In a bid to uncover how ideas for a better future are becoming reality, Monocle has teamed up with Siemens. Our journey to find innovations that are changing the way we live and work for the better has taken us to the Wiyot, Yurok and Hoopa tribes of Humboldt County in northern California. We skimmed the warm seas of the Marshall Islands and made tracks across the vastness of the Egyptian interior. We even delved into the Industrial Metaverse.
Read the full series in the Monocle Companion

Transforming the everyday

issue 2023

Introduction
- Messages from 2030
  
  Immersed in rolling news, you could be forgiven for wanting to draw the blinds, lock the doors and curl up in a ball. But there are good reasons to be optimistic. We have powerful tools to build the future by our own design. We have the technologies needed to tackle challenges such as climate change today. Now we must summon the will and determination to put those capabilities to good use.
1.
- Digital twins and their real-life siblings
  
  Island communities need tools to understand the changes that threaten coral reefs and their entire livelihood. Digital twins help them to analyse and solve problems, becoming a platform for scientists, fishermen and key decision makers to work together.
2.
- Power islands in the storm
  
  A century-old American Indian reservation in Northern California took control of its energy by launching a solar-power-based microgrid. During wildfire-related outages in 2019 and the disruption caused by the pandemic, Blue Lake Rancheria turned out to be a power island in the storm.
3.
- Forget Second Life, we’ll see you in the Industrial Metaverse
  
  With the Industrial Metaverse based on digital twin technology, it is possible to collaborate, invent, plan and simulate in a virtual world. This allows companies to optimise factories, transport, buildings and cities in order to improve our world and resolve the sustainability paradox.
4.
- Bring the future back on track
  
  The world must find new and sustainable ways to transport growing numbers of people and goods. The answer might lie with a novel approach to an old technology: a new generation of rail systems has the power to revolutionise how we travel and move cargo.
5.
- Better data access can save the climate
  
  Companies need to understand how and where emissions occur in their supply chains, which ones are easiest to eliminate and how they can offset the remainder. With the Estainium network, Siemens is helping companies achieve these aims with blockchain technology.
6.
- A better tomorrow
  
  Our journey to find innovations that are changing the way we live and work for the better has taken us to the Wiyot, Yurok and Hoopa tribes of Humboldt County in northern California. We skimmed the warm seas of the Marshall Islands and made tracks across the vastness of the Egyptian interior. We even delved into the Industrial Metaverse.

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Messages from 2030

Digital twins and their real-life siblings

Power islands in the storm

Forget Second Life, we’ll see you in the Industrial Metaverse

Bring the future back on track

Better data access can save the climate

A better tomorrow

Introduction