Trends Identified
Internet of things no longer about things
Just about every business will become an internet of things (IoT) business. The convergence of the digital and physical worlds makes this inevitable. When the products companies sell are connected 24/7/365, dynamic and ever-improving value can be delivered to customers throughout the product’s life cycle. This will become the norm. Therefore, launching a successful IoT business requires a fundamental shift, a transition from product-centric to service-centric business models. Companies looking to capitalize on IoT will become IoT service businesses. Operations dependent on one-time product sales will become obsolete as business value moves from products to the experiences they enable. This transformation will fundamentally change how businesses operate, interact with customers and make money. Those who recognize that the internet of things isn’t about things but about service will be positioned to meet these new customer demands, unlock new sources of revenue and thrive in this connected world.
2014
14 tech predictions for our world in 2020
World Economic Forum (WEF)
New cures from the bacteria that live in the human body
In life sciences, we’ll have greater understanding of the dynamics of how our microbiome – the tiny organisms, including bacteria, that live in the human body – influences multiple systems in our body, including our immune systems, metabolic processes and other areas. This will result in seminal discoveries related to a variety of conditions, including autoimmune diseases, pre-term birth and how our metabolism is regulated. Regenerative medicine approaches to creating new tissues and organs from progenitor cells will expand significantly. Finally, the long-awaited ability to employ precision medicine, providing specific treatments to a specific patients, will become much more common. The emergence of real-time diagnostics for complex diseases will mark the beginning of the end of their debilitating reign by 2020. The ability to monitor cancer, the dynamic immune system, intestinal flora and pre-diabetes in real-time will change the nature of medicine and usher in a new era of human health where wellness is protected versus illness treated. As a result, fundamental shifts in healthcare will occur, causing it to become largely preventative rather than fire-fighting. It’s far more productive and economical to stop a fire from happening in the first place than to rebuild something after the fire has taken its course. The amount of data available in the world is growing exponentially, and analyzing large data sets (so-called big data) is becoming key for market analysis and competition. Analytics will dramatically shift away from reporting and towards predictive and prescriptive practices, dramatically improving the ability of healthcare providers to help the ill and injured. Even more importantly, it will create the possibility for truly personalized healthcare by allowing providers to impact the biggest determinants of health, including behaviours, genetics and environmental factors.
2014
14 tech predictions for our world in 2020
World Economic Forum (WEF)
The beginning of the end for cancer
The emergence of real-time diagnostics for complex diseases will mark the beginning of the end of their debilitating reign by 2020. The ability to monitor cancer, the dynamic immune system, intestinal flora and pre-diabetes in real-time will change the nature of medicine and usher in a new era of human health where wellness is protected versus illness treated. As a result, fundamental shifts in healthcare will occur, causing it to become largely preventative rather than fire-fighting. It’s far more productive and economical to stop a fire from happening in the first place than to rebuild something after the fire has taken its course. The amount of data available in the world is growing exponentially, and analyzing large data sets (so-called big data) is becoming key for market analysis and competition. Analytics will dramatically shift away from reporting and towards predictive and prescriptive practices, dramatically improving the ability of healthcare providers to help the ill and injured. Even more importantly, it will create the possibility for truly personalized healthcare by allowing providers to impact the biggest determinants of health, including behaviours, genetics and environmental factors.
2014
14 tech predictions for our world in 2020
World Economic Forum (WEF)
Data-driven healthcare
Today, we are already at a turning point in our ability to 3D “bioprint” organ tissues, a process that involves depositing a “bio-ink” made of cells precisely in layers, resulting in a functional living human tissue for use in the lab. These tissues should be better predictors of drug function than animal models in many cases. In the long-term, this has the potential to pave the way to “printing” human organs, such as kidneys, livers and hearts. By 2020, our goal is to have the technology be broadly used by pharmaceutical companies, resulting in the identification of safer and better drug candidates and fewer failures in clinical trials.
2014
14 tech predictions for our world in 2020
World Economic Forum (WEF)
Printable organs
We are on the verge of the “internet of everywhere”. It will be far more democratic: accessible to everyone, rich and poor. The excitement of the internet of things will be a small footnote in history as the internet of everywhere becomes our reality. Do you remember the old movie, Minority Report, with Tom Cruise? Ultra cheap, internet-enabled solar-powered screens that display in HDTV resolution will be on bus stops, in shopping centres, at tables in restaurants – all operating on a centralized advertising model. Gone are the days of the static acetate poster on the wall of a shopping mall. And finally, since these HD monitors have beacons, they will dynamically change content as your phone passes by, telling the monitor all your preferences.
