Trends Identified
High performance computing
Solving complex problems– societal, scientific, industrial- needs trillions of calculations which cannot be done without High Performance Computing (HPC). Some of the examples are: integrated policy assessment, understanding and solving a wide range of problems in life sciences and health, materials research, fusion energy, aircraft fuel efficiency, reduction of aircraft noise, weight reduction of cars, safer transportation, climate and weather prediction, earth observation etc. HPC is of paramount importance for European competitiveness, and nearly every industrial sector depends on supercomputing to be competitive.
2015
Preparing the Commission for future opportunities - Foresight network fiches 2030
European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS)
Text and Data mining
ICT technologies are getting better at processing large volumes of unstructured or non-uniform data and text. New techniques, learned on data sets in life sciences and drug discovery, are being applied in particular in social sciences, humanities, security, business, marketing and legal areas. Text and data mining (TDM) refers to the different tools, techniques and technologies for the automated processing of the large volumes of information available in order to obtain new knowledge and insights and discover patterns and trends. While its importance is growing with the increasing large amounts of data stored in corporate data warehouses and databases, realising the full economic and societal potential afforded by this vast sea of information will require new technologies, processes and business models.
2015
Preparing the Commission for future opportunities - Foresight network fiches 2030
European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS)
Advanced autonomous systems
Advanced autonomous systems are on the rise: Algorithmic trading with no human in the loop already accounts for around 50% of all stock-market trading, and some parts of the car manufacturing process have automation levels of above 90%. These systems will gain more capabilities in the future enabling their widespread use in many market domains. While these systems make a strong contribution to productivity and can perform jobs which are dull, dirty and dangerous for humans, there is a danger of them eliminating a large number of jobs in a relatively short time frame. In addition, they pose a challenge for established legal concepts such as liability.
2015
Preparing the Commission for future opportunities - Foresight network fiches 2030
European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS)
Models and data in decision-making
We will have ever more accurate description and models of many technical and natural phenomena; we might even have better models of human activity (behavioural models and data). We will have an ever increasing range of data on all aspects of policy and societal decisions. Citizens will be ever more involved in decisions processes in society, redefining the role of experts and even policy makers. We need to analyse opportunities and pitfalls from these developments in time. The ultimate use of models will most likely be as tools for orientation rather than as tools for prediction.
2015
Preparing the Commission for future opportunities - Foresight network fiches 2030
European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS)
Cyber security
Shopping media, and publishing, but also democratic processes such as elections, are moving online. This can only work with a high level of trust. Furthermore, the same holds for many future sectorial infrastructures, processes, and resources, like sewage systems or smart buildings, that will be adaptive, distributed, collaborative, and efficiently controlled. They will depend on ICT and cloud infrastructure and services that must be reliable, predictable and always available, ensuring confidentiality and protection of privacy and being capable to react to cyber threats in real time.
2015
Preparing the Commission for future opportunities - Foresight network fiches 2030
European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS)
EU- wide internet of things initiative
The number of IoT connections within the EU is estimated to increase from approximately 1.8 million in 2013 to almost 6 billion in 2020. IoT revenues (including the value of system shipments, devices, IoT technologies and correlated IT services) should increase from more than €307 billion in 2013 to more than €1,180 billion in 2020. IoT is expected to impact all economic sectors, with faster take-up in manufacturing and consumer packaged goods. The digital market being the most competitive market for IoT products and services, it should be equipped with appropriate open and high level standards applicable EU wide and with appropriate so and hard law initiatives ensuring a high level of trust in IoT devices and seamless access to the public and private sector.
2015
Preparing the Commission for future opportunities - Foresight network fiches 2030
European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS)
Brain-inspired technologies
Understanding the human brain is one of the greatest challenges facing 21st century science. Advances in this understanding can help us gain profound insights into what makes us human, develop new treatments for brain disease and build revolutionary new computing and robotic technologies. Modern ICT has now brought these goals within sight.
2015
Preparing the Commission for future opportunities - Foresight network fiches 2030
European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS)
Big data
Big Data' loosely describes a set of technologies that deal with very large volumes of fast changing information, usually from a variety of disparate sources with substantial economic, scientific or public value. Currently data value chains are emerging across almost all sectors of the economy and society, as information technologies increasingly accompany most aspects of our life and society in general.
2015
Preparing the Commission for future opportunities - Foresight network fiches 2030
European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS)
Personalised medicine
Personalised medicine has the potential to offer safer and better treatments and diets, earlier diagnostics and prevention. No longer based on averages or statistics, but on what you need, when you need it, while taking into account your specific genome, biochemistry, environment and behaviour. Citizens will actively manage their health through sensoring devices, mobile apps etc. which can eventually lead to advanced tools such as personal medical avatar.
2015
Preparing the Commission for future opportunities - Foresight network fiches 2030
European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS)
Regenerative medicine and tissue engineering
Regenerative medicine has developed from new scientific discoveries, notably in the stem cell field. It offers hope for life-threatening or untreatable diseases, such as Parkinson's or Huntington's disease, and provides new approaches to treat diseases with serious societal impact, such as diabetes, and for the ageing population.
2015
Preparing the Commission for future opportunities - Foresight network fiches 2030
European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS)