[Note:  A version of this column recently appeared in the Shift Age Newsletter.  Please feel free to sign up for a free subscription.]

I have been writing and speaking that IP is the wealth of the Shift Age for the last six years.  And over the last six years, this reality has become ever more apparent.  Recent headlines make this crystal clear.

In the Agricultural Age, those who owned the land created wealth.  In the Industrial Age, those who created and controlled production created wealth.  In the Information Age, those who created technology and brought it to market created wealth.  In the Shift Age, those who create or own Intellectual Property will create wealth.

Nine times I have spoken of this and have had a CEO or business owner tell me they had recently sold their company for more money than they had ever thought possible based on multiples of revenue or profit.  The reason was that the strategic buyer had a clear perception of the ability to scale up the seller’s IP and paid for that opportunity.

IP now represents more than 80% of the market cap of the S&P 500 in the United States.  People are finally understanding that corporate wealth – and revenue – is increasingly based on what Intellectual Property the company owns.

One of the recent examples of this is the Microsoft-AOL transaction.  Microsoft paid AOL more that $1 billion U.S. for 800 patents, or $1.3 million per patent.  Microsoft wanted the patents as they related to ...]]>

[Note:  A version of this column recently appeared in the Shift Age Newsletter.  Please feel free to sign up for a free subscription.]

I have been writing and speaking that IP is the wealth of the Shift Age for the last six years.  And over the last six years, this reality has become ever more apparent.  Recent headlines make this crystal clear.

In the Agricultural Age, those who owned the land created wealth.  In the Industrial Age, those who created and controlled production created wealth.  In the Information Age, those who created technology and brought it to market created wealth.  In the Shift Age, those who create or own Intellectual Property will create wealth.

Nine times I have spoken of this and have had a CEO or business owner tell me they had recently sold their company for more money than they had ever thought possible based on multiples of revenue or profit.  The reason was that the strategic buyer had a clear perception of the ability to scale up the seller’s IP and paid for that opportunity.

IP now represents more than 80% of the market cap of the S&P 500 in the United States.  People are finally understanding that corporate wealth – and revenue – is increasingly based on what Intellectual Property the company owns.

One of the recent examples of this is the Microsoft-AOL transaction.  Microsoft paid AOL more that $1 billion U.S. for 800 patents, or $1.3 million per patent.  Microsoft wanted the patents as they related to the Internet and most important, to smartphones and mobile operating systems.  AOL, moving toward a more pure content-intensive business, monetized this incredibly valuable collection of IP assets from its earlier iteration to fund its new direction.  Both sides won.

What is interesting is to look at the motivation of Microsoft.  Microsoft became a giant on the power of a near monopoly of PC-based software.  The Internet transformation put the company back on its heels, lessening its dominance with increasingly Web-centric businesses and individuals.  Now that the world has, is and will continue to rapidly move toward mobile devices and platforms, Microsoft again finds itself playing catch-up.

If one thinks about the businesses and revenue streams of the mobile business, Microsoft is behind in all the traditional categories.  The carriers own the revenue stream of access.  Google and Apple dominate the operating systems, apps and software platforms of the smartphone business.  Apple, Samsung, Motorola/Google, HTC and others lead in the device business.  Microsoft doesn’t make phones and has a single-digit share of the OS market in mobile.  So, essentially, the company is not a factor in any of these standard revenue streams of mobile.  That is why its purchase of AOL’s patents, on the heels of other patent deals in the last couple of years, is so brilliant.

Smartphones utilize dozens of patents for the device and for the OS.  It is one of, if not the most, cross-licensed technology businesses relative to patents.  It is also one of the most legally contentious areas of patents.  Microsoft, with its huge and expensive purchase of AOL’s patents, on top of all its other recent patent purchases, has essentially created a huge revenue stream of licensing revenue in the mobile arena.  The company is rapidly moving to the position of being paid for almost every smartphone’s technology or OS.  Using its huge amount of available cash, Microsoft has effectively created a new revenue stream from a business in which it has not been successful, let alone dominant.

Microsoft doesn’t have carrier, device, or OS revenue, but it now is creating a huge stream of IP revenue – a patent-protected source of revenue not at risk due to the perpetually and rapidly changing mobile marketplace.  No costs of production, no costs of marketing, no costs of software development – just a huge investment into patents.  A quintessential Information Age company is developing Shift Age revenue.  Brilliant!

Welcome to the Shift Age!

Last year around this time I wrote a column entitled “Earth Century” . In it I mentioned that in the first two years of this blog in 2006 and 2007 I had focused a lot on alternative energy, renewable energy and peak oil.  This led me to being considered a thought shaper in the energy blogosphere.  The result, mentioned in last year’s column, has been that I am obviously on the list for pitching environment projects, products and initiatives.  So, from this perspective I feel like the world is continuing to think that Earth Day is a marketing event for promotion.

Please don’t get me wrong.  I support every single one of these efforts.  They are all worthy.  They are all moving us in the right direction.  The volume of these pitches increases every year, which is a good directional sign.  I embrace the efforts and the direction.  That said, we all have to give up this Earth Day thing.  It has become a day to toot one’s horn or to feel self-righteous about spending the day planting trees or picking up litter or whatever floats your ecological boat.  Well, ...]]> Earth Day is coming.  April 22 to be exact.  How I know is my email inbox.  Every day for the past few weeks I get pitches to write about some company’s new eco product.  The words LEED certified, Eco, Green, Recycled, Renewable have become an endless blur in the subject line of in-bound emails.  This is now a spring ritual.

Last year around this time I wrote a column entitled “Earth Century” . In it I mentioned that in the first two years of this blog in 2006 and 2007 I had focused a lot on alternative energy, renewable energy and peak oil.  This led me to being considered a thought shaper in the energy blogosphere.  The result, mentioned in last year’s column, has been that I am obviously on the list for pitching environment projects, products and initiatives.  So, from this perspective I feel like the world is continuing to think that Earth Day is a marketing event for promotion.

Please don’t get me wrong.  I support every single one of these efforts.  They are all worthy.  They are all moving us in the right direction.  The volume of these pitches increases every year, which is a good directional sign.  I embrace the efforts and the direction.  That said, we all have to give up this Earth Day thing.  It has become a day to toot one’s horn or to feel self-righteous about spending the day planting trees or picking up litter or whatever floats your ecological boat.  Well, I did my part.  I love the earth.  I am hip and green.  Okay, fine, no problem.  However, it is not longer a Day in our life, it is the life we have to live every day.

I called this the Earth Century last year because it is this century that we turn around our rush to global environmental Armageddon, or not.

We have entered the Anthropocene Age. The name was coined by  Nobel Prize winning scientist Paul Crutzen in 2000.  The simple definition is that we have entered the Age of Humanity.  This means that Humanity has become the single most influential force influencing Earth, similar to ice being the dominant force in the Ice Age.  Humanity is not only the largest species on the planet in terms of our biomass, we are clearly the most ecologically intrusive in our relationship with our planet.

7 billion of us, with billions wanting a more energy intensive lifestyle is now the single greatest determining factor in the biosphere.   How we collectively alter the trajectory of growth into a more sustainable, renewable path is a challenge and a responsibility.  A challenge because it entails changing many deeply entrenched legacy ways of thinking supported by the powers of status quo.  A responsibility because if we don’t change all the thinking behind the current trajectory in this century we will be responsible for planetary ecological disasters that will affect the planet for centuries to come.

The Shift Age is the time when we must and will shift this trajectory and the legacy thinking that powers it to a new entirely different view on growth, energy, and the definition of life as we know it.  The Shift Age is a critical time not just for humanity but therefore one for the planet as well.

So, Earth Day is April 22.  In the month prior to this celebration of greenness, March 2012, there were 15,000 local temperature records tied or broken in the U.S. and the average temperatures were 8.6F or 4.8C above normal.  To use one tired cliché , this is the new normal.  We have entered the Anthropocene Age.  Every day must be an Earth Day.  Tell me not what you will announce that day.  Tell me what you are doing to alter our rush to biosphere catastrophe in the next few decades.

The Anthropocene Age is the time when Marshall McLuhan’s quote is truer and more profound than ever:  “There are no passengers on Spaceship Earth, we are all crew”

We are not crew for a day, but for the rest of our lives.

In my last column I wrote about  the New Health Age, the new age of health care and medicine that we have entered.  The coming changes in the health care landscape in the United States and the incredible medical miracles rapidly coming will define this new age.

As written in the last column, the national conversation about health care reform in the United States has been largely driven by fear, misinformation and politics.  This means that it is a stupid conversation, largely defined by what your special interest is, whether you are Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal.  How sad and embarrassing.  One of the reasons to write “The New Health Age: The Future of Health Care in America” with my co-author Jonathan Fleece was to bring intelligence to this national conversation.

As I speak to audiences across this country and on radio interview programs, I attempt to provide easy ways to think about what is about to happen to the landscape of health care, regardless of what the Supreme Court will rule on the current law of the land.  Here is perhaps ...]]> [An apology to my regular and long time readers:  this has been the longest time I have ever gone between columns.  I have been starting work on my next book and have allowed that to take top priority during my writing time every day.  Now that it is well underway, I am back with another column on the New Health Age.  Thank you for your patience!]

In my last column I wrote about  the New Health Age, the new age of health care and medicine that we have entered.  The coming changes in the health care landscape in the United States and the incredible medical miracles rapidly coming will define this new age.

As written in the last column, the national conversation about health care reform in the United States has been largely driven by fear, misinformation and politics.  This means that it is a stupid conversation, largely defined by what your special interest is, whether you are Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal.  How sad and embarrassing.  One of the reasons to write “The New Health Age: The Future of Health Care in America” with my co-author Jonathan Fleece was to bring intelligence to this national conversation.

As I speak to audiences across this country and on radio interview programs, I attempt to provide easy ways to think about what is about to happen to the landscape of health care, regardless of what the Supreme Court will rule on the current law of the land.  Here is perhaps the easiest way to think about what is about to happen.

The entire health care sector represents about 18% of the GDP of the United States.  Round that number up to 20%.  Now, let’s think about how you experience and act in the 80% of our economy that is not health care or medicine.  Here are some questions for you to answer:

-Do you expect to find information when you want it – 24/7?

-Are most of your documents kept electronically, in electronic files for access anytime you want them?

-Do you keep information, pictures or any type of content – such as your Facebook account – online or in the cloud?

-Do you have easy access to all your personal information?

-Do you conduct business online from wherever you are, such as online banking or online shopping?

-Do you communicate with important people in your life via text messaging or e-mails?

-Have you experienced an ever-lowering of the cost of technology and the connectivity that connects us to it?

I would think that you answered as least some of these questions in the affirmative.  Okay, now go back to these questions and think about your current experience when dealing with today’s health care system.  Ask yourself:

-Do you expect to find your medical information when you want it -24/7?

-Do you have easy access to all your personal medical information?

-Do you communicate with your health care provider via text messaging or e-mails?

-Have you experienced an ever-lowering of the cost of technology and connectivity relative to your health care?

Simply stated, the realities you now accept, and in fact insist on in the 80% of our economy that is not health care, are not  readily available in the 20% that is.

Think about the possibility that a family member or a friend is diagnosed with cancer.  Can you go online and compare the “past performance” of successful treatments from the cancer centers where you live?  You can with mutual funds.  Why not with cancer?  You will be able to in the New Health Age.

Think about the reality that 100,000 people die every year due to mistakes in hospitals, largely from preventable infections.  Wouldn’t you like to know which hospitals make the most mistakes before you decide where to go?  You will be able to in the New Health Age.

Do you demand a reality of being able to make a choice by price comparison and past performance?  Of course you do!  Do you ask for a warranty on parts and labor?  Of course you do!  Can you do this with the current health care system?  No you can’t.

