Trends Identified

Sensing City
A Toronto neighborhood aims to be the first place to successfully integrate cutting-edge urban design with state-of-the-art digital technology.
2018
10 Breakthrough Technologies 2018
MIT Technology Review
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)
Sensors to analyse the make-up of various environments
Nanostructured materials and coatings can be applied to sensors to analyse the make-up of various environments so as to increase their responsiveness (by reducing the diffusion time in the sensitive layer) and increase sensitivity (by increasing the specific surface). Nanotechnologies can be used to develop new types of sensitive materials to miniature multi-sensor matrices (sensors) embedded in consumer electronics and clothing, and can also be placed in production and residential buildings.
2016
Russia 2030: science and technology foresight
Russia, Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation
Sequencing patient DNA may lead to personalized medicine
DNA data will help medical professionals better identify drug treatments that are effective and safe for a particular patient, and at dosages suitable for their metabolism. Personalized drug testing on stem cells cloned from the patient could reduce the need for more general animal and human drug trials and possibly identify a wider range of possible treatments. As the genetic markers of disease become increasingly known, DNA will grow more useful in diagnosis, as well as pre-diagnosis – offering risk profiles of conditions well before the onset of symptoms. Some chronic diseases may be prevented or even eradicated through prenatal interventions, early-life treatments, or possibly gene therapy.
2013
Metascan 3 emerging technologies
Canada, Policy Horizons Canada
Seriously Serious
Digital marketing has grown up. So has the Web as a whole. Both the grown up practice and the grown up medium are facing serious challenges which will and must be addressed in 2018. GDPR represents a positive step. There is also an array of initiatives to address problems with fraud in digital display and confront client concerns about programmatic buying. Platforms are working to make measurement more transparent and deliver a clearer link between marketing activity and business outcomes. A lot of progress will be made in 2018, but not enough. Governments will have to make progress on state-sponsored hacking. The security industry will have to make big progress to protect us from the ever-increasing volume of madness. These are needs well beyond the purview of marketers and probably unrealistic for much progress in 2018.
2018
Key digital trends for 2018
Ogilvy
Services increasingly customized to the individual
Sensors and artificial intelligence (AI) in print media, signs, and devices will mean that services can be increasingly tailored to the users’ interests by sensing their demographic information and recalling prior choices. Public spaces will be more interactive and able to offer pertinent information without the user navigating tedious menus. Repeat business is ensured by remembering past preferences. AI could remind a hairstylist how a person likes their hair cut, or what toppings they prefer at the burger joint. Means of gathering instant feedback around new experiences will also be useful; at the dentist, a brain-computer interface could verify the patient’s level of comfort. AI tutors could offer students personal attention and “gamify” learning goals (apply game techniques) to encourage progress.
2013
Metascan 3 emerging technologies
Canada, Policy Horizons Canada
Services Thinking
SOA what? Service orientation extends to the business Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) grew as a technical answer to an age-old question: How do companies gain agility and flexibility – especially in a world increasingly dependent on complex, interconnected IT systems? Unfortunately, the potential of SOA has been constrained by its very definition. By confining SOA to the realm of IT, opportunities have been largely limited to Service Oriented (Software) Architecture. In 2010, look for SOA to move powerfully outside of IT into business strategy, organization design, and governance models. It’s what some call Service Oriented (Business) Architecture – and it’s a new way to manage the relationship between business and IT. This holistic approach is the essence of Services Thinking.
2010
Depth perception A dozen technology trends shaping business and IT in 2010
Deloitte
Settling other worlds
How will space tourism companies make sure their activities are safe? How will we find ways to send humans to Mars or another planet to live there, as Stephen Hawking has urged us to figure out? Space travel might seem like the domain of space agencies and billionaires today, but as it becomes more accessible to everybody else, a whole host of new challenges will emerge. Outer space is increasingly looking less like the final frontier and more like our backyard, and with more money being shelled out to get humans up to the inky abyss than ever before, the logistics, safety and diplomacy behind the challenge all demand serious consideration.
2017
10 grand challenges we’ll face by 2050
The BBC
Shape-shifting matter
Example of Organizationsactive in the area: Intel (US).
2018
Table of disruptive technologies
Imperial College London
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)