Attentio was invited to the European Business Summit by the Brussels Region. We had front row seats for the Mozart recital which was supported by the EU choir, it was beautiful and a real treat to see 100 people combining together so well, perhaps an analogy for successful companies. Later there were speeches by the Austrian chancellor and Benoit Cerexhe who is the Brussels Region’s minister for economy and employment. They both focussed on the importance of innovation and R&D growth targets for the EU, some work required, but general optimism.
As with these events I received a black bag with goodies. The real gem was a copy of the Horizons 2020 report compiled by TNS and Siemens AG. It provides “A thought provoking look at the future”. I went straight to the Internet section and not surprisingly there was a piece on the future of social media. While there is much hype of Myspace and Bebo at the moment, this is just the start apparently and I quote:
“The Internet is seen as humanity’s “collective memory”. It serves as a medium of self-determination and self-preservation. Almost everyone has a personal web-site, many of which take the form of i-blogs that their owners use to underscore their individuality and communicate with the outside world. Further progress has been made in personalizing electronic media”. (P.64 - Life in the year 2020, TNS/Siemens AG).
This means that there will be even more information available for companies to get access to, to get a broader understanding of what their consumers and stakeholders really feel about their brands and products and we think this is very exciting. Where 5 years ago the content posted on the Internet was mainly company generated going forward this balance will be shifting.