Trends Identified
Alternative internet delivery
Affordable access to the internet remains one of the major challenges to getting more poor people online. The poorest people in the least developed countries pay more for internet access than citizens in developed countries in absolute and relative terms.
2016
Ten Frontier Technologies for International Development
Institute of Development Studies (IDS)
Internet of things
The internet of things (ioT) provides the opportunity to radically improve the efficiency of all kinds of public sector, business and community processes and infrastructure, thanks to a growing network of low-cost sensors, actuators, and data communications technology embedded in physical objects
2016
Ten Frontier Technologies for International Development
Institute of Development Studies (IDS)
Unmanned aerial vehicles/ Drones
The proliferation of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) – commonly known as drones – that are easy to use and low cost is leading to their widespread deployment in aerial inspection tasks, mapping physical and social phenomena, providing unmanned cargo deliveries, and taking aerial photography and video. There is a clear opportunity to transform the way development organisations collect and deliver data and physical objects, enabling these tasks to be undertaken faster, safer, cheaper, more efficiently and more accurately than ever before.
2016
Ten Frontier Technologies for International Development
Institute of Development Studies (IDS)
Airships
Modern airships have the potential to transport fully assembled goods, supplies, and even large structures from the point of manufacture directly to their point of use without the need to build any of the usual transportation infrastructure such as roads, railways, runways or airports.
2016
Ten Frontier Technologies for International Development
Institute of Development Studies (IDS)
Solar desalination
Historically, people have tried to increase water availability to meet demands by exploiting unutilised fresh water sources, such as rainwater, groundwater and atmospheric water, or through improved water management practices, including demand management, water recycling, river flow regulation and so on.245 while these practices are widespread today, their potential mitigating impact on escalating levels of water stress is somewhat limited because fresh water only accounts for around 3% of global water volumes. As a result, increasing attempts have been made to harness the remaining 97% of saline water, comprising seawater and brackish water.246 experts argue that methods to turn saline into fresh water are likely to play an important role, especially in developing countries. Some go as far as to suggest that ‘desalination [could] make a revolution in water supply globally.
2016
Ten Frontier Technologies for International Development
Institute of Development Studies (IDS)
Atmospheric water condensers
Fog collectors use atmospheric water condensing processes to extract water from the atmosphere – whether in the form of dew, fog or rain – and collect it for human use.
2016
Ten Frontier Technologies for International Development
Institute of Development Studies (IDS)
Household-scale batteries
Globally, 1.3 billion people do not have access to electricity and 2.7 billion are still cooking on harmful and inefficient stoves.306 many of these people live in rural communities and urgently need energy services to achieve development progress and improvements in their quality of life. off-grid solar systems are seen as the key to addressing household and community-level energy needs, especially in sub-Saharan African and South Asian countries. These systems rely heavily on batteries to mediate the intermittent generation of solar energy and match it to use patterns.
2016
Ten Frontier Technologies for International Development
Institute of Development Studies (IDS)
Smog-reducing technologies
‘Smog’ refers to visible air pollution resulting from a mixture of high concentrations of moisture (fog) and smoke that stagnate over a specific area, creating respiratory health hazards.355 The smog- reducing technologies covered in this Technology review come in a number of different forms, but all share a common focus on treating air pollution after it has been created or cleaning air after it has been polluted rather than finding alternative non-polluting technologies, or promoting non-polluting actions or behaviours. The three technologies covered in this report are catalytic converters, photocatalytic oxidation materials, and smog-reducing towers, all of which are at different stages of maturity and perform different functions in relation to reducing smog.
2016
Ten Frontier Technologies for International Development
Institute of Development Studies (IDS)
AI is the new UI
Artificial intelligence (AI) is about to become a company’s digital spokesperson. Moving beyond a back-end tool for the enterprise, AI is taking on more sophisticated roles within technology interfaces. From autonomous driving vehicles that use computer vision, to live translations made possible by artificial neural networks, AI is making every interface both simple and smart – and setting a high bar for how future interactions will work. It will act as the face of a company’s digital brand and a key differentiator – and become a core competency demanding of C-level investment and strategy.
2017
Technology vision 2017, amplify you
Accenture
Ecosystem power plays
Companies are increasingly integrating their core business functionalities with third parties and their platforms. But rather than treat them like partnerships of old, forward-thinking leaders leverage these relationships to build their role in new digital ecosystems – instrumental to unlocking their next waves of strategic growth. As they do, they’re designing future value chains that will transform their businesses, products, and even the market itself.
2017
Technology vision 2017, amplify you
Accenture