Living in a world of unicorns — from pwc.com by Vicki Huff Eckert
Venture-backed giants are scaling up and transforming markets as varied fintech, electric vehicles, and healthcare.

Excerpt:

During the pandemic, edtech unicorns raised (on an annualized basis) eight times the annual amount raised from 2016 through 2019. Tutoring platforms Byju (based in India) and Yuanfudao and Zuoyebang (based in China) received massive investment (each attracted $3 billion to $4 billion in funding between 2016 and 2021). The Business Standard reported that Byju had 100 million registered students and 6.5 million paid subscribers as of September 2021.

This trend is just getting started—the convergence of the metaverse, crypto, and 5G has the potential to create a web 3.0 economy that we can’t yet fully envision, and that will evolve over the course of the decade.

 

10 As the rain and the snow
    come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
    without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
    so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
    It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
    and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

 

Rebalancing: Children first — from brookings.edu by Natasha Cabrera, David Deming, Veronique de Rugy, Lisa A. Gennetian, Ron Haskins, Dayna Bowen Matthew, Richard V. Reeves, Isabel V. Sawhill, Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach, Kosali Simon, Katharine B. Stevens, Michael R. Strain, Ryan Streeter, James Sullivan, W. Bradford Wilcox, and Lauren Bauer

A report of the AEI-Brookings Working Group on Childhood in the United States

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

The future of America rests in part on how the country prepares the next generation to live and to lead. Childhood is a consequential and cost-effective time to make investments that last a lifetime. Yet, many children in the United States do not have the resources or relationships they need to build a strong foundation for their future.

Yet, one area of resounding agreement among this diverse group is the need to rebalance national investments toward children. What follows is a consensus report on our conclusions, laying out actionable policies across a range of policy areas to improve the life of every child in the United States.

Along these lines, also see:

 

The Top Six Leading Corporate Legal Operations Trends for 2022 — from jdsupra.com

Excerpt:

The pandemic changed everything about our world seemingly in the blink of an eye—corporate legal operations included. However, with change comes opportunity: to unlock novel technology solutions and discover cutting-edge ways of catapulting efficiency and catalyzing transformation for enterprise-wide excellence.

Consider these six corporate legal operations trends, compiled from the latest metrics and data, to tackle your ever-evolving law department challenges.

 

The innovation imperative: Lessons from high-growth companies — from deloitte.com by Khalid Kark, Tim Smith, Lou DiLorenzo Jr, and Mike Bechtel
Successful innovation functions display unique characteristics, one of them being technology’s prominent role in driving these initiatives. How can CIOs and technology leaders seize this opportunity and ensure they play a pivotal role in their company’s growth?

Excerpt:

Many enterprises now have an innovation function, whether it be a team that is dedicated to seeking out new opportunities or an executive tasked with finding new ways of working. But according to the latest Deloitte survey, only half of innovation efforts are achieving their desired value, and companies with successful innovation functions have unique characteristics. The study revealed that most leading companies view innovation as something both new—which can include new applications of existing tools—and improved—which may mean simply a measurable advance over legacy alternatives. This covers everything from incremental gains to moonshots.

Five key differentiators of successful innovation programs

Also see Deloitte’s Ten Types of Innovations.

 

9 emerging tech trends IT leaders need to watch — from enterprisersproject.com by Stephanie Overby
As CIOs focus on enabling their businesses for the future, these key technologies will be front and center in 2022 and beyond

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Keeping on top of the newest new thing is fast becoming a tall order. At the same time, it’s never been more important to IT and enterprise success. More than two-thirds (68 percent) of IT leaders told IEEE that determining what technologies are needed for their company in the post-pandemic future will be challenging.

Looking at 2022 and beyond, CIOs charged with outfitting hybrid workplaces, enabling more resilient and flexible supply chains, and continuing the digital transformation march will be eyeing multiple new capabilities in concert. “Rather than single technologies, CIOs will have to focus on confluence of these to drive transformation,” says Yugal Joshi, who leads Everest Group’s digital, cloud, and application services research practices.

Also from enterprisersproject.com, see:

What does it mean to have a team when no two members are working in the same room? In one of Gartner’s more eye-popping predictions for 2022, they stated that “by 2024, 30% of corporate teams will be without a boss due to the self-directed and hybrid nature of work.”

 

The Vendor Landscape is Making Big Changes: eLearning Brothers — from learningsolutionsmag.com by Bill Brandon

Excerpt:

The eLearning vendor landscape is changing. Try to keep up if you can! Learn about the acquisitions and changes being made by major eLearning vendors.

Many vendors continue to be specialists, concentrating on one or two proprietary products or approaches to design and development. A small number of others are expanding their offerings to cover the common needs of eLearning development teams and to add newer approaches to design.

Learning Solutions will continue to look at the specialists and proprietary products. In 2022, however, we will publish occasional articles that cover vendors who provide broader coverage and a diversity of approaches to design and delivery. This article is the first of this latter type.

 

 

Metaverse vs. employment law: The reality of the virtual workplace — from arstechnica.com by Kate Beoiley
It is unclear how employee protections apply in the universal digital realm.

Excerpt:

When it comes to employment laws, however, it is unclear what rules of engagement apply in a universal digital realm. What counts as harassment in the metaverse? Can an avatar be discriminated against, or worse? Will national legislation protect employees or does working in the metaverse require a new rule book altogether?

Lack of legal framework
But the metaverse takes hybrid working a step further and brings with it a host of thorny employment law issues. These range from practical challenges, such as how employees are paid, to more philosophical ones, like whether avatars have a legal identity. “The legal conundrums are about as diverse as the possibilities of the metaverse itself,” says Jonathan Newman, managing associate at law firm Simmons & Simmons.

 

Six Unaddressed Legal Concerns For The Metaverse — from forbes.com by Nitin Kumar; with thanks to Ori Inbar on Twitter for this resource

The metaverse is an extremely exciting space with many opportunities. It is also a shift that breaks down conventional legal thinking and frameworks built for the old economy, creating new legal, regulatory and technical issues that need resolution.
 

James 1:19 — from biblegateway.com

19 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,

 

Storytelling for impact — from nationalgeographic.org; a collaboration between National Geographic and Adobe
Visualize and communicate powerful stories that inspire change

Excerpt:

Stories can change the world.
Learn from world-class National Geographic photographers, videographers, and visual designers in a series of Storytelling for Impact online courses. Created in partnership with Adobe, this series will teach you how to use compelling photography, video, graphics, and audio to tell stories in the most impactful ways to inspire change.

 

Offered for both educators and youth ages 16–25, these short, free, self-paced online courses are designed to guide learners to visualize and communicate powerful stories that inspire action.

Ready to harness the power of storytelling?

 
 

‘Human-in-the-loop’ solutions will comprise 30% of new legal tech automation by 2025: Gartner — from thelawyermag.com/au/ by Lucy Saddleton

Excerpt:

“There’s little question that growth in legal work is outstripping growth in legal headcount, and on the surface, this can make advanced automation solutions appear very attractive to legal leaders,” said Zack Hutto, director, advisory in the Gartner Legal & Compliance practice. “The question is whether the legal department has the capabilities required to customize and configure advanced machine learning systems, which will be needed to enable them to handle the unique scenarios and frequent exceptions that come about in this type of work.”

 


Legal work is outstripping growth in legal headcount


 

What Workplace Design Can Learn From Higher Education Facilities — from workdesign.com by Sandi Rudy and James Foster

Excerpt:

Our built environments are always changing and evolving, but now more than ever, workplace design is experiencing a major identity crisis. While the concept of “going to the office” is no longer standard practice for many, for some, it will always be the preferred, and for most, having the option is a giant plus. But in the interest of ensuring the evolving nature of knowledge work and knowledge workplaces keeps pace with employee needs, workplace design can find inspiration in education facilities with now proven solutions for improved wellness and increased overall performance. And with this new way of thinking, perhaps workplace design will once again take the grade.

A picture of Treasure Valley Community College with a woman walking past collaborative learning spaces

The adoption of and success with flexible furniture and spaces such as that in many higher ed environments, which accommodates a range of uses and learning or working styles is now influencing today’s office designs. Credit: Bob Pluckebaum

 
 
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