In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused massive disruption to economies around the globe. Governments and businesses were forced to take radical measures to reduce and localize the outbreak’s impacts while maintaining economic balance and ensuring sustainability.

Globally, economic activity is bouncing back. However, it won’t be a green shoots recovery, but a short one. The surging optimism is built on the foundations of the ongoing mass vaccination drives taking place across the world and the strategic stimulus programs from the European Central Bank and America’s Federal Bank. There is also a lot of hope that Joe Biden’s administration will build the good world order, which is much required at the moment. But while the stimulus packages will help economies to recover considerably, the not-so-silver lining, in this case, is that the global economy was not in great shape when the pandemic hit. As governments continue to extend funding to restore their economies, the world will see its impact only in the next few years. No matter how much stimulus is allocated, countries are going to be in debt. Eventually, governments worldwide will have to do a considerable balancing act because the debt will have to be paid back.

Infrastructure, renewable energy and autonomous technology — the new macroeconomic drivers

The construction and infrastructure segments are going to play a defining role in the global economic recovery. Traditional infrastructures, such as roads and utilities, and renewable energy sources will drive considerable investment in economies. There will also be a substantial shift away from the sunset industries, that is, fossil, oil and gas. The investments in these industries are not going to disappear but will eventually reduce. Notably, as the demand for autonomous and electric vehicles rises, governments need to invest in electricity and grids to sustain the market demand. Electric renewables, energy storage, and hydrogen are going to be the priority industries of the future.

The pandemic has made people far more conscious about the environment than they were in 2019. Travel and tourism and aerospace will be of least priority for individuals and businesses but essential for governments, who will need to keep the tourist industry alive because the service sector is two-thirds of the global economy. This sector will require huge investments to sustain itself in the future.

“Today, we have realized that we have exhausted all available resources. Rethinking technology and innovation for sustainability, thus, has to be the way forward.”

Lastly, the economic recovery will be driven by autonomy and integration, wherein a low-interest rate economy, productivity, cost reduction, and quality will always be king. Autonomous technology will enable fantastic cost reductions in all areas and lower entry barriers to create a level playing field for large and small enterprises.

Traditional versus new geospatial

Traditionally, geospatial has been about vision or visualization, which scientists used to describe an event. The value of geospatial technology does not lie in how data is collected but how it is deployed, thus creating an increasing need for actionable information, that is, geospatial applications cutting across all sectors.

In today’s day and age, the ‘new’ geospatial is an enabler for autonomy and real-time analytical information that humans and computers can use. It is above and beyond situational awareness, navigation and positional technologies, especially with emerging technologies like robots and autonomous vehicles.

Localizing research, development and innovation

Geopolitics is a significant challenge that we foresee. At Hexagon, our focus is on strategic research and development, and facilitating innovation across all our business areas. We are committed to further innovation in autonomy, situational awareness and geospatial applications, which will help our customers perform better, while simultaneously minimizing the environmental impact. In view of the pandemic, at Hexagon, we will continue to invest heavily in R&D as we have for decades.

In the next few years, our goal will be to be more domestic in the large economies, understand their market needs, and tap into the right opportunities. We will localize our innovations and R&D much more than before.

Most importantly, our core focus does not change. We will continue to provide strategic solutions, which will help our customers to achieve productivity, cost reduction and quality across all applications. That sort of focus never goes out of fashion. Even if we see a slump in demand now or in the next few years when the stimulus is gone, companies like ours can deliver a real productivity improvement to the customers; I believe we can grow sales and stay profitable.

‘Recycling economy’ for the future

It is undoubtedly essential that we all participate in the ‘recycling economy’, where we focus on repeatedly recycling resources. Today, technologies are evolving in such a manner that they can harness electricity and fuel from the ocean’s plastics. A little step forward can be as simple as grabbing the plastic bottles and having dispensing stations for people to recycle and reuse them. In this context, there is a need to rethink technology. The technology we have developed over the past 150 years is mostly a waste today. The vision in the past was that the globe could take anything; we can’t exhaust resources. Today, we have realized that we have exhausted all available resources. Rethinking technology and innovation for sustainability, thus, has to be the way forward.