Trends Identified
Empowered edge
Edge computing is a topology where information processing and content collection and delivery are placed closer to the sources of the information, with the idea that keeping traffic local will reduce latency. Currently, much of the focus of this technology is a result of the need for IoT systems to deliver disconnected or distributed capabilities into the embedded IoT world. This type of topology will address challenges ranging from high WAN costs and unacceptable levels of latency. Further, it will enable the specifics of digital business and IT solutions. “Technology and thinking will shift to a point where the experience will connect people with hundreds of edge devices” Through 2028, Gartner expects a steady increase in the embedding of sensor, storage, compute and advanced AI capabilities in edge devices. In general, intelligence will move toward the edge in a variety of endpoint devices, from industrial devices to screens to smartphones to automobile power generators. Is Your IT Team IoT-Ready? How do you stay ahead of the digital curve?
2018
Gartner Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2019
Gartner
Future education and learning
Education bears ever-increasing importance as an enabler of economic, societal and political participation and is a core vehicle by which society's values are passed to the next generation. Yet education too has to adapt to a changing world – not just the knowledge and skills taught, but also materials, tools and pedagogies need to step into the digital era. Never before have the potentials for equity, access and quality of education been greater – and not since the 19th century has education gone through such a severe transformation. In the 12 months to June 2014 the number of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in- creased by 327%. Of those the 2625 MOOCs 597 were European.
2015
Preparing the Commission for future opportunities - Foresight network fiches 2030
European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS)
Next-generation biofuels
Efficient technologies to generate biofuels (including motor fuels) will save non-renewable supplies of fossil hydrocarbons, allowing for a significant expansion in the current resource base of the economy, a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and, ultimately, a reduction in the negative impact of the energy sector on the planet’s climate. The main developmental directions in bioenergy technologies are increases in the energy efficiency of bio-conversion of carbon dioxide gas into motor fuel, reductions in the cost of biofuels, an expanded raw materials base for biofuels (for example, the development of technologies to convert lignocellulose into biofuel), and improvements in quality (stability, environmental cleanliness).
2016
Russia 2030: science and technology foresight
Russia, Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation
More electric and hybrid vehicles
Electric engines will grow in the auto sector as advanced batteries take off. Initial costs of electric vehicles are foreseen to decline to parity with conventional vehicles as battery production rises twentyfold. The cost of ownership of electric vehicles is a quarter of the cost of those with internal combustion engines, which will further promote the adoption of electric vehicles as parity approaches. Advanced hybrid engines using biofuels may create a new market segment.
2013
Metascan 3 emerging technologies
Canada, Policy Horizons Canada
Grid-scale Electricity Storage
Electricity cannot be directly stored, so electrical grid managers must constantly ensure that overall demand from consumers is exactly matched by an equal amount of power fed into the grid by generating stations. Because the chemical energy in coal and gas can be stored in relatively large quantities, conventional fossil-fuelled power stations offer dispatchable energy available on demand, making grid management a relatively simple task. However, fossil fuels also release greenhouse gases, causing climate change – and many countries now aim to replace carbon-based generators with a clean energy mix of renewable, nuclear or other non-fossil sources. Clean energy sources, in particular wind and solar, can be highly intermittent; instead of producing electricity when consumers and grid managers want it, they generate uncontrollable quantities only when favourable weather conditions allow. A scaled-up nuclear sector might also present challenges due to its preferred operation as always-on baseload. Hence, the development of grid-scale electricity storage options has long been a “holy grail” for clean energy systems. To date, only pumped storage hydropower can claim a significant role, but it is expensive, environmentally challenging and totally dependent on favourable geography. There are signs that a range of new technologies is getting closer to cracking this challenge. Some, such as flow batteries may, in the future, be able to store liquid chemical energy in large quantities analogous to the storage of coal and gas. Various solid battery options are also competing to store electricity in sufficiently energy-dense and cheaply available materials. Newly invented graphene supercapacitors offer the possibility of extremely rapid charging and discharging over many tens of thousands of cycles. Other options use kinetic potential energy such as large flywheels or the underground storage of compressed air. A more novel option being explored at medium scale in Germany is CO2 methanation via hydrogen electrolysis, where surplus electricity is used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, with the hydrogen later being reacted with waste carbon dioxide to form methane for later combustion – if necessary, to generate electricity. While the round-trip efficiency of this and other options may be relatively low, clearly storage potential will have high economic value in the future. It is too early to pick a winner, but it appears that the pace of technological development in this field is moving more rapidly than ever, in our assessment, bringing a fundamental breakthrough more likely in the near term.
2014
Top 10 emerging technologies for 2014
World Economic Forum (WEF)
Electrification of the transport system
Electrification of short-haul transportation enabled by advanced battery breakthroughs for inexpensive, quick charging energy dense batteries could disrupt the market for carbon intensive internal combustion engines and make zero-emissions EVs cost and performance competitive.
2017
Innovation for the Earth - Harnessing technological breakthroughs for people and the planet
PWC
Robots
Electro-mechanical machines or virtual agents that automate, augment or assist human activities, autonomously or according to set instructions — often a computer program.
2016
Tech breaktroughs megatrend
PWC
Robots
Electro-mechanical machines or virtual agents that automate, augment, or assist human activities, autonomously or according to set instructions.
2017
Innovation for the Earth - Harnessing technological breakthroughs for people and the planet
PWC
Electroceuticals - Nerve-stimulating therapies could soon replace drugs for many chronic conditions
Electroceuticals—devices that treat ailments with electrical impulses—have a long history in medicine. Think pacemakers for the heart, cochlear implants for the ears and deep-brain stimulation for Parkinson’s disease. One of these approaches is poised to become more versatile, dramatically improving care for a host of conditions. It involves delivering signals to the vagus nerve, which sends impulses from the brain stem to most organs and back again. New uses of vagal nerve stimulation (VNS) have become possible in part because of research by Kevin Tracey of the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research and others showing that the vagus nerve emits chemicals that help to regulate the immune system. The release of a specific neurotransmitter in the spleen, for instance, quiets immune cells involved in inflammation throughout the body. These findings indicated that VNS might be beneficial for disorders beyond ones marked by disturbed electrical signaling, such as autoimmune and inflammatory conditions. It could be a boon for patients with those conditions because existing drugs often fail or cause serious side effects. VNS may be easier to tolerate because it acts on a specific nerve, whereas drugs generally travel throughout the body, potentially disrupting tissues beyond those targeted for treatment.
2018
Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2018
Scientific American
High capacity electrochemical batteries
Electrochemical batteries to store electricity (accumulators) have seen widespread use in many sectors, primarily for mobile devices and on transport, as well as in stationary units – to provide an uninterrupted supply to important devices (communications, computer equipment, etc.). High capacity electrochemical batteries, used in the energy sector for relatively long-term storage of electricity, could play an important role in distributed generation systems to provide an operational reserve and stabilise the electrophysical parameters of local power systems, including regulating the frequency and voltage. The use of next-generation electrochemical batteries will make it possible to increase the competitiveness of renewable energy sources and to practically implement the distributed generation concept – increasing the load and efficiency of traditional electricity generation units through the opportunity to store energy, increasing the quality of the electricity supply to end consumers, reducing electricity loss in the power grids, cutting development and operating costs for trunk power lines, storing electricity and creating an operational power reserve directly at consumers’ location.
2016
Russia 2030: science and technology foresight
Russia, Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation