How the "Networked Economy" Will Double Gross World Product in 10 Years

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Social networks have allowed billions of individuals to communicate and collaborate in a variety of ways while online technologies have helped business create frictionless purchases at the consumer and business-to-business levels. When these two capabilities merge, we will have reached a new powerful “networked economy,” writes MIT’s Technology Review.

“What exactly is the Networked Economy? It’s an emerging type of economic environment arising from the digitization of fast-growing, multilayered, highly interactive, real-time connections among people, devices, and businesses.”

Integral to the networked economy is an Internet of things which will connect buyers to sellers and aggregate data for social improvement. In that economy, businesses must (1) retain customer loyalty, (2) enable open innovation, and (3) enhance resource optimization.

Customer loyalty can be established through the bundling of goods and services that specific individuals use. Enabling open innovation means creating a work environment that millennials can thrive in–by 2050, they will make up 75% of the workforce. Resource optimization means taking advantage of technology to improve efficiency–that means machine efficiency as well as network efficiency, streamlining logistical networks to grow your business without taking up more space.

For those of you who expect to running tomorrow’s economy, here’s some leadership advice from Big Think’s interview with Nina DiSesa of McCann Erickson: