KEY TERMS AND DEVELOPMENTS
PERPETUAL LEARNING
Cisco Systems, the American technology conglomerate, is working with Oxford Economics, “a leader in global forecasting”, to examine the impact technology will have on jobs. One of the key things they identified as necessary for institutions and individuals to work on together is “human skills”. These represent our ability “to make the best use of technological innovations on a large scale and … to adapt to the changing needs of the market”. Significant investment in the ways we acquire human skills is now needed — a model that encourages perpetual learning. The term “lifelong learning” has lots of life left in it, but keep an eye out for “perpetual learning”, which will be marketed as a way for everyone to take part in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
DON’T SAY
People use the idiom “You don’t say!” when they’re surprised by what someone has told them. In response, for example, to this: “You know Lucy? She taught herself to program. Well, she’s just been given the CTO job.” But people also use “You don’t say!” when they’re not surprised by what someone has told them, as in: “Remember Luke, the guy who’s always late? He’s called in sick again this morning.” i2x is a Berlin-based speech-recognition start-up that analyses English and German conversations in real time and then develops training strategies for customer support representatives. Among its services: “The Don’t Say list keeps an ear out for your annoying speech habits. Tell i2x what words or phrases you’re trying to avoid and it will listen for these.” https://i2x.ai
ŸNSECT
If your business is breeding insects to produce protein to feed fish, pets and plants, it’s a good idea to give it a name people can recognize and remember. A Paris-based agritech company has done that, by calling itself Ÿnsect. Of all the insects that can be turned into food, Ÿnsect has chosen to breed Tenebrio molitor — also known as the mealworm — which is said to be the ideal food for farmed salmon, shrimp and trout. The venture capitalists are impressed, too. Astanor Ventures has led a €110 million funding round to help Ÿnsect develop the world’s biggest insect farm, located in Amiens. www.ynsect.com