So, health care reform in the United States in this New Health Age is largely about bringing the connectivity, transparency, digitization, and the competitive market to the health care sector of the United States economy.

Granted this is a simple high level look at what is about to happen with health care in the New Health Age, but it is going to happen.  Any questions?

Please check out some recent reviews of “The New Health Age: The Future of Health Care in America” here and here

In the United States, the discussion about health care has largely been driven by fear, misinformation and manipulated by politicians.  Any discussion driven by these three forces is not an intelligent one.  That is why Jonathan Fleece and I have written “The New Health Age: The Future of Health Care in America”.  We wanted to write a book that would bring intelligence and understanding to the conversation about the future of health care in America.  As the quotes here show, this book is already being called THE book to read to better understand, and feel comfortable about the future landscape of health care in America.

Most people don’t realize that modern medicine is about 150 years old.  In 1865 Louis Pasteur identified germs as a significant cause of disease.  The Band-Aid was invented in 1920, penicillin in 1928 and the first flu vaccine in 1948. Cat scans were first used in the late 1970s.  So modern medicine is recent and is undergoing constant breakthroughs.  The current and soon to come medical miracles will usher in this New Health Age and will change how we think of both medicine and health care.

So to break through the ...]]> We have entered a new health age in this early part of the 21st century.  Humanity and particularly Americans are entering a new time of medical miracles and health care.  The thinking, delivery and economics of medicine and health care are changing and these changes will be accelerating in the next few years.

In the United States, the discussion about health care has largely been driven by fear, misinformation and manipulated by politicians.  Any discussion driven by these three forces is not an intelligent one.  That is why Jonathan Fleece and I have written “The New Health Age: The Future of Health Care in America”.  We wanted to write a book that would bring intelligence and understanding to the conversation about the future of health care in America.  As the quotes here show, this book is already being called THE book to read to better understand, and feel comfortable about the future landscape of health care in America.

Most people don’t realize that modern medicine is about 150 years old.  In 1865 Louis Pasteur identified germs as a significant cause of disease.  The Band-Aid was invented in 1920, penicillin in 1928 and the first flu vaccine in 1948. Cat scans were first used in the late 1970s.  So modern medicine is recent and is undergoing constant breakthroughs.  The current and soon to come medical miracles will usher in this New Health Age and will change how we think of both medicine and health care.

So to break through the stupid, politically manipulated current discussion about health care in this country during an election year it is important to understand some basic concepts.

-Health care costs are out of control.  We have all heard the phrase “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.  We have had a health care system that is largely based upon the pound of cure.  Prevention is now becoming a dominant theme moving us to an ounce of prevention model.

-There are some 18,000 codes for procedures that physicians use to get paid. There is not a single code for payment on keeping a patient healthy.  That is about to change.  Primary care physicians, the ones who know the patient best, will become central to the new health care delivery system and will actually get paid for doing what they are supposed to do, keep their patients healthy

-One third of all American adults are obese and two thirds are overweight.

-70% of all American health care costs are incurred by 10% of the population.  Most of these people suffer from afflictions due to obesity as it leads to heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and joint disease.  Successfully treat 1% and we lower total health care costs by 7%

-The average cost to a company for the health care of an employee is $12,000.  That is one of the reasons why American companies are not globally competitive.  We are the only developed nation in the world without a universal health care system.  This means that America companies have a higher cost structure than their global competitors.  This is one of the reasons that health care reform has finally happened; America has lost a lot of its global competitive edge.

-Health care represents almost 18% of America’s GDP.  All of the technology driven innovation we have come to accept in the 80% of the GDP is now coming to health care.  Digital records, search, connectivity, convenience, efficiency and the ability to compare performance, all things we now demand in the rest of our lives are now coming to health care.  It is almost that simple.  The medical profession and health care delivery are now about to catch up to how we expect the rest of the marketplace and economy to operate.  Open markets, competition, cost benefit analysis, the power of the free market to both increase quality and drive down costs.  All of this is now coming to health care.   Health will increase and, after a short transition period, costs will go down.

I will be writing more columns here about the New Health Age as it is such an exciting time.

You can find out more information about The New Health Age here.

If you care to order the book “The New Health Age: The Future of Health Care in America” it is not yet in bookstores but is available at Amazon and BN.com

Welcome to the New Health Age!

The Accelerated Electronic Connectedness of humanity is perhaps the most significant dynamic in the world today.  It amplifies the first two flows.  It is one of the two reasons that, 4 years ago I forecast that there would be, in 3-5 years, great upheavals in dictatorships and Islamic states ( I didn’t know to call it Arab Spring because I didn’t know it would be in a season).  The second common denominator of the Arab Spring is that 45 to 55% of the population of every country is under the age of 25.  Combine Millennials and Digital Natives with the ability to connect electronically and you have the commonality of the Arab Spring.

In the Shift Age, there is a new, rapid reality of Memes to Movements.  In a recently uploaded video I speak briefly about this.  Think about Occupy Wall Street.  As I wrote in a recent column, the Occupy movement went from some 75 people demonstrating in a small park in Manhattan to tens of thousands of people demonstrating in hundreds of cities in 80 ...]]> The three forces of the Shift Age are the Flow to Global, the Flow to the Individual and the Accelerated Electronic Connectedness of the planet.  There are 7 billion humans alive today and 5.3 billion of them have cell phones.  3 billion people connect to the Internet every day.  These are the forces and the numbers that are shaping most of the change and many of the headlines in media today.

The Accelerated Electronic Connectedness of humanity is perhaps the most significant dynamic in the world today.  It amplifies the first two flows.  It is one of the two reasons that, 4 years ago I forecast that there would be, in 3-5 years, great upheavals in dictatorships and Islamic states ( I didn’t know to call it Arab Spring because I didn’t know it would be in a season).  The second common denominator of the Arab Spring is that 45 to 55% of the population of every country is under the age of 25.  Combine Millennials and Digital Natives with the ability to connect electronically and you have the commonality of the Arab Spring.

In the Shift Age, there is a new, rapid reality of Memes to Movements.  In a recently uploaded video I speak briefly about this.  Think about Occupy Wall Street.  As I wrote in a recent column, the Occupy movement went from some 75 people demonstrating in a small park in Manhattan to tens of thousands of people demonstrating in hundreds of cities in 80 countries.  In one month!  That is something that has never happened in human history.

Six months ago, if someone said “Occupy” to you, you would ask for clarification.  Today that word has meaning.  It has become a meme.  “We are the 99%” is now a meme.  The power of the Occupy and 99%/1% memes, are so global and so powerful now because they are both memes and movements.

This connectedness is now faster than most 20^th century institutions, let allow 18^th century institutions such as the United States Congress.  The recent SOPA and PIPA controversy happened not just because of the mobilizing power of the Internet, but because connected memes to movements are infinitely faster that the processes of Congress.  They are also more powerful than the 20^th century institutional distribution system called Hollywood.

Hollywood has a long developed habit of paying politicians (where have you gone Jack Valenti?) to do their bidding.  As a futurist I have to say that they are on the wrong side of history.  Here is a suggestion to Google, You Tube, Reddit, Tumblr and specifically Rotten Tomatoes, and any other site that carries videos.  If Hollywood tries to ham fistedly try to censor the Internet again, what you should all do is take down all the reviews of current movies, all the video trailers of movies about to open from your sites.  Hollywood uses the Internet for free to promote their 20^th century distribution models.  Have the Internet companies ever complained to the studios about all the free and often primary promotional resource they have provided?

So, as I often say, welcome to the Shift Age!  Memes become Movements.  Six years ago, when I started this blog, I picked the name evolutionshift( my name on Twitter- please follow) as I see a coming evolutionary shift in consciousness ahead.  Memes to Movements is one of the first significant synaptic steps in that direction.