2014
14 tech predictions for our world in 2020
World Economic Forum (WEF)
The ‘internet of everywhere’
We have become dependent on mobile communications in our daily lives, but the dirty secret is that mobile networks around the globe are notoriously energy inefficient. In fact, we are stuck with outdated mobile network technology that basically performs as poorly as incandescent lightbulbs, with the result that 70% of the energy used is wasted as heat. By 2020, we predict that pioneering innovations in radio engineering will have a positive impact on the world’s economy, environment and quality of life. We even foresee a time when advances allow renewable energy to power the mobile industry, helping bridge the digital divide and extend communications to the 1.7 billion people living off-grid.
2014
14 tech predictions for our world in 2020
World Economic Forum (WEF)
Wastewater is an asset, not a liability
Water is one of our most precious resources, yet our infrastructure is failing. Driven by global population growth and rising water scarcity, the UN reports that 75 percent of the world’s available freshwater is already polluted. Under-investment in water management is exacerbating the problem, causing serious impacts on human health and the environment. A key challenge is the high capital cost, and high energy requirements, of current wastewater treatment and management systems. By 2020 I predict that a new class of distributed systems, powered by advances in our ability to use biotechnology to extract resources, such as energy, from waste, and the dropping cost of industrial automation, will begin to change our approach to managing water globally. Rather than a liability, wastewater will be viewed as an environmental resource, providing energy and clean water to communities and industry, and ushering in a truly sustainable and economical approach to managing our water resources.
2014
14 tech predictions for our world in 2020
World Economic Forum (WEF)
Rethink: From crisis to cautious optimism
Confident in companies, tentative on recoveries CEOs are emerging from deeper cost-cutting than they expected last year. In last year’s survey, conducted as the financial crisis unfolded late in 2008, 26% of CEOs told us they expected headcount reductions over the next 12 months. A year later, close to half of respondents reported they cut jobs and at least 80% of CEOs in each region initiated cost reductions. In North America and Western Europe, close to a quarter of companies divested a business or exited a significant market. It is clear that few considered simply riding out the recession a viable response. ‘The crisis took us to a new place. It was a reset for our business’, said Angela F. Braly, President and CEO of US health insurer WellPoint Inc. They are now guardedly confident about generating revenue growth in the near term and they are decidedly more confident over a three-year time horizon. Indeed, over that time period, CEOs are about as confident of their revenue prospects as they have ever been in our survey. Of course, this may partly be a reflection of the depths to which demand had sunk.
2010
13th Annual global CEO Survey
PWC
Reshape: The post-crisis environment
Worst fears fail to materialise on regulations… yetRegulation is a perennial concern for CEOs. This year,how business leaders view regulatory issues has to be understood through the lens of ‘what might have been’at the start of 2009, when the uncertainty which hung over the financial system and by extension, the global economy,was so great. At that time, drastic measures to contain the crisis and preserve national economies were a realistic prospect. Massive bailouts ensued and with them,expectations of radical regulation to prevent another crisis.The alarmist scenarios of trade barriers and regulatory rewrites largely failed to materialise. Yet there remains asense that more regulatory change is inevitable. CEOs see little encouraging news on compliance costs. Regulatory burdens on corporations were not addressed during the downturn. In fact, in this year’s survey, more CEOs citeda lack of progress on cutting red tape than a year ago,67% to 57%. Only 2% of CEOs based in the US said the government has reduced regulations (see figure 2.1).Some governments are listening, at least when it comes to taxes. Our annual measure of the comparative ease of paying taxes in 183 countries found that 45 economies had reduced the tax burden on SMEs, or made it easier for them to pay taxes, in the year through 1 June 2009.4Yet, few CEOs believe that trend will continue.
2010
13th Annual global CEO Survey
PWC
Result: Adapting to compete
Short-term cost focus Despite widespread restructurings last year, many businesses remain committed to further cost-cutting. In an indication of the cost pressure they continue to face, 69% of CEOs we surveyed plan cost-reduction initiatives in the next 12 months, compared with the 88% who made cuts over the past year (see figure 3.1). Business leaders are also bracing for continued volatility. ‘Under the current situation, demand changes every day, and enterprises need to adapt rapidly. In fact, wide fluctuations in market conditions have become very normal and we must be ready to respond to a whole range of possible conditions: low market prices, strong demand, or no demand’, Huang Tianwen, President of China-based Sinosteel Corporation, told us.
2010
13th Annual global CEO Survey
PWC