Trends Identified
Malicious cyber activity is an increasing security challenge
Government and business services are moving online at higher rates than ever before, as are many of our personal interactions
2017
Surfing the digital tsunami
Australia, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
Explosion of connected devices and increasing demand for bandwidth tests internet infrastructure
Internet-connected devices are beginning to deliver bene t in areas such as transportation, smart grids, supply chains, urban planning, agriculture, national security, retail and healthcare169 and recent estimates suggest between 30 and 50 billion devices will be deployed by 2020170.
2017
Surfing the digital tsunami
Australia, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
Costs of fundamental digital capabilities are dropping at an exponential rate
As our core computation, digital storage and network technologies become increasingly affordable relative to performance, they support an increasingly innovative and diverse system which has richer digital information and services.
2017
Surfing the digital tsunami
Australia, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
Sensors
Sensing technologies will capture data from our physical world and make it available as digital information. They will continue to become smaller, smarter and, in some cases, self-powering.
2017
Surfing the digital tsunami
Australia, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
Share, exchange & analyse
Humans will increasingly generate data from their explicit (e.g. social media) and implicit (e.g. web browsing) digital activities. The internet is powerful in connecting, optimising and enabling collaborative consumption, however, we leave many traces. Where monopolies emerge, privacy is an issue.
2017
Surfing the digital tsunami
Australia, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
Store and process
Today we are seeing an increasing amount of data and computation migrate from our personal devices onto cloud platformsc. Many websites rely on basic cloud service building blocks provided by companies such as Amazon.
2017
Surfing the digital tsunami
Australia, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
User interface
The way we interact with technology has a huge impact on our productivity. Key examples include the mouse, the touch screen, and most recently, voice communication systems like Siri. Connecting voluminous data and computational power with our physical and biological reality will become ever more seamless and sophisticated. User interfaces will become more natural and in tune with natural human behaviour.
2017
Surfing the digital tsunami
Australia, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
Machine / robotics Automating common tasks
Machines and robotics are endowed with AI (programmed algorithms) to ful l set tasks and goals. These generally fall into two key categories: ‘speci c task-based AI’ (e.g. a web search engine or an autonomous vehicle) and ‘general AI’ that aims to replicate aspects of human intelligence (e.g. IBM’s Watson or humanoid robots like Honda’s ASIMO).
2017
Surfing the digital tsunami
Australia, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
Internet infrastructure The backbone of our communications
The backbone ‘hard’ infrastructure that supports the ow of data across space will be under pressure to cope with tra c demands.
2017
Surfing the digital tsunami
Australia, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
An ageing global population
The world is facing an ageing population due to a combination of increased life expectancy and declining fertility rates. As dependency ratios shift with growing elderly populations, governments will be faced with falling saving rates, falling consumption, and growing pressure on social services. There are stark differences in demographic changes between developed countries and developing countries. In general, high-income countries are experiencing population stagnation or decline. Conversely, many developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, are experiencing “youth bulges” and expansion of working-age population. Both demographic scenarios pose challenges for governments seeking to create policies that are economically sustainable and politically palatable.
2017
Global trends to 2035
European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS)