Category Archives: Futurist

Disclaimer: This article was originally published on the Arabic version of the Futurism website, Mostaqbal. It has been edited for clarity and length. Futurism partners with, and receives funding from, the Dubai Future Foundation.

As a part of its digital transformation efforts, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has capitalized on blockchain technology to transform government transactions on the federal level. Almost every sector of the UAE from energy to media is exploring blockchain and distributed ledger technology.

Spearheaded by the launch of the Dubai Blockchain Strategy in 2016 and the Emirates Blockchain Strategy in 2018, the UAE government has taken active steps towards advancing the technology nationwide by creating new industries, pushing for wider government adoption, and creating an international platform where cities worldwide can collaborate.

The Emirates Blockchain Strategy 2021 focuses on four main themes: happiness of citizens and residents, elevating government efficiency, advanced legislation, and international leadership. Together with the World Economic Forum, the UAE hopes to continue shaping the trajectory of blockchain deployment by using the best methods and minimizing the risks for the deployment of the technology.

Heres just some of what the UAE has learned from blockchain implementation over the last four years.

DP World a world leader in global supply chain solutions that operates in 46 countries specializes in cargo logistics, port terminal operations, maritime services and more. The shipping and logistics industry remains slow to change and is still heavily dependent on complex paperwork for managing goods and financial settlements. DP World has been actively exploring new solutions and technologies to address these challenges, including the ability to easily share data and automate processes through open APIs and smart contracts.

The companys goals were the easing of the customer registration process, and the digitization and securing of trade documentation. The implementation of blockchain technology in the companys workflow has yielded many benefits, including providing a single-window into all processes which have helped eliminate duplicate processes across organizations. It has also maintained close communications and fostered positive relationships with the engaged parties.

Emirates Airlines is the worlds largest international airline with a global network of 159 destinations in 85 countries across 6 continents. The company wanted to explore the potential of using blockchain to enhance its Skywards loyalty program by reducing the time and cost of on-boarding loyalty partners.

On the technical side, the goal was not to replace existing architecture, but to augment it. Partners would continue to use their existing software but connect via blockchain to leverage the benefit of a shared ledger for payment management. After demonstrating the value of the application, the decision was made to proceed with a full rollout of the solution in March 2019. Since moving to production, the project has yielded several positive results. It has led to greater transparency between Emirates Skywards and its partners, enhanced security, and a decrease in fraud.

Emirates NBD a leading banking group in the Middle East, ranked as one of the largest by assets set out to explore ways in which it could apply the technology to create real impact at scale. In 2016, it tested blockchain for cross-border transactions and trade finance documentation in partnership with ICICI Bank in India.

Afterwards, the Emirates NBD team decided to use blockchain to tackle the size-able challenge of cheque fraud. In the first month of launch alone in early 2017, Emirates NBD registered almost one million cheques on the blockchain. From January to November 2019, the network has verified over 35 million cheques. Furthermore, the bank has witnessed a 99% reduction in cheque fraud since the launch in March 2018. The concept then led the bank to create a digital financial instrument with a legal framework in place: the e-cheque.

Etisalat Digital, a business unit of Etisalat, is driving the digital revolution and transformation by enabling enterprises and governments to become smarter through the use of the latest technologies. The lack of digitization and mechanisms to validate data across different banks has led to a significant risk of fraud in transactions. Small to medium enterprises trade finance through invoice discounting is a growing business that requires controls to avoid risk to lenders of duplicated invoices. It is an increasing concern as multiple banks might end up financing the same invoice, and fraudulent invoices may appear along the process, due to the lack of communication between these banks.

To address this challenge of fraud where duplicate invoices have been financed, Etisalat Digital announced a new platform in June 2019, called UAE Trade Connect (UTC). UTC brought together eight major banks of the UAE. The founding members of the UTC network sought to apply blockchain as a verification layer to detect fraud in invoice financing through a shared blockchain network while maintaining the confidentiality of each banks client information. This has helped uncover an estimated 3.75 million fraudulent transactions in the UAE annually, representing $435 million USD in potential losses.

Abu Dhabi Digital Authority (ADDA) has been developing a government blockchain platform to enable and support a secure, trusted data-exchange mechanism between Abu Dhabi government entities and any other external organizations.

Throughout the projects progression, the workflow is expected to become more streamlined between the government entities and enhance relationships between them. ADDA sees blockchains potential in improving government services, data-driven policies, and economic incentives, enabling a thriving data marketplace.

As part of its objective to develop effective healthcare systems and continuously improve services, the Ministry of Health and Prevention identified organ donation allocation and transplants as a focus area while also aiming to prevent illegal organ trading in the UAE. As a result of this, Dhonor Healthtech was selected to develop UAEs Hayat donor registry for recording individuals legal will as donors, using blockchain as a secure verification layer.

Since its initial launch in January 2019, thousands of registered donors have recorded their will on the Hayat blockchain-based application, and all hospitals permitted to conduct transplants have been participating in the national waiting list and allocation platform. The solution is expected to save the ministry over $20 million in estimated dialysis costs per year. In addition, it saves citizens the time and economic cost of driving to registry centers during working hours, by offering donor registration on the app or online.

Smart Dubai is the government office tasked with facilitating Dubais citywide smart transformation. Since its launch in 2003, the Dubai Smart Government has managed Dubai Pay, a centralized payment gateway for government payment collection with more than 40 public and private entities. The system enables UAE citizens, residents, visitors and businesses to pay online for Dubai government smart services.

In 2018, the system conducted more than 10.4 million transactions amounting to 16 billion dirhams ($4.3 billion USD). However, each entity has its own books and records, leading to significant time and cost in cases where the bookkeeping process was largely manual. One of the most significant challenges that sparked Smart Dubais interest in applying blockchain was the lengthy and costly manual reconciliation and settlement process, which took up to 45 days.

The Smart Dubai blockchain payment reconciliation and settlement project thus set out to create a more effective layer to address the limitations of the existing platform. As of November 2019, the majority of entities in the Dubai Pay platform have joined the blockchain platform. With the implementation of the platform, reconciliation has been cut from a 45-day process to real-time resolutions. Issues can be detected in real-time and, as a result, entities can provide more effective services or issue transaction refunds. Additionally, distributed financial records have helped the network improve the transparency and trust of the financial data between banks and entities.

The main challenges to blockchain deployment remain tied to operational and regulatory questions, as opposed to technical factors. Challenges have primarily revolved around identifying the right applications of blockchain, ensuring proper education and awareness for partners involved. For the UAE, resolving some of the main challenges wouldnt have been possible without the government playing a big role in embracing emerging technologies and emphasizing the value of innovation for advancing society. As such, the Dubai Blockchain Strategy and Emirates Blockchain Strategy played a significant role in the creation of a collaborative environment and put in place processes for the private and public sectors to work together to explore blockchain at scale.

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Inside Dubai's Quest to be the First Blockchain-Powered City - Futurism

Land Sharks

Four newly-discovered species of shark are capable of trotting around on land, using four fins as stubby legs.

Theyre the most recently-evolved types of sharks known to science, according to CNET. And while they still live in the water, using their fins to crawl across coral reefs, they can briefly wriggle across dry land to migrate from one tide pool to another.

This means there are now nine known species of walking sharks, according to research published Tuesday in the journal Marine and Freshwater Research. And while a shark that can march out of the ocean may seem like it was plucked straight out of a nightmare, the scientists behind the discovery say that humanity is safe for now.

At less than a meter long on average, walking sharks present no threat to people, University of Queensland researcher and lead author Christine Dudgeon said in a press release. But their ability to withstand low oxygen environments and walk on their fins gives them a remarkable edge over their prey of small crustaceans and mollusks.

READ MORE: These sharks can walk, and theyre adorable [CNET]

More on evolutionary quirks: Evolutionary Biologist: Mars Colonists Will Mutate Really Fast

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Sharks Are Evolving to Walk on Land - Futurism

Astrologically, the new decade really doesnt start until the end of this year, on December 21. Every 20 years, Saturn and Jupiter meet. I have learned theyre happy to see each other. They set the tone for the coming 20 years, for culture, for fashion, for government, for literature, for the pace of our days, and our focus.

