We are on the threshold of a new era. Our planet's climate is at risk. The century of oil is coming to an end, and the world's energy supply must be put on a new foundation. In 2050, the number of people living in cities will be almost as large as the world’s entire population today — and for the first time in history, there will be more senior citizens than children and young people.

That's why researchers, inventors, and engineers need to be more creative today than ever before. Computers as medical assistants, robots as household servants, sensory organs for electric cars, buildings as energy providers, farms in skyscrapers, glowing ceilings, power plants in  deserts and on the high seas, supercomputers the size of a pea, virtual universities, and online factories — these are not visions but almost tangible realities in laboratories all over the globe.

"Life in 2050" by Ulrich Eberl

Since 2001, Siemens’ magazine “Pictures of the Future” explores the world of tomorrow. In “Life in 2050”, Ulrich Eberl, a science journalist and editor-in-chief of "Pictures of the Future", vividly describes the key trends that will shape our lives in the future. This book is a must for everyone who wants to know where we’re heading — what professions will be needed and how we ourselves can help to invent the world of tomorrow

Whether the reader is a pupil or student, researcher or professor, manager or politician — this book offers all of them readily understandable insights into how innovations develop and what they mean for life in the future. “Life in 2050” shows how we can master the huge challenges of the 21^st century — if we keep our minds open to potential solutions and have the courage to act.

"Life in 2050", Ulrich Eberl (2011), Beltz & Gelberg, Weinheim, Germany
€19.95 in bookstores. ISBN 978-3-407-75357-1