Trends Identified
Information Automation
From automating “what I need to do” to automating “what I need to know” Information technology has grown up in a processdominated era where automation has focused on the question “What do I need to do?” and the “I” of IT has been something of an afterthought. We believe we have now decisively entered a new era, where automation can help answer a bigger question: “What do I need to know?” In this era, the ability to expose, associate, analyze, and present volumes of structured and unstructured content is one of the untapped sources of competitive advantage.
2010
Depth perception A dozen technology trends shaping business and IT in 2010
Deloitte
The increasing datafication of our lives
From chatting to friends in a messaging app or buying a coffee, to tapping in and out with an Oyster card or streaming music, today almost everything we do leaves a trail of data breadcrumbs. And this increasing datafication of our world has led to an unprecedented explosion in data. Just in the average minute, Facebook receives 900,000 logins, more than 450,000 Tweets are posted, and 156 million emails and 15 million texts are sent. With numbers like that, it’s no wonder we’re essentially doubling the amount of data created in the world roughly every two years.
2017
9 Technology Mega Trends That Will Change The World In 2018
Forbes
Machine Vision
From detecting corruption to diagnosing cancer, there are a multitude of uses for this AI technology.
2018
Most contagious report 2018
Contagious
Volatility is the new normal
From disruptive technologies to political uncertainty, the future is chaotic and it is here to stay.
2018
8 sustainability trends that will define 2018
Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership
Artificial Intelligence
From gaming to the battlefield
2017
Top 50 Emerging Technologies 2017
Frost & Sullivan
Body-adapted Wearable Electronics
From Google Glass to the Fitbit wristband, wearable technology has generated significant attention over the past year, with most existing devices helping people to better understand their personal health and fitness by monitoring exercise, heart rate, sleep patterns, and so on. The sector is shifting beyond external wearables like wristbands or clip-on devices to “body-adapted” electronics that further push the ever-shifting boundary between humans and technology.The new generation of wearables is designed to adapt to the human body’s shape at the place of deployment. These wearables are typically tiny, packed with a wide range of sensors and a feedback system, and camouflaged to make their use less intrusive and more socially acceptable. These virtually invisible devices include earbuds that monitor heart rate, sensors worn under clothes to track posture, a temporary tattoo that tracks health vitals and haptic shoe soles that communicate GPS directions through vibration alerts felt by the feet. The applications are many and varied: haptic shoes are currently proposed for helping blind people navigate, while Google Glass has already been worn by oncologists to assist in surgery via medical records and other visual information accessed by voice commands.Technology analysts consider that success factors for wearable products include device size, non-invasiveness, and the ability to measure multiple parameters and provide real-time feedback that improves user behaviour. However, increased uptake also depends on social acceptability as regards privacy. For example, concerns have been raised about wearable devices that use cameras for facial recognition and memory assistance. Assuming these challenges can be managed, analysts project hundreds of millions of devices in use by 2016.
2014
Top 10 emerging technologies for 2014
World Economic Forum (WEF)
Fourth-generation system development
From the mainframe era, through client-server, and into the era of the desktop, the history of computing has been shaped by new capabilities (new hardware, new algorithms, new ways of doing things) that in turn stimulate new kinds of demands. Simply giving the 1980s-era personal computer a network connection, for example, turned out to have far-reaching effects on how enterprise systems were designed, built and used. In this decade, a wave of new capabilities will push system architecture into unexplored territory, ushering in a fourth generation of system-building. The forces propelling this new era are, as always, both technological and economic. The technologies range from parallel chip architectures to multi-tenancy, from new data storage techniques to advancements in programming languages. The economies are economies of scale: the cost profile of modern data centers or the efficiencies wrung from the manufacture of mobile chips. But progress may not be as smoothly and broadly distributed as it was in the age of Moore’s Law. Instead, innovations may be more localized, confined to more narrow domains. Competitive advantage will go to those who are aware of the technology hot spots, able to discern what will prove useful—and ready with the skills to seize the opportunity.
2010
Accenture technology vision
Accenture
Fuel cells, catalysts for innovative energy sources
Fuel cells and catalysts for innovative energy sources will be able to use the large number of nanotechnological materials used to design various types of energy sources. In particular, these include: hybrid nanostructured proton-conducting membranes including nanoparticles which improve their transmission properties, and nano-scale catalysts based on platinum and transition metals (including “core in the shell” type catalysts) used to create fuel cells; nano-scale cathode materials with mixed electron-ion conductivity and nanostructured anode materials based on various forms of silicon and carbon, from which lithium-ion batteries are formed; There will also be developed catalysts to produce innovative energy sources and chemical products many of which are already used in industrial production. efficient nano-scale catalysts for deep processing of oil and gas products; nano-scale catalysts for conversion of natural gas and associated gases into liquid petroleum, hydrogen and valuable organic products; nano-sized catalysts for processing renewable raw materials (biogas and biomass) into valuable organic products; a wide range of nano-sized catalysts for the production of innovative energy sources and processing of natural ones;
nano-scale granular membranes based on complex oxides with a perovskite, spinel and fluorite structure, used in processes to partially oxidise methane and associated gases into synthesis gas at low temperatures, or nano-scale catalysts to convert biomass products into synthesis gas.
2016
Russia 2030: science and technology foresight
Russia, Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation
Fuel cells
Fuel cells are also potential avenues for development in environmentally-friendly energy. The development of devices offering direct conversion of a fuel’s chemical energy into electricity has for several decades laid claim to the role of a breakthrough technology capable of completely revolutionising the energy sector. The achievements of recent years have brought this technology close to the stage of mass commercial adoption and have regained interest from energy companies. Three main types of fuel cells use are being considered: stationary energy (electricity generation, cogeneration, uninterruptible power supply units); transport energy (power sources in electric vehicles, trucks, military equipment, spacecraft, etc.); portable energy (power sources in mobile devices, battery chargers, etc.). The key strengths of fuel cells are considered to be their high efficiency factor (60–80%) and small size. Shortfalls include the lack of infrastructure for charging and the high cost of platinum which is used as a catalyst.
2016
Russia 2030: science and technology foresight
Russia, Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation
Digital Future
Fueled by the convergence of social, mobile, cloud, big data and growing demand for anytime anywhere access to information, technology is disrupting all areas of the business enterprise. Disruption is taking place across all industries and in all geographies. Enormous opportunities exist for enterprises to take advantage of connected devices enabled by the “Internet of Things” to capture vast amounts of information, enter new markets, transform existing products, and introduce new business and delivery models. However, the evolution of the digital enterprise also presents significant challenges, including new competition, changing customer engagement and business models, unprecedented transparency, privacy concerns and cybersecurity threats.
2015
Megatrends 2015 -Making sense of a world in motion
EY