Today I would like to talk to you about a very dear subject which is Cultural and heritage preservation. I think it is crucial for humanity and our planet.
But let me start with some key data here.
Globally, the share of people living in an urban area is now at 56.2%.
Africa went from 14.3% in 1950 to 43.5% in 2020.
Asia went from 17.5% in 1950 to 51% in 2020.
Latin America and the Carribeans went from 17.5% in 1950 to 51% in 2020.
According to the World Economic Forum, the urban populations of Asia and Africa alone surpass the entire populations of Europe, Latin America and North America.
The reason why I am referring to these numbers is because there is going to be demand for culture and especially culture in the form of digital assets. The populations of these geographical areas are going to move into the category of middle income and their connection to cultural activities will grow accordingly. However, it’s even deeper than a pure macroeconomic consideration. It’s the quest for meaning and connection to a common heritage that will even surpass any expectation. Indeed, in 2018, it was already estimated that the share of the population that belongs to the middle class had passed the threshold of 50%. The bulk of that increase came from Asia and Africa.
The pandemic might have slowed that trend, but it’s here to stay.
Today’s technology will act as a major driver of such digital preservation of heritage and cultural preservation. It’s really very hard to predict how this will unfold but you can already sense that the explosion of NFTs (non fungible tokens) is already pointing in a direction where the communities of all the geographical areas mentioned above could be even more empowered. Many of these communities, wherever they are, could indeed seize that opportunity and empower themselves in a way that is hard to fathom yet.
So my advice to you is to follow such activities and learn from them as much as you can. Organizations, entrepreneurs and visionary leaders, artists and thought leaders involved in that field have the future in their hands. You are probably one of them, and if that’s the case, I really congratulate you and encourage you to continue.
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