Trends Identified

Robotics

Robots are machines with enhanced sensing, control, and intelligence used to automate, augment, or assist human activities. The robot market, which has grown for industrial applications, is poised for growth in a broad range of services applications. These applications are transforming manufacturing and non-manufacturing operations with new capabilities that address the challenges of working in changing, uncertain, and uncontrolled environments, such as alongside humans without being a danger to them.

2017

The Essential Eight - Your guide to the emerging technologies revolutionizing business now

PWC

Virtual reality

Virtual reality (VR) abolishes logistical limitations and makes anything possible. In a computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional image or environment, viewers can use special equipment to interact with the simulation in realistic ways. The gaming and entertainment industries are obvious proving grounds for VR. However, VR has the potential to transform many other industries as well, especially in the realm of experiential training where workers can be put into hazardous, difficult, or cost-prohibitive situations without the intense risks associated with these activities in the real world.

2017

The Essential Eight - Your guide to the emerging technologies revolutionizing business now

PWC

3-D printing

3-D printing creates three-dimensional objects based on digital models by layering or “printing” successive layers of materials. 3-D printing relies on innovative “inks,” including plastic, metal, and, more recently, glass and wood. 3-D printing has the potential to turn every large enterprise, small business and living room into a factory.

2017

The Essential Eight - Your guide to the emerging technologies revolutionizing business now

PWC

Embodied AI

AI is everywhere. Along with IoT sensors, it’s integrated in many products, from simple cameras to sophisticated drones. Embedded sensors collect data, which is fed to algorithms that give that object the illusion of intelligence. This enables drones to follow a moving object like a truck or a person autonomously. It enables a 3-D printer to automatically modify a design as it is being printed to have a stronger structure, become lighter, or be more cost effective to print. It enables AR glasses to overlay data on an anchored endpoint or allow you to communicate via voice with a robot or conversational agent.

2017

The Essential Eight - Your guide to the emerging technologies revolutionizing business now

PWC

Intelligent Automation

Companies got started with robotic process automation (RPA) to streamline processes and reduce costs. Now, the automation toolbox continues to expand — and get smarter. This includes everything from natural language processing and machine learning to orchestration software and automation platforms that help you optimize what work is best suited for people and which is best done by machines. The shift to more intelligent automation will yield returns that go far beyond cost savings, such as better customer and employee experience, improved quality due to fewer errors, and reimagined processes that change how business is done.

2017

The Essential Eight - Your guide to the emerging technologies revolutionizing business now

PWC

Automating trust

One high potential area for blockchain, when used in combination with technologies like AI or IoT, is its ability to automate trust among users within a network. For example, IoT enables the tracking of a pallet of food from the farm to the warehouse to the store. The sensors can verify the entire supply chain — not only to know where a shipment is, for example, but also the recording conditions of each leg of the shipment so you know if conditions become too hot, too cold, or too humid. IoT and blockchain create an immutable supply chain, enabling buyers to trust they are getting an authentic product. They can also be used to verify if a product containing hazardous materials has been correctly and safely disposed.

2017

The Essential Eight - Your guide to the emerging technologies revolutionizing business now

PWC

Conversational Interfaces

While technology like AI or robotics has changed how work is done in the office, in the factory, and in the field, it’s not always easy to use. That’s changing with a new generation of interfaces, such as voice and conversational agents that make it seamless for business users to interact with technology systems, from finance bots and AI-based predictive analytics to smart sensors and factory robots. These interfaces are improving the employee and customer experience and enabling companies to get the full return on their tech investments.

2017

The Essential Eight - Your guide to the emerging technologies revolutionizing business now

PWC

Extended Reality

The umbrella term encompassing augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality, extended reality (XR) represents the continuum between simple, digital overlays and fully immersive digital experiences. XR's true power will be unlocked when it’s used with other technologies like AI and IoT. What’s needed is a seamless hardware and software ecosystem that significantly enhances human productivity and experience. Imagine technicians repairing complicated machinery with full and detailed schematics overlaying the real-world object. Or trainers using the power of XR to create realistic simulations that mimic the real world. Just as jet pilots have flight simulations, XR can make a range of hazardous or otherwise specialized industrial activities easier to train for, from wind farm repair and oil rig firefighting to shop floor process optimization.

2017

The Essential Eight - Your guide to the emerging technologies revolutionizing business now

PWC

Rapid Urbanisation

Today, more than half the world’s population live in urban areas and almost all of the new growth will take place in lesser known medium-sized cities of developing countries. How cities evolve will be determined by the collective actions of city governments, people and businesses. What is critical, is to focus interventions not just on the ‘smart city’, but on the smart town and the smart village, enabling an interdependent ecosystem that counters rapid organisation to the mega city.

2017

Megatrends

PWC

Climate change and resources scarcity

As the world becomes more populous, urbanised and prosperous, demand for energy, food and water will rise. But the Earth has a finite amount of natural resources to satisfy this demand. Without significant global action, average temperatures are predicted to increase by more than two degrees Celsius, a threshold at which scientists believe significant and potentially irreversible environmental changes will occur.

2017

Megatrends

PWC