Tech trends to bet on!

This is that time of the year when multiple publications, journals and self-proclaimed pundits will come up with different listing of what 2018 holds for the product and tech community. This post is my attempt to join that bandwagon 😊. Here are the trends that I am betting on for not just this year and in near future. This is not to say that these trends are new or starting now some of these are continuation of what started but those that I think will gain more momentum this year.

Electric Vehicles

I believe the future of vehicles and not just cars is electric – the question no longer is IF but WHEN? The innovation the heralded by Tesla in terms of cheaper and long-lasting batteries have opened the door to a future which is now real. If the CES showings were to any indicator, more and more start-ups and mainstream companies will ride on that bandwagon. Just to be clear it is not just about cars – the EV ecosystem is already expanding to bikes and scooters, 3-wheelers, large SUVs, buses, trucks, pick-up vehicles – essentially EV is out to replace the whole gamut of petrol - diesel vehicles that exist today. Motor industry giants like Ford, GM, Toyota, Honda and the German biggies are all in the race to get there as they see Tesla market cap shoot way beyond they ever imagined for themselves. This is when Tesla have shipped a few thousand vehicles till date – so obviously consumers are giving a thumb up to future potential of electric vehicles. What is now restricted to concepts cars and prototypes will eventually hit mainstream as the associated infrastructure of grids and charging points becomes one of the key public service by elected governments across the globe at par with rail tracks and roadways. We still have a long way to go but the good thing is that we are already on the path to that future!  

Everyday AI

We are in age of Artificial Intelligence already. AI has moved out of the realms of research and academics (that it has been for the past 2 decades) and gone mainstream with applications and services that impact or touch out day to day experiences. From mobile assistants to self-driving cars the spectrum covers a whole set of areas that augments and makes our everyday life better – medical diagnosis, shopping lists to reading list recommendations, audio and video recommendations, work assistants, intelligent robots for the manual work, intelligent drones for deliver, teaching and learning agents, intelligent financial agent bots, the list can go on! There is hardly any aspect of human life that will not be impacted (if not benefitted) as AI finds application in one way or the other. Sure, this has implications on employment and the nature of jobs that humans