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Every Monday at 6:42 a.m. and 8:42 a.m., Rob Gilligan provides information on what's happening in the area of regional development in Southeast Missouri. Rob is the President and CEO of the Cape Chamber. Local support for "Let's Talk Business" is provided by Carved + Crafted Catering. (573) 651-2569

Let's Talk Business: Looking Ahead to 2020

flickr user Jeff Kubina (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/)

It’s time to gaze into the future and see what 2020 will bring in the business world.

I wish I had a crystal ball to tell you what to expect in the coming year, but I do not. It has also been my experience year ahead forecasts tend to be about as accurate as long term weather forecasts meaning they are just very educated guesses but not reliable. After all, many experts were predicting an economic downturn in 2019. Wrong! Having said that, it is still kind of fun to see what the experts say we can look forward to in 2020.

B2B CFO online magazine recently released their outlook for 2020. I’d like to highlight a few of them that could prove to be interesting for our area.

The development of solar energy will continue to grow exponentially. Capacity is now doubling every year and at that rate we could be energy independent within 10 to 15 years. Watch for announcements from Ameren in 2020.

Personal communication will become much more audiovisual centric. Audio and video will become standard to texts and most other communication means. The technology surrounding smart phones will continue to develop rapidly and touch everything we do. There may even be implantable devices for the eye allowing for standard vision and night vision.

And Americans will continue to move to urban clusters in droves. MSA’s will get bigger and rural areas will lose population. It has been happening for the last several years and will absolutely continue.

John Mehner is the former President and CEO of the Cape Chamber.
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