Jupiter and Saturn are important because theyre in the middle of the solar system. For the past 200 years, theyve always met in earth signs. It was Taurus, and Virgo, and Capricorn. This year, we have a name for it astrologers always call everything terrible namesits called the Grand Mutation. It sounds like the Ebola virus, but its not. Thats when theres a change in element. Saturn and Jupiter are going into air [signs]. Theyre aligning in Aquarius. It has a pretty huge effect on civilization.

The past 200 years, we saw the assembly line, the booming of manufacturing, and the industrial age. These are all earthy things, things you can buy, see, and touch. Now, when we move into the next 20 years where Aquarius is going to dominate, it will be the real flowering of the Age of Aquarius, like the 1960sflower power children. Its a lighter influence, a nonmaterialistic sign.

What Im really excited about is Aquarius likes to work in groups. To tackle big problems, like the environment, people will work across nations. It will no longer be, Well, the United States against France, against Germany, against China. No. These countries will work together in teams to tackle big problems that affect us all. Are the robots coming? Yes. But also, some very wonderful things with medicine.

Saturn, right now, is in Capricorn. Whenever you get a lot of Capricorn planets, you always get a conservative wind blowing through the world. You see it with Brexit, you see it here. In the late 80s and early 90s, there were a lot of planets in Capricorn. We had George Bush as president, and Ronald Reagan. We did in 2016, and Mr. Trump got in. With the next election, its sort of half and half, so its way too early to call. Its not destiny. People say, Whos going to win? I have no idea. We have to vote.

In 1982, Saturn and Jupiter met in an air sign. For the next 20 years, they were in air. Babies born in those years, from 1982 to 2000, those babies are going to lead the brigade into the future.

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Predictions for the 2020s, From a Futurist, a Trend Forecaster and an Astrologer - Vogue

The Italian painter Tullio Crali ought not to be quite such a head-on revelation. After all, his astonishing vision of a solo pilot nose-diving straight into a canyon of skyscrapers, light shattering round his helmeted head, is one of the great masterpieces of futurist art. Yet this riveting survey at the Estorick Collection comes as a surprise from first to last, and not only because it is his first in Britain.

Crali (1910-2000) is a strange case, in life as in art. He grew up in Zadar, on what is now the Croatian coast, but which once belonged to Italy. His family moved to north-eastern Italy in 1922, and it was there, at the age of 15, that he created his first futurist work after reading an article about the movement.

Crali fell hard for the futurist manifesto, with its addiction to motion, speed, modernity and roaring machinery from the espresso maker to the Gatling gun, the aeroplane to the hurtling motorcar, notoriously described by Marinetti, futurist leader, as more beautiful than the victory of Samothrace.

But Cralis own painting of a car rushing round a bend is more sophisticated than anything by his contemporaries. The vehicle itself is long gone, leaving only the hint of a wheel among magnificent curving vectors of black, cream and red scintillating traces of its fast departure.

And though he was as committed as his colleagues to the plane as ultimate futurist symbol, Cralis aeropittura, as they are called, are frequently more original. A terrific painting at the start of this show, called Tricolour Wings (1932), has the plane ascending in sudden stages, scattering its target markings up through the sky like urgent thought bubbles. The planes geometry, repeated as if in stop-start motion, perfectly describes the sharp sensation of sudden uplift, catching at each new thermal current. And the sky around it running all the way from hyperreal clouds to gracious, Titianesque beauty amounts to a painted collage.

Indeed, though you could never mistake him for anything else, Crali often seems the odd man out of the futurist gang. For one thing, he is a tremendous colourist. Planes rise into moonlight-blue skies or descend through lavender mists. The scarlet stripes of a biplane burn like a cigarette among pearl-grey clouds. And in a work such as Broken Engine, the polished wood of the slowing propeller shines gold against smoke and slate-blue heavens, its deco sheen ineffably glorified.

What is more, there is an undeniably human aspect to Cralis art. People get into the picture. There are two vast seamen at the prow of a gigantic battleship, trying to steer the ship through a storm with their muckle hands. A female figure raises her shapely arms like elegant wings and the blue air around her vibrates. He can paint the most complicated machinery steam-driven pistons in a shipyard, or high-rising cranes and there will be an intimation of human beings moving about below.

Crali himself kept on moving. He left Italy after the second world war for an art school in Paris, remaining there for almost a decade. His drawings of the city describe the brasseries, stairwells and metal chairs of the Jardin du Luxembourg, the shadows along the Seine embankment: Paris, in his words, as mysterious, deep and moody. In the 60s he quit Paris for Cairo, then back to Italy, eventually ending up in Milan.

But somehow Cralis art stands still, as the man does not. In the late 1980s he is still painting aeroplanes as if they were brand new inventions, still showing solo pilots swooping about in glass cockpits. It is as if the international space race never happened.

And his devotion to futurism never seems to waver, even though Marinetti died in 1944 and the movement had its final meeting in 1950. It is hard to decipher Cralis own politics from anything he wrote or painted; the curators of this show emphasise his belief in futurism as an aesthetic rather than political ideology. But the association with Mussolinis fascism can hardly be ignored.

So perhaps that is why his later career lies in shadow. The Estorick is showing a number of Cralis Sassintesi startling collages of stones, seaweed and assorted bric-a-brac found on beaches and presented upright, on canvases. These appear entirely novel. And every now and again they hit the mark, when Crali takes some sea-carved rock and twists it out of kilter, so that it suddenly looks like a rushing futurist figure.

But he is at his best when most liberated from the movement. One of the most beautiful works in this show is a landscape of Ostia in late evening sun, as the shadows of hill and vale deepen, and rays of dying light arch between earth and sky. Translucent green patches stand for trees and clouds, and everything meets at the vanishing point of the ocean, radiant and serene perhaps the most beautiful scene Crali ever painted.

Tullio Crali: A Futurist Life is at the Estorick Collection, London, from 15 January until 11 April

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Tullio Crali: A Futurist Life review a head-on revelation - The Guardian

Will wages finally pick up in 2020? Will politicians across the Liberal-Labor divide come to a bipartisan agreement that climate change is a real and future danger? Will the influence of our ageing Baby Boomers begin to wane in the wake of Generation Zs withering catchphrase of 2019, OK, Boomer? Can the #MeToo movement maintain its momentum? Which will be the top box office film franchise release this year: James Bonds No Time to Die in April or Fast & Furious 9 in May? Has the avocado smash had its day?

Futurology is a fascinating, if inexact, science.Credit:Tanya Cooper/illustrationroom.com.au

Answering these questions is invigorating stuff. But its all in a days work for futurist Ross Dawson, chairman of the Future Exploration Network, who compares the trajectory of major social movements to a tiny crystal spreading out across an entire frozen block. Take climate change. The anger and frustration among those who accept the science of climate change is growing, while the position of the deniers is becoming more deeply entrenched, he says. This will lead to even greater polarisation. I find it impossible to imagine a scenario in which climate activism will reduce.

Wage growth is likely to remain tepid in 2020, with an expansion in low-wage jobs resulting in a widening wealth divide. If anything, Baby Boomers economic and political clout will increase because asset wealth will continue to outstrip income wealth, with Australia boasting one of the worlds most unaffordable housing markets, Dawson says.

The #MeToo movement sparked a wider debate, not just about sexual harassment but the sexual abuse of power. While there is the inevitable pushback against social movements like #MeToo, its larger implications the balance of power between the genders still has a long way to play out, says Dawson. The recent election of a young, female prime minister in Finland showed whats possible.

While Dawson baulks when I ask him about the likely box-office hits of 2020 and shifting tastes in brunches (Thats not what I do), he predicts the era of peak entertainment content will only intensify in 2020. I read that more than $US100 billion is currently being spent in TV and film production across the Western world. With all our current existential worries, were looking for escapism.

To read more from Good Weekend magazine, visit our page at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Brisbane Times.

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Meet the futurist with 2020 vision - Sydney Morning Herald

Imagine that you roll out of bed onto a living fungus floor. The walls and ceiling heck, the whole apartment building, down to the plumbing and electrical systems are made of fungus too. Wood and concrete are remnants of the distant past; this entire city, from the schools to the stores to the hospitals, is made ofliving fungus constantly growing, dying off and regenerating itself.

Thats the visionlaid out in a provocative new paper, which a team of European academics say is the first-ever exploration of living fungus potential as a raw material for futuristic, eco-friendly monolithic structures that would, in their telling, revolutionize the entire built environment and economy.

We propose to develop a structural substrate by using live fungal mycelium, reads the paper. Fungal buildings will self-grow, build, and repair themselves.

The idea is a response to the prospect of catastrophic climate change. Growing our building materials from biological materials, the theory goes, would makeconstruction less dependent on fossil fuels and environmentally-destructive mining operations.

Fungal materials can have a wide variety of mechanical properties ranging from foam-like to wood-like to polymer-like to elastomer-like, Han Wsten, a microbiologist at The Netherlands Utrecht University who co-authored the not-yet-peer-reviewed paper, told Futurism. The fact that we can make wood-like materials implies that we can use it for the building industry.

Along with other forms of living materials, fungal architecture is not a new idea other research groups have explored the idea of growing building materials out of mycelium. NASA,for instance, is currently testingwhether fungus could grow in Martian soil, potentially giving the space agency a low-cost way to grow space habitats onsite.

But those projects all involve killing the fungus after it grows, a process that makes it sturdier as a building material that the team says has already been used for load-bearing structures or boundary walls.

So far, they say, no one else has explored the possibility of building monolithic structures out of living fungus.

The selling point of our materials is that it is biodegradable, thereby helping to create a circular economy, Wsten said. At the same time, it should not degrade when actually used as a building material. We can work around this apparent paradox by coating the material. In fact, we also coat wood with paint of oils to protect it against degradation.

It may be that we will find a fungus that creates wood-like materials without the need of pressing, he said.

Even with a coating, Wsten went on to explain, the goal is to keep the fungal architecture alive so that an architect could rejuvenate it with water and trigger further growth if repairs or alternations were necessary. Those same coatings, the team says, could be used to capitalize on the fungus internal structure of networks to replace things like a buildings plumbing, electrical wiring, or other logistical needs.

Important to note: those ideas, like much of the teams research, remain fairly speculative.

Andrew Adamatzky, a computer scientist at the University of the West of England who also co-authored the paper, told Futurism that the team is working to build fungal versions of neuromorphic circuits and other electronics. He conceded that conventional wires are cheaper and easier to work with, but added that the living circuits will be self-growing, self-assembling and self-repairing, which no traditional circuitry can do.

This is really challenging, but a real opportunity to explore how buildings could grow, self-repair, adapt and disrupt conventional ways of building production by working with highly local resources and growing in-situ to minimize logistics and energy use in material production, said Phil Ayres, a co-author of the paper from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, aiming towards a circular economy for construction.

More on living materials: Scientists Create Living Concrete That Can Heal Itself

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These Researchers Want You to Live In a Fungus Megastructure - Futurism

Its Alive!

Scientists at the University of Colorado, Boulder have created whatThe New York Timescalls a living concrete, teeming with photosynthetic bacteria, that can grow itself and regenerate itself much like a living organism.

The concrete is a mixture of gelatin, sand, and cyanobacteria that cools similarly to Jell-O, the Times reports. The resulting structure was able to regenerate itself three times after researchers cut it apart, suggesting apotential breakthrough in the nascent field of self-assembling materials.

The living concrete, which the Colorado scientists made in partnership with DARPA, starts out as a sickly green color that fades as the bacteria dies off, according to research published Wednesday in the journal Matter.

It really does look like a Frankenstein material, UC Boulder engineer and project leader Will Srubar told the NYT.

Even as the color fades, the bacteria survive for several weeks and can be rejuvenated resulting in further growth under the right conditions.

DARPA is particularly interested in a self-growing material that it can use to assemble structures in remote desert areas, or potentially even in space, according to the NYT.

If the living concrete can scale up to that level, it could reduce the amount and weight of materials that space agencies will need to launch.

Theres no way were going to carry building materials to space, Srubar told the NYT. Well bring biology with us.

READ MORE: Bricks Alive! Scientists Create Living Concrete [New York Times]

More on materials: Scientists Create Material With Living Metabolism

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Scientists Create "Living Concrete" That Can Heal Itself - Futurism

After analyzing data from the 1950s through 2019, an international team of scientists determined that the averagetemperature of the worlds oceans in 2019 was 0.075 degrees Celsius (.135 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than the 19812010 average.

That might not seem like a significant amount of warming, but given the massive volume of the oceans, an increase even that small would require a staggering influx of heat 228 sextillion Joules worth, according to the scientists study, which was published in the journalAdvances in Atmospheric Sciences on Monday.

Thats a hard number to contextualize, so one of the scientists behind the study did the math to put it into an explosive frame of reference by comparing it to the amount of energy released by the atomic bomb the United States military dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945.

The Hiroshima atom-bomb exploded with an energy of about 63,000,000,000,000 Joules, author Lijing Cheng from the Chinese Academy of Sciences said in a press release. The amount of heat we have put in the worlds oceans in the past 25 years equals to 3.6 billion Hiroshima atom-bomb explosions.

That averages out to four Hiroshima bombs worth of energy entering the oceans every second for the past 25 years. But even more troubling, the rate isnt holding steady at that alarming figure its increasing.

In 2019, ocean warming was equivalent to about five Hiroshima bombs of heat, every second, day and night, 365 days a year, study author John Abraham, from the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, told Vice.

And in case atomic bombs are still too abstract of a comparative unit, the 2019 rate is equivalent to every person on Earth constantly pointing 100 hair dryers at the oceans, Abraham told Vice.

The less technical term is: Its a shit-ton of energy, he said and its already having a hugeimpacting the environment.

Ice is melting faster, causing sea levels to rise. Dolphins and other marine life are dying because they cant adapt quickly enough. Even the increase in the amount of water evaporating into the atmosphere due to the heat is negatively impacting on our planet.

It makes hurricanes and typhoons more powerful, and it makes rainfall more intense, Abraham told Vice. It puts our weather on steroids.

And remember, the rate is increasing meaning that every moment we delay taking action to slow or reverse the warming, the situation is only going to get worse.

READ MORE: 5 Hiroshima Bombs of Heat, Every Second: The Worlds Oceans Absorbed Record-Level Heat Last Year [Vice]

More on ocean warming: Scientists: Warming Oceans Will Lead to Catastrophic Future

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Scientists: Ocean Warming at the Rate of Five A-Bombs per Second - Futurism

Accomplishments in business. Charitable contributions. Daring leadership. Out-of-the-box thinking. Over the course of the past year, RISMedias 2020 Real Estate Newsmakers contributed to the housing industry in numerous ways, bettering their communities, consumers and larger sphere, across eight categories: Achievers, Crusaders, Futurists, Influencers, Inspirations, Luminaries, Trailblazers and Trendsetters. Here, we showcase their stories.

Matthew BeallCEOHawaii Life

In 2019, Beall and Hawaii Life acquired two firms: Country Brokers and East Oahu Realty. We have enjoyed incredible growth, Beall says. I love my Hawaii Life.

David MarineChief Marketing OfficerColdwell Banker Real Estate

In 2019, Marine led Project North Star, Coldwell Banker Real Estates first rebrand in 40 years. When I go to work or give a talk, I constantly think about how Im not just representing myself, but so many others, Marine says. Its never just about you.Vini MoolchandaniREALTORCompass

In 2019, Moolchandani helped a $900,000 listing sell in 21 daysafter it had been listed by two others and on the market for more than 400 days. I am beyond grateful to be part of this amazing industry and to be able to serve so many families, Moolchandani says.Ward MorrisonPresidentMotto Mortgage

In 2019, Motto Mortgage and Morrison celebrated the companys 150th franchise sale, as well as its third anniversary. One-hundred fifty franchises sold in only three years is an extraordinary feat for a startup franchisor, Morrison says. This growth demonstrates the demand and potential of our business model.Fiona PetrieExecutive Vice President & Managing Director of U.S. OperationsRE/MAX INTEGRA

From 2018 to 2019, RE/MAX INTEGRA grew substantially, with Petrie facilitating 20 new office openings, 36 expansions and 13 mergers and acquisitions. I strive to empower others to discover their own talents in the industry, Petrie says.Lindsay SmithChief Strategy OfficerTitle AllianceIn 2019, Title Alliance appointed Smith as chief strategy officer. My motto is every personemployee, partner and clientshould feel like a VIP at all times, says Smith.

Allen AlishahiCo-Founder & PresidentShelterZoom

In 2019, Alishahi and ShelterZoom debuted Mithra Contract, a fully digital, tokenized smart contract platform. I am helping to bring next-generation technology to our industry, which presents an enjoyable challenge, Alishahi says.AJ CanariaCreative Director & Executive Brand AmbassadorInside Real Estate

At the beginning of the year, Canaria was appointed creative director and executive brand ambassador for Inside Real Estate. I am one of real estates storytellers and connectors, Canaria says.Vy LuuGeneral ManagerReal Estate Webmasters

In 2019, Luu was appointed general manager for Real Estate Webmasters, contributing to its core initiatives, including bringing data standards worldwide. This will open up data and facilitate competition, ultimately benefitting both sides of real estate transactions, Luu says.Mike MiedlerPresident & CEOCentury 21 Real Estate LLC

In 2019, Century 21 Real Estate LLC appointed Miedler to president and CEO, formerly from chief growth officer. Success in real estate comes down to two factors: taking care of and valuing the customer, Miedler says.

Kasey StewartDirector of Member DevelopmentNational Association of REALTORS

In 2019, Stewart continued to develop educational programs at the National Association of REALTORS, including the Commitment to Excellence (C2EX) program. Im incredibly proud to work with NAR volunteer leaders and staff on C2EX, says Stewart. It truly takes a village to launch and grow a program of this magnitude.Gayln ZieglerDirector of Operations, Keller OffersKeller Williams

In 2019, Keller Williams launched Keller Offers, an iBuying program, and appointed Ziegler as its director of Operations. We feel very passionately that the consumer needs an advocate in their corner with all the changes going on in the industry right now, says Ziegler.For more from the 2020 Real Estate Newsmakers, go toRISMedia.com/2020-Newsmakersor RISMediasReal Estate magazine. For consideration for the 2021 Real Estate Newsmakers, please email nominations tomaria@rismedia.com.

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2020 Real Estate Newsmakers: The Achievers and the Futurists - RisMedia.com

Young FuturistsYoung Futurists is our annual list of the 25 best and brightest young African-Americans who excel in the fields of social justice and activism, arts and culture, enterprise and corporate innovation, science and technology, and green innovation.

The 2020 election is shaping up to be one of the most consequential elections in American history, and frankly, many of us are stressed just thinking about choosing a new leader (and getting rid of the old one).

But what if you had a chance to choose the leaders of tomorrow? Were looking for the young, outspoken social justice activists who are doing the real work on the ground to change their communities for the better; the savvy young entrepreneur who is already providing real jobs and real opportunities; the young environmentalists who are literally fighting to save the planet and their future; the techy kids who would rather code and create new apps than play basketball (not that theres anything wrong with that, were looking for that young superstar athlete in the making, too); the creative geniuses who can tell their stories through art, music and film.

If you know any African Americans between the ages of 10 and 24 who fit those descriptions, now is the time to nominate them for The Roots 2020 Young Futurists.

We will select 25 young leaders who are already making their mark in the fields of social justice and activism; arts and culture; enterprise and corporate innovation; science and technology; and green innovation (environment).

Last year, our list included some incredible kids, like 12-year-old Mari Copeny, who has been advocating for clean drinking water for her hometown of Flint, Mich., earning the title of Little Miss Flint in 2015when she was 8. Or Black-ish star Marsai Martin, who is already crushing the Hollywood game after making history as the youngest executive producer of a major Hollywood film at age 14. Or Elijah Precciely, who entered college as a sophomore after receiving a full-ride scholarship to Southern University in May 2018, when he was 11.

Heres your chance to tell us about the feature leaders who are destined for great things. The nomination period will run through Feb. 7. Please tell us about potential Young Futurists by filling out this nomination form.

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The Roots Young Futurists 2020: Nominate the Leaders Who Are Ready to Change the World - The Root