Trends Identified
Cheaper, more widespread solar power
By 2020, solar technologies could account for a significant portion of global power generation, helping economies and businesses guard against rising energy costs and the impact of climate change. However, finding opportunities to further reduce the cost of solar technologies will be key to unlocking this potential. Because polysilicon, the primary raw material used by solar module manufacturers, is the single largest cost in the solar supply chain, it represents the most significant opportunity for cost reduction. Over the next several years, new lower-cost methods of polysilicon production will commercialize, providing the solar industry with a more affordable source of raw material. In turn, these cost improvements will trickle down throughout the solar supply chain, accelerating the adoption of solar energy around the world and helping the industry realize its global potential.
2014
14 tech predictions for our world in 2020
World Economic Forum (WEF)
Cheap housing for adaptable shelter and energy
2006
Global Technology Revolution 2020
RAND Corporation
Chatbots to Play Central Role in Insurance Claims Process
Chatbots aid insurance firms, and the finance industry, to offer personalised answers, give greater automation during claims processing and reduce response times. AI and machine learning enable the insurance industry to deliver high quality levels of customer satisfaction and engagement, as well as sell better tailored products to consumers. The costs saved by chatbots compared to implementing an insurance agent operation is the highest out of all chatbot verticals. However, the overarching issue when trying to implement chatbot technology is the highly stringent regulations of the insurance space. This slows down chatbot implementation, as a case to case regulatory screening on products will need to be carried out before application of any insurance bots. However, Juniper sees 2019 as the year in which chatbots come of age in the insurance sector for the following reasons: · The insurance claims process is particularly vulnerable to disruption, as it is a process that requires significant amounts of time and manual effort to resolve. Chatbot technology allows for a significant reduction in response times to insurance claims. · The insurance industry is very data-centric; it holds large and significant sums of information which presents a strong case for the use of efficiently programmed bots to identify trends and conduct repeated related actions when presented with certain keywords, questions or phrases. · Chatbots deliver personalised responses (to common customer insurance claims made via email and/or telephone) in real-time, based on programmed algorithms; allowing greater automation throughout their processing of claims. · Chatbots have been identified by the insurance industry as useful in helping to deliver high quality levels of customer engagement and satisfaction via real time engagement with customers while processing their insurance claims. Already, leading peer-to-peer Insurtech start-up, Lemonade, has leveraged chatbots for account openings and claims since its launch in 2017, reaching a user base of 70,000 in just one year of launch. Chatbots have helped it cut down lengthy paperwork and great numbers of unhappy customers, who had to wait months before having their insurance claims investigated. Related Research: Chatbots: Banking, eCommerce, Retail & Healthcare 2018-2023
2019
Top Tech trends 2019
Juniper Research
Chatbots Good to Great
Hear me out on this one. I know we’ve all had extremely frustrating chatbot experiences as we round out 2018. But the good news is that huge steps continue to be made in the way of natural language processing and sentiment analytics—so many, in fact, that some believe NLP will shake up the entire service industry in ways we’ve never imagined. Think about all the services that could be provided without humans—fast food lines, loan processors, job recruiters! What’s more, NLP allows companies to gather insights and improve their service based on them. Some 40% of large businesses have or will adopt it by the end of 2019—which makes it one of our top 2019 digital transformation trends. Now, I know many are alarmed by where AI and Chatbots may impact the workforce, but I’m also bullish that companies are going to be upskilling their work forces rather than displacing them as machines may be good at delivering on clearcut requests but leave a lot to be desired when it comes to dealing with empathy and human emotion required to deliver great customer experiences.
2018
Top 10 Digital Transformation Trends For 2019
Forbes
Chatbots
These artificial intelligence (AI) programs simulate interactive human conversation using key pre-calculated user phrases and auditory or text-based signals. Chatbots have recently started to use self-created sentences in lieu of pre-calculated user phrases, providing better results. Chatbots are frequently used for basic customer service on social networking hubs and are often included in operating systems as intelligent virtual assistants. We have recently witnessed the use of chatbots as personal assistants capable of machine-to-machine communications as well. In fact, chatbots mimic humans so well that some countries are considering requiring chatbots to disclose that they are not human. Industry is looking to expand chatbot applications to interaction with cognitive-impaired children as a way to provide therapeutic support.
2018
IEEE Computer Society Predicts the Future of Tech: Top 10 Technology Trends for 2019
IEEE Computer Society
Characteristics of the Future Operational Environment
The individual environments will be interlinked and porous, especially with regard to influence and information.
2010
Global strategic trends - out to 2040
UK, Ministry of Defence
Changing power in the international system
In many ways, the power balance in the international system in 2017 looks broadly similar to the world in 2000. Yet in some fundamental ways, the world has changed considerably. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have left its participants wary of foreign intervention. China has expanded its global presence. Russia has demonstrated a willingness to intervene in neighbouring countries and attack democracies with information ‘wars’. And the impact of the 2007-08 financial crisis has hit many nations’ capabilities to fund military increases. There are some broad trends that are likely to continue through 2035: the United States will remain the largest military power; China and regional leaders will see their power grow; Russia will focus on areas of asymmetric advantage to counteract its declining population; and the creation of a unified European military structure with significant expeditionary power will be one of the biggest wild cards in the international system.
2017
Global trends to 2035
European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS)
Changing Patterns of Behaviour
Growing material prosperity is likely to result in behavioural changes with associated effects, such as changes in consumption, diet and health. The proportion of the world population considered to be middle-income has increased rapidly over the last 30 years and, out to 2040, may increase by a further 80 million per annum if rapid economic development continues in countries such as India, China and Brazil. Consumption of food, water, energy and minerals will remain positively correlated with increasing prosperity despite efforts towards conservation, recycling and environmentalism.
2010
Global strategic trends - out to 2040
UK, Ministry of Defence
Changing global patterns
At the international level, the relative power of Western liberal democracies will decline as they struggle to deal with both demographic and economic shifts, even as the power of other countries increases. While the trends seem clear that China’s power is rising while the US is declining as a hegemonic power, these are likely to develop over several generations. Power is slowly but clearly slipping from the Atlantic alliance to the Pacific region (although the differences within Asia are probably greater than those within the Atlantic region).
2011
Megatrends and the future of humanitarian action
International Review of the Red Cross