Marcus Barber

Marcus Barber is a Strategic Futurist and one of Australasia's top Value Systems specialists, assisting clients with advanced strategic thinking and innovation processes. He has recently joined the Board of the Association of Professional Futurists.

Marcus is the founder of the Australian Strategic Planning Institute was an advisory board member of the Australian Bill of Rights Initiative and is part of the Lifeboat Foundation's Futures advisory Board. He has been published in a number of journals around the world, is often interviewed for articles in newspapers and magazines and has been a regular contributor to Australasia's leading innovation magazine 'Fast Thinking’. Marcus has recently completed his second book 'Getting Your Future Right'.

Articles by Marcus Barber

Should We Really Keep Politicians Away From Scientists?

Posted by Marcus Barber | Mar 19, 2013 | Collective Intelligence, Crowdsourcing

Sir Paul Nurse has ‘weight’ when it comes to science. His position is the head of The Royal Society in the United Kingdom and in an address in Melbourne he suggested that we need to keep politicians away from scientists: “It also emphasizes the need to keep the science as far as is possible from political, ideological and religious influence,” he said. And I’m wondering whether he is right? Should we really be keeping these areas separate?

The Ins of the Outs of Crowdsourcing

Posted by Marcus Barber | Feb 27, 2013 | Crowdsourcing

To garner any lasting and impactful benefits from Crowdsourcing, going ‘out there’ needs internal trust. Without that trust much energy will be expended by a few people, only to see potentially business changing ideas fall on to infertile soil. There are some key things that your organization must understand when it moves toward tapping the crowd.

Why 2013 will be the International Year of Crowdsourcing

Posted by Marcus Barber | Feb 25, 2013 | News

I’ve been thinking long and hard about what to call 2013. After saying 2011 would need to be the International Year of Resilience (much still needed) and 2012 the...

The Future of Manufacturing is Upon Us

Posted by Marcus Barber | Feb 4, 2013 | Collaborative Economy, Maker Movement

The burgeoning shift in the manufacturing sector has been coming for a touch over a decade and has, I would suggest, now reached your front gate. A whole confluence of factors that include 3D printing, crowdsourcing, home engineering and free-scale idea generation leveraging social funding approaches means that EVERY single aspect of manufacturing as we know it, is now passing from closed networks and few providers and into the hands of anyone who wants it.