Trends Identified
AR
Addition of information or visuals to the physical world, via a graphics and/or audio overlay, to improve the user experience for a task or a product. This “augmentation” of the real world is achieved via supplemental devices that render and display said information. AR is distinct from Virtual Reality (VR); the latter being designed and used to re-create reality within a confined experience.
2016
Tech breaktroughs megatrend
PWC
Blockchain
Distributed electronic ledger that uses software algorithms to record and confirm transactions with reliability and anonymity. The record of events is shared between many parties and information once entered cannot be altered, as the downstream chain reinforces upstream transactions.
2016
Tech breaktroughs megatrend
PWC
Drones
Air- or water-based devices and vehicles, for example Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), that fly or move without an on-board human pilot. Drones can operate autonomously (via on-board computers) on a predefined flight plan or be controlled remotely.
2016
Tech breaktroughs megatrend
PWC
IoT
Network of objects — devices, vehicles, etc. — embedded with sensors, software, network connectivity, and compute capability, that can collect and exchange data over the Internet. IoT enables devices to be connected and remotely monitored or controlled. The term IoT has come to represent any device that is now “connected” and accessible via a network connection.
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 — often a computer program.
2016
Tech breaktroughs megatrend
PWC
VR
Computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional image or a complete environment, within a defined and contained space (unlike AR), that viewers can interact with in realistic ways. VR is intended to be an immersive experience and typically requires equipment, most commonly a helmet/headset.
2016
Tech breaktroughs megatrend
PWC
3-D printing
Additive manufacturing techniques used to create three-dimensional objects based on digital models by layering or “printing” successive layers of materials. 3D printing relies on innovative “inks” including plastic, metal, and more recently, glass and wood.
2016
Tech breaktroughs megatrend
PWC
Game Changers for Inclusive Innovation
The digital revolution has democratised innovation. On the one hand, users are much closer to producers and influence the way a product develops; they try out, evaluate and give feed-back. Also, the digital economy allows new – and smaller – players to enter the market and scale-up. In addition, the digital economy has created new markets, or new economic prospects. Think about bridging the gap between idle resources and potential users or customers. Uber or Airbnb are classic examples.
2016
Shaping the future
European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS)
21st Century Dialectics: Or How We Can Achieve Prosperity in New Times
For two generations it was plausible that more openness, and more ow (of capital, people, goods or information) contributed to the public good. It became an article of faith that globalisation and more open trade led to general benefits, stridently asserted by leaders and gurus of all kinds. Now, large minorities have seen their income stagnate, and fear that their children will be worse o than them, and probably jobless, thanks to the combination of migration and automation. Technological change continues to be ‘capital-biased’, meaning a declining share of income for labour, and new job and wealth creation continues to concentrate in areas with high levels of graduates. The promise of shared prosperity which underpinned so much economic policy over the last 70 years is now called into question.
2016
Shaping the future
European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS)
Between Governance of the Past and Technology of the Future
In the online world, people are used to instant, accessible and personalised services. But the infrastructure for politics is still based on technology developed in the 18th and 19th centuries. In many parts of everyday life, voters are used to a consumer experience where they get instant feedback and personal participation; but party membership, ballot boxes and stump speeches do not offer the same speed, control or personal engagement. The institutions of representative democracy at national and EU level – political parties, elected members, law- making – do not offer the same quality of experience for their ultimate consumers. This matters because it is causing voters to switch o . Broad participation by most of the population in the practice of democracy is vital for societies to remain open because it ensures pluralism and prevents takeover of power by narrow interests. But in some countries and some elections, turnout is regularly below a third of registered voters, especially in European Parliament elections.
2016
Shaping the future
European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS)