India with its multi-cultural population can be instrumental in collaborative projects on critical issues such as global warming, said David Wood, a futurist and part of a team that designed Symbian OS, the first smartphone operating system.

The world is changing at a much faster pace, thanks to technological disruptions.

While technology offers solutions, it can also create problems. Wood, who was recently in India, told BusinessLine there is a 35 per cent probability that by the middle of the century, the society will be worse off than what it is today.

The world is faced with issues that vary in their intensity and threat potential: global warming, bioterrorism, cyber attacks and a nuclear flare-up, to name a few.

“There is also an equal possibility of super abundance of green energy, healthy food and education,” said Wood. But, one would need to develop systems of collaboration with other countries and practice inclusivity for that to happen. Wood said: “There are greater opportunities for international collaboration and consciousness to address risks on a global scale. I don’t think these are the issues that can be solved nationally.”

This is where, Wood said, India can play a role. He said, “India has a tremendous potential with large number of engineers, entrepreneurs and designers educated to the same level.”

The diverse population is the engine for creativity and can come up with a number of solutions. “Let us take the healthcare space,” he explained.

While facilitators in India are pursuing various approaches to address the problems on the healthcare front, in others parts of the world, inertia and resistance to change have come to dominate the landscape.

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