together with operational human oversight and command.
  • Space Domain Exploration: The increasing militarization and commercialization of space. Areas of exploration include – satellite networks, suborbital communications networks, space-based resources, and potential conflict zones; and the effects on global communications, precision agriculture, military intelligence and action, and global connectivity.
  • Arctic and Maritime Technology: The struggles for new trade routes and mineral exploration has all eyes on the arctic and maritime capabilities. Areas of exploration include – naval evolution and autonomous swarm vessels; new shipping routes and resource deposits, technologies for arctic resource extraction and navigation; and an evolution of civilian intervention and international maritime trade; and advanced shipping, undersea resources, and ocean monitoring systems, particularly given tensions in areas like the South China Sea.

About Nikolas Badminton

Nikolas Badminton is the Chief Futurist & Hope Engineer at futurist.com. He’s a world-renowned futurist speaker, consultant, author, media producer, and executive advisor that has spoken to, and worked with, over 300 of the world’s most impactful organizations and governments.

He helps shape the visions that shape impactful organizations, trillion-dollar companies, progressive governments, and 800+ billion dollar investment funds.

Nikolas Badminton’s book Facing Our Futures: How Foresight, Futures Design and Strategy Creates Prosperity and Growth has been selected for 2023 J.P. Morgan Summer Reading List, and featured as the ‘Next Gen Pick’ to inform the next generation of thinkers that lead us into our futures.

Nikolas is currently writing his next book that provides guidance on applying hope theory with futures exploration
Please contact futurist speaker and consultant Nikolas Badminton to discuss your engagement.

Contact Nikolas Badminton to discuss your event or project

Category
Facing Our Futures
Nikolas Badminton – Chief Futurist

Nikolas Badminton

Nikolas is the Chief Futurist of the Futurist Think Tank. He is world-renowned futurist speaker, a Fellow of The RSA, and has worked with over 300 of the world’s most impactful companies to establish strategic foresight capabilities, identify trends shaping our world, help anticipate unforeseen risks, and design equitable futures for all. In his new book – ‘Facing Our Futures’ – he challenges short-term thinking and provides executives and organizations with the foundations for futures design and the tools to ignite curiosity, create a framework for futures exploration, and shift their mindset from what is to WHAT IF…

Contact Nikolas