Law graduate Mike Walsh endured 10 rounds of interviews and an exhaustive series of tests before he was offered the prize of a job with McKinsey & Co. It was 1999 and this was to be his ticket to a bright future – but he turned it down. Instead, he jumped on a plane for the United States, enthralled by the possibilities offered by the development of the internet. 

Segment featuring futurist and keynote speaker Mike Walsh, appearing on the Business Today program for Australia Network and ABC. Key themes explored include the power of anthropology in business, and the imperative for enterprise to take a pro-active stance on social media to drive engagement with their customers.

After having a shower and eating breakfast, you cuddle the kids, kiss your partner goodbye for the day and choose a virtual suit (you’re really just wearing shorts and a T-shirt) and then wander into your office. It’s right there in your home, but it could be anywhere in the world. It’s simply a white walled room, but once you flick a switch and fire up the sensors, cameras and projectors, you see your colleagues all around you, sitting at their own desks, getting on with the day’s projects.

Mike Walsh, author, CEO of research agency Tomorrow and a specialist on the digital future, is a keynote speaker at the 2010 national conference Eyes Wide Open in September. He spoke to Research News about what the world's digital future might look like - and it may be coming fromn a different direction than the one you'd expect. Brazil, Russia, India and China, will the interesting countries to watch in the next few years for digital innovations, according to futurist Mike Walsh. But first, he says, we need to go baxk to the past... 

THE FUTURE IS ALREADY HERE, YOU just have to know where to look,” the futurists say. They tell stories of the use of technology in cities such as Tokyo and Seoul, of transport choices in cities such as Amsterdam and Copenhagen and of balances of power shifting from the USA to China. But what exactly does it all mean for us, for the individuals who will be affected by the rapid and rampant change that we’re seeing around us on a daily basis. What type of world will our children be living in?