House specialist Immospy, known in the Netherlands as miljoenhuizen.nl, is now available in English, German, French, Spanish and Italian. By focusing on Europe (instead of individual countries) almost 4 million houses for sale are made available.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

Europe is increasingly being treated as one market. Soon we will be able to arrange mortgages over international borders (why should the provider have to come from our own country?), choose Europe wide internet providers, Europe wide insurance companies and internationally operating home coaching brands. These stand by to help us enjoy living, wherever we are in the world. This is a step in that direction.

Soon European gambling sites will be allowed, and national gambling monopolies disappear. That is what the EU wants (em, Dutch). Thus the European market slowly evolves. Then, as a result of other developments, a world market follows, with a world government, world legislation, world police and one world currency. This will take at least another fifty years though.

Fitna, Dutch politician Geert Wilders's film about the Koran, is announced in English, while the language spoken in the film is Dutch (fi). The Dutch politician apparently realizes that the whole world is looking at him, and this is how he anticipates that.

As the virtual world matures, and we connect to a worldwide network of 6.6 billion people, it shouldn't surprise us that this will lead to conflicts. All cultures with their own convictions built up in thousands of years, and passed on from generation to generation, all of a sudden are confronted with each other. We will (have to) fight the confrontation over the years to come. The Danish cartoons were only the beginning. With more than 3 billion people connected through mobile phones at the moment (growing rapidly), this video from about the most leveled-out culture in the world, where everything seems ok, where you can say everything you like, might cause a huge shock wave. Finally (after a couple of decades) there will be peace like never before. We will then live in the era of Pamper Planet.

Bulgaria has started rolling out the WiMax network, a wireless high speed internet network. In first instance only the ten biggest cities will get the network, but in 2009 there will be a ninety percent coverage. Bulgaria will then be one of the first countries to have this technology available almost everywhere. Cisco states there is a lot of interest in WiMax in upcoming countries, from Africa to the Middle East, but also in parts of China. This is especially true for areas that don't have existing communication infrastructure like copper. For Bulgaria this is the quickest and cheapest way to roll out broadband internet (em, Dutch).

China has the plan to minimalize the trade in, and physical and psychological violence against, women and children between 2008 and 2012. The Ministry of Public Security (MPS) leads the operation in which local regions will also start their own organizations (cg). Very slowly elements like human rights, environment and education are getting more important for the whole Chinese population. It will lead to more wealth, and to the disappearance of bad jobs from China. To still keep up the production, for low prices, the country will dramatically automize and robotize, and outsource another part of the work to Africa. This way the Chinese population, 1.3 billion inhabitants, can develop itself as the strongest nation in the world.

European commissioner Viviane Reding (Information & Media) has plans for a European music market, although national copyright laws are in her way. Licenses for copyright, which have to be taken care of separately in every country now, could cover several countries, or even the whole European Union (dc, Dutch). In the past local copyright was introduced, like countries borders were a couple of years before that. The world however isn't divided in countries: we have done that ourselves at some point. To protect us from evil from outside. As this threat is fading, borders slowly fade too (the process of denationalizing), and we have to start thinking of copyright on a worldwide level. Let's start with Europe. This will prove to be hard enough...

Related trends

• De-nationalizing

The European Commission wants a new European telecoms authority which should stimulate the competition throughout Europe, by removing hindrances (em, Dutch). The European market slowly develops its basis. First in the financial market, partly due to the introduction of the Euro, now also in the telecoms market. In a next step, the physical infrastructure and its usage will be standardized. Then suppliers can easily cross the borders, grow, and work more efficient. In the end this will lead to better products for the consumers, a wider range of products, and lower prices. The most important barrier to be taken though, is the 'fear for Europe'. That is why this process is very slow (but sure).

Cisco has opened its new Globalisation Center East in Bangalore, India. On top op being a center for research, IT and customer service, this location will also be the center for demonstrating the next generation of virtual techniques (think of advanced video conferencing). The Globalisation Center East is the biggest data center outside of the United States (cm, Dutch). While China is fully focusing on production and (product) design, India takes the lead in IT and customer service. The two biggest countries in the world will soon be the numbers 1 and 2 on the list of world economies.

The European Union starts a new, centrally organized campaign towards its citizens. Nicomarket, an anti-smoking campaign, should stimulate its citizens to stop smoking. In August the EU also organized a campaign, then about obesity (gu). Central communication stimulates bonding. By communicating as one, as the European Union, its citizens get a collective subject of conversation. A conversation that unites the citizens. Although the effect of this type of campaigns is questionable, they do contribute (a little bit) to the European unification and the feeling of oneness. It might also contribute to people feeling more 'European', and less 'German', 'Polish', or 'Portuguese'. And all these little bits later, in many decades, will contribute to a strong Europe, after which the process will continue on a world scale.

Chinese civilians show the practice of child slaves through American video sharing site YouTube.This English video, named 'Child slaves, Shanxi China' is placed by somebody using the name daughterofchina. From a western point of view, it is horrible to see what happens (vc).

Nowadays, Fair Trade is a popular principle. Naomi Klein's book 'No Logo' from 2000 initiated this. Just before that, the term 'company behind the brands' had come up. Companies experience a brand coming out: they operate more open and transparent. English videos will make the western consumer more aware of the welfare of people who produce their products at the other side of the world. People who after all also just want to live a happy life, like we all want. In a next step, personal environment brands will show us at the purchase how something has been produced. In the end this will lead to a more balanced world in which richness, welfare and happiness is for everyone. This however will take at least a (couple of) generation(s). It is a long process which unfortunately will take lots of victims first.

Related trends

• Brand coming out

Winston Churchill has said (among others at bq):

Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those others that have been tried from time to time.

And slowly the end of democracy comes closer, to make place for new forms of government in which civilians are the boss...

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• More involved

In the Netherlands it will soon be possible to apply for a (new) passport in any city you want. This is the result of the changing from local travel documents administrations to a national administration, aimed at fighting identity fraud (nu, Dutch). Now on a national scale, later European, and in the end worldwide. Then we are born, get a number assigned to the country of birth and nationality, and which directly includes our DNA material. Related news in 2015: 'European civilian service numbers will start in 2019'. News in 2040: 'United Nations aims for introduction of global account numbers in 2050'. If we want to make the world a safer place, we need to be able to make somebody accountable for his behavior, and thus be able to find him or her. And that on a worldwide scale.

India is the country to which most work is outsourced worldwide, but the country is developing rapidly, which makes the wages rise. Therefore, some Indian companies have started to outsource activities too, not only to Eastern Europe and South-America, but also to 'poorer' parts of the United States (tc, Dutch). And thus the biggest 'developing countries' of the world, China and India, develop to be the biggest economies in the world. They will determine what the world looks like in about twenty years. In their slipstream Asia and Africa will also be able to develop into wealthy powers. So that in the end we will get a much more equal world society. But it will be 2050 by then..

Related trends

• More equal

Chinese actress Xu Jinglei nowadays is the most read blogger in the world with more than a hundred million page views per month. Chinese author Han Han takes the second place of world's most read bloggers. Analysts expect his web log to exceed the hundred million page views very soon (em, Dutch). China and India slowly but surely start dominating the world (without being dominant by the way). Even the greatest celebrities will come from China in the future. This is a small step in that development.

News company Skoeps helps Africans register local news items through their mobile phones, and share them with the world. Through the fast growth of mobile internet, Africans can use Voices of Africa to report local happenings through text, photo and video without a computer with internet connection. This is now possible in four countries, and other countries will follow (an, Dutch). This is an ultimate example of social responsible entrepreneurship: you keep doing the same thing, but now also for the poor, unhealthy, or threatened people in the world. You use your core competences to help people. Normally you will let people pay for this - after all, you need to live off something - but every now and then you do it for free. Skoeps does exactly what it did before, but now also in Africa. Probably without earning much money, but as a long term investment in the people. A beautiful example. And at the same time, more developments become apparent in this action.

The European Commission has its own channel on video sharing site YouTube: EUTube. This channel provides videos about the most important issues for the residents in the European Union's 27 member countries, which are being addressed by the European Union. At the moment there are almost 50 video clips, covering various subjects: from historic pictures about the start of the European Union to contemporary concerns about environment, immigration, and the fight against global warming. Most of the content is in English, but there is room for French and German clips. Other languages will be added 'if possible' (ab, Dutch). This way European citizens get more involved with the European Union, their emotional barriers very slowly disappear, and Europe will start to feel like one country. A next step will be for Europe to ask its citizens to translate content. Or to provide content. Very, very slowly, in very small steps, everybody will feel like a world citizen in the future. But that will take at least another fifty to one hundred years.

Related trends

• More involved