When most people hear the phrase "trade association," the first thing that comes to mind is likely industry trade conferences or perhaps lobbying. But someday soon, they just might think of sustainability.

Less than five years ago, the idea of a "cargo community" at an airport was little more than an attempt by various cargo executives to know all the names up and down the supply chain. What each member of the supply chain did, however, was largely a mystery.

In logistics, the best known blockchain pilot program involved Maersk and IBM. It centered on creating a digital distributed ledger to create a single electronic place where all the myriad documents related to a shipment could be housed.

China is installing more robots than any other nation, and that may affect every other nation.

As an economic futurist, I try to deal in highly likely projections, and population trends are the likeliest. Who will be available to work for your company in 10 years?