Trends Identified
Digitalized ecosystems
Emerging technologies in general will require support from new technical foundations and more dynamic ecosystems. These ecosystems will need new business strategies and a move to platform-based business models. “The shift from compartmentalized technical infrastructure to ecosystem-enabling platforms is laying the foundation for entirely new business models that are forming the bridge between humans and technology,” says Walker. For example, blockchain could be a game changer for data security leaders, as it has the potential to increase resilience, reliability, transparency, and trust in centralized systems. Also under this trend are digital twins, a virtual representation of a real object. This is beginning to gain adoption in maintenance, and Gartner estimates hundreds of millions of things will have digital twins within five years.
2018
5 Trends Emerge in the Gartner Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2018
Gartner
Nanostructured Carbon Composites
Emissions from the world’s rapidly-growing fleet of vehicles are an environmental concern, and raising the operating efficiency of transport is a promising way to reduce its overall impact. New techniques to nanostructure carbon fibres for novel composites are showing the potential in vehicle manufacture to reduce the weight of cars by 10% or more. Lighter cars need less fuel to operate, increasing the efficiency of moving people and goods and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, efficiency is only one concern – another of equal importance is improving passenger safety. To increase the strength and toughness of new composites, the interface between carbon fibres and the surrounding polymer matrix is engineered at the nanoscale to improve anchoring – using carbon nanotubes, for example. In the event of an accident, these surfaces are designed to absorb impact without tearing, distributing the force and protecting passengers inside the vehicle. A third challenge, which may now be closer to a solution, is that of recycling carbon fibre composites – something which has held back the widespread deployment of the technology. New techniques involve engineering cleavable “release points” into the material at the interface between the polymer and the fibre so that the bonds can be broken in a controlled fashion and the components that make up the composite can be recovered separately and reused. Taken together, these three elements could have a major impact by bringing forward the potential for manufacturing lightweight, super-safe and recyclable composite vehicles to a mass scale
2014
Top 10 emerging technologies for 2014
World Economic Forum (WEF)
Engineered Empathy - Human engagement in an EI-expectant world
Emotional intelligence – an ability to empathise and engage on a human level – will become a core and advocacy-building consumer expectation, as well as a valued everyday life skill demanded by workplaces and personal relationships alike.
2018
Trending 2018
Foresight Factory
User Engagement
Empowering business by focusing from the “user down,” not the “system up” Software engineering has typically emphasized technical architectural “-ilities” – reliability, scalability, security, maintainability and flexibility. At the same time, low expectations were set for the other “-ilities” – namely, “usability” or employee interactions with enterprise technologies. While people grumbled about the systems they relied on for daily tasks, there were few examples of any better systems, and little impetus for corporate solution developers to implement change.
2011
Tech Trends 2011 The natural convergence of business and IT
Deloitte
Empowerment
Empowerment the growth and re-invigoration of ideas and self-worth.Rise of the individual: In today’s society, it’s all about the individual over the collective. A culture of “me” has risen over a culture of “we” as individuals become empowered to demand specific outcomes, resulting in the decline of social cohesion and the mass market.Collaborative consumption:The emergence of collaborative consumption models has led to the rise of the sharing economy, which allows consumers to make use of their idle assets to contribute in existing markets. Collaborative consumption models are augmented by technological platforms that connect discrete players through the use of networks and geo-located devices.Triple bottom line: As consumers’ expectations evolve, an increasing importance is placed on measuring not only a company’s profits, but its impact on people and the planet as well. This focus on what’s referred to as a triple bottom line emphasizes business models and metrics that touch upon key elements of society (e.g., diversity and equal opportunity) as well as environment (e.g., sustainability and carbon dioxide emissions), in addition to the standard measures of economic health like profitability and growth.
2017
Beyond the Noise- The Megatrends of Tomorrow’s World
Deloitte
Autonomous vehicles, including drones
Enabled by robots these are vehicles that can operate and navigate with little or no human control. Drones fly or move without a pilot and can also operate autonomously.
2017
Innovation for the Earth - Harnessing technological breakthroughs for people and the planet
PWC
Cloud technology, including big data
Enables the delivery of computer applications and services over the internet reducing storage and computer power needs. Big data enabled by cloud allows predictive relationships to form, underpinning optimisation.
2017
Innovation for the Earth - Harnessing technological breakthroughs for people and the planet
PWC
The energy future is decentralised
Energy generation from wind and sun but also from other renewable energy sources is decentralised. Instead of a few large power plants, in the energy system of the future millions of small plants will generate energy. Many of the stakeholders involved are both producers and consumers of power (prosumers). However, this does not mean that only small power plants will be left. The large systems and plants based on wind and solar power will probably retain their position in the new energy system. But in many poorer regions of the world which have an abundant supply of sun and wind, members of the public as prosumers could bene t long-term from decentralised renewable energy systems.
2015
Megatrends in the global energy transition
WWF Germany
Advanced energy storage technologies
Energy storage technology can be defined as a system that absorbs energy and stores it for a period of time before releasing it on demand to supply energy or power services. Breakthroughs are needed in this technology to optimise the performance of energy systems and facilitate the integration of renewable energy resources.
2016
OECD Science, Technology and Innovation Outlook 2016
OECD
Volatile Energy Markets
Energy supply will struggle to meet growing demand leading to upward pressure on prices. When supply and demand for energy are closely matched, rapid increases in demand to which supply can not react quickly can lead to large variations in price; therefore markets are likely to be volatile.
2010
Global strategic trends - out to 2040
UK, Ministry of Defence