Trends Identified

Millennials are the largest adult generation in the United States, but they are starting to share the spotlight with Generation Z.
This year, Millennials, those ages 23 to 38, will outnumber Baby Boomers (ages 55 to 73), according to Census Bureau projections. Now in their young adulthood, Millennials are more educated, more racially and ethnically diverse and slower to marry than previous generations were at the same age. But after growing up in the Great Recession, their economic picture is mixed: Young adult households are earning more than most older Americans did at the same age, but have less wealth than Boomers did at the same age, partly because they are more likely to have higher amounts of student loan debt. Although the nation’s 73 million Millennials are the largest living adult generation, the next one – Generation Z – is entering adulthood. Also known as the post-Millennials, Gen Zers (those born after 1996 – ages 7 to 22 for this analysis) are on track to be the best educated and most diverse generation yet. Nearly half of Gen Zers (48%) are racial or ethnic minorities. Socially and politically, their liberal-leaning opinions on key issues are similar to those of Millennials.
2019
6 demographic trends shaping the U.S. and the world in 2019
Pew Research Center
Consumption-Based IT Services for the Win (FTW)
This year, we did our homework, and asked the CIOs and IT executives about their IT budgets and trends in their consumption of cloud and overall, they are interested in creating efficiency, having more flexibility with their workloads (note trend 3) and having the ability to scale up and down quickly based on the business requirements. This means, much like we saw Salesforce become a heavyweight for CRM as a Service, that the idea of anything and eveyrthing as a service is highly desirable. With the as-a-Service industry growing, companies are becoming more sophisticated in choosing “a la carte” IT services to fit their needs. This ITaaS allows for scalability, the latest technology (without the latest tech price tag), shorter procurement cycles, and increased agility. It only makes sense that companies are leaning this way and they will be more and more in 2019.
2018
Top 10 Digital Transformation Trends For 2019
Forbes
3D Display
Three dimensional displays enable users to experience and interact with virtual images, increasing effectiveness of information delivery. The technology is currently used commercially in 3D movie theaters, and is expected to enter homes in the near future through glasses-free 3D displays and holographic TVs.
2010
KISTEP 10 Emerging Technologies 2010
South Korea, Korea Institute of S&T Evaluation and Planning (KISTEP)
3-D printing and remote manufacturing
Three-dimensional printing allows the creation of solid structures from a digital computer file, potentially revolutionizing the economics of manufacturing if objects can be printed remotely in the home or office. The process involves layers of material being deposited on top of each other in to create free-standing structures from the bottom up. Blueprints from computer-aided design are sliced into cross-section for print templates, allowing virtually created objects to be used as models for “hard copies” made from plastics, metal alloys or other materials.
2013
The top 10 emerging technologies for 2013
World Economic Forum (WEF)
Immersive technologies
Through 2028, conversational platforms, which change how users interact with the world, and technologies such as augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR) and virtual reality (VR), which change how users perceive the world, will lead to a new immersive experience. AR, MR and VR show potential for increased productivity, with the next generation of VR able to sense shapes and track a user’s position and MR enabling people to view and interact with their world.  By 2022, 70% of enterprises will be experimenting with immersive technologies for consumer and enterprise use, and 25% will have deployed to production. The future of conversational platforms, which range from virtual personal assistants to chatbots, will incorporate expanded sensory channels that will allow the platform to detect emotions based on facial expressions, and they will become more conversational in interactions. Eventually, the technology and thinking will shift to a point where the experience will connect people with hundreds of edge devices ranging from computers to cars.
2018
Gartner Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2019
Gartner
Big data and advanced analytics
Through the use of big data and advanced analytics, companies are now able to improve marketing, productivity, and other essential aspects of their existing operations, lower costs, and gain real-time insights into promising new approaches and opportunities. BCG estimates that big data and advanced analytics could unlock more than $1 trillion in value annually by 2020.
2017
Twelve Forces That Will Radically Change How Organizations Work
Boston Consulting Group (BCG)
On new user controls for AR/VR experiences
Timoni West, director of XR research, UNITY Technologies.On new user controls for AR/VR experiences: Controllers are still the name of the game in XR over the next two or three years. It still feels really awkward when people interact with digital objects [using old modalities] like we see with the current HoloLens, although this may change when we see the new HoloLens, possibly in 2019. A button press is still a button press. Computers can’t actually read our minds. What we need to see is more body level stuff. It’s very exciting to think about transmodality in input methods–combining things like eye tracking, voice recognition, hand gestures, finger bone tracking–then you’re getting somewhere close to magic. You’re getting closer to that feeling of Harry Potter casting a spell. But even then you’re going to have to do a lot of calibration to make it all work together.
2019
The biggest tech trends of 2019, according to top experts
Fast Company
Tissue engineering
Tissue engineering uses synthetic or naturally grown biomaterials to replace damaged or defective tissues, such as bone, skin and even entire organs. Today, organs that can be regrown include skin, windpipes and bladders; in a decade, this list may expand to kidneys, livers and hearts. Stem cells may also be used to repair damaged or failing organs in place. The most immediate application for tissue engineering is in the area of human health for purposes of healing, replacement and augmentation. This technology will reduce the need for organ donation and eliminate transplant rejection as body parts are regrown or printed using the patient’s own cells. In the longer term, advances in skin, bone and muscle synthesis may even allow individuals to change their appearance and augment physical abilities.
2013
Metascan 3 emerging technologies
Canada, Policy Horizons Canada
DevSecOps and the cyber imperative
To enhance their approaches to cyber and other risks, forward-thinking organizations are embedding security, privacy, policy, and controls into their DevOps culture, processes, and tools. As the DevSecOps trend gains momentum, more companies will likely make threat modeling, risk assessment, and security-task automation foundational components of product development initiatives, from ideation to iteration to launch to operations. DevSecOps fundamentally transforms cyber and risk management from being compliance-based activities—typically undertaken late in the development life cycle—into essential framing mindsets across the product journey. Moreover, DevSecOps codifies policies and best practices into tools and underlying platforms, enabling security to become a shared responsibility of the entire IT organization.
2019
Tech trends 2019 - Beyond the digital frontier
Deloitte
Post-carbon society
To prevent the most severe impacts of climate change, the international community has agreed that global warming should be kept below 2 degrees compared to the temperature in pre-industrial times. This means a profound change for the world economy, biodiversity and oceans. EU leaders have committed to transforming Europe into a highly energy-efficient, low carbon economy and society. To lead the world to the post-carbon era, the EU has committed to cutting its emissions to 20% below 1990 levels by 2020 in view of reaching 80-95% emissions reductions in 2050. The European Commission proposes a mid-term target of 40% emissions reductions by 2030.
2015
Preparing the Commission for future opportunities - Foresight network fiches 2030
European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS)