Just as he impressed everyone at this year's Singapore Summit, Richard Martin did not let the audience down at his lunchtime address on Monday 14th September 2002.

"One thing that I want you to take away today is a clear view of economic factors affecting the market and what will be driving your customers for the next few years"

"Creativity is HOT! It is the buzzword that is everywhere. From an economic point of view, making a creative economy and developing creative managers is of paramount importance".

'The Economist' relays the law of declining return on productivity gain. This means that you can be creative once in every 4/5 years and the productivity gains begin to wane. Creative breakthroughs provide a surge in productivity gain and then a decline, so before it peeters out, there needs to be another creative surge.

So, there needs to be continuous little bursts of creativity that translate into productivity.

"IT is an enabler. It is not the point of creativity, nor is it the source of productivity"

Creativity changes the way we do things and this is as relevant today as it has been in the past.

In the first wave of outsourcing (pre 1977) it was driven by economies of scale.

Since 1977, IT has created a new wave of outsourcing.

In 2000, outsourcing had reached $US2 trillion and new directions were sought.

The future wave will now involve "infraservices" which go further than traditional outsourcing. Companies will sell their ability to manage systems and components. In the USA, infraservices account for 50-60% of the economy, whereas only 5% of the market has been tapped. There is enormous growth potential.

Collapsing share prices, maintaining profits while cutting prices, competing in a globalized market, will all be driving business decisions for the next few years, so what are the factors that will be affecting building demand?

The main creative driver at work on companies is the need to change their structure and hence their building demands will change.

The enablers of productivity gains from the changes will include-The enablers of productivity gains from the changes

• IT systems
  Buildings that
  
• can cope with massive corporate restructuring
  
• that enable alliances across the corridor or the world;
  
• adapt to rapid change in tenants; and
  
• support knowledge workers
  
  

Nothing stays the same!

Melbourne reports were filed on location by Sandra Makris on behalf of CoreNet Global.