We humans will deepen our knowledge about processes in nature. We will continue to recognize those aspects of natural processes we have not yet managed to understand to date. We have not been entirely successful because our knowledge of biological processes, which are the basis of all living nature, has been insufficient. So far we have as a rule been able to recognize the status of processes which are necessary for creating nonliving nature. Once we delve deeper into natural processes and recognize them, we will be able to simulate them using newly developed technical processes. And with the simulation of technical processes, we will find that the known technical systems cannot fully control the functions of new technical processes. Therefore, the development of technical systems will be accelerated in order to control new functions. The list of connections between natural processes and technical ones will be supplemented, and a list of connections between natural systems and technical ones will be made in the same way. The concepts of this approach have been initiated in the last fifteen years of the previous century (HUBKA&EDER) and deepened and supplemented at the beginning of the current one (DUHOVNIK).
In the development of new technical systems, humans will use various methods. One of them will certainly be the method of decomposing existing technical systems that are used for simulating new technical systems. I believe that in the decomposition of technical systems it is possible via deduction to develop an expanded or entirely new set of functions. By making various combinations of this set of functions and applying various theories for the prediction of results, humans will be able to achieve a composition of the new set of functions that will enable them to generate new technical systems for performing both partial and complex functions. Attempts at product development by decomposing existing products were researched at the end of the previous century (ŽAVBI&DUHOVNIK, CHAKRABARTI, WALLACE) and are gaining ever wider use among researchers of design and development processes.
It is especially important to draw attention to the recognition of the initial part of the creative process. Studies currently underway (DUHOVNIK&BENEDIČIČ, several US and British researchers) demonstrate the need for humans to analyze the entire creative process using forms of expression such as drawings or speech. Human activities within the research and development process can be classified as creative. Research into the process of making new creations will enable a greater creativity among all creative developmental engineers. The lecturers' task of directing emerging engineers towards a global recognition of technical systems will become especially important for new generations of engineers. Global product recognition requires a comprehensive mastery of all a product's functions, from its creation to its use to its elimination, i.e. throughout the product life cycle.
Because of the integration of knowledge over wider-reaching areas, high-quality universities with top scientists will need to work together and offer their students more complex knowledge. Such knowledge will be especially necessary at postgraduate schools. Universities will associate to form virtual, highly specialized postgraduate schools. In their curriculums, these schools will use a comprehensive approach and apply a more complex understanding of nature. As a rule, natural processes will be analyzed using an integral approach, which applies especially to the study of engineering knowledge. In the real world, there will be top universities educating high-quality and creative engineers. However, individual lecturers from these universities and their laboratories will also associate in virtual communities to form new virtual universities. Physically, students will remain in their cultural and social environment, but via their research and studies they will participate in the virtual world, which will enable them to reduce cultural and social barriers through a global approach.
The essential elements in the understanding of the development of new products will be axioms describing products in nature, in the human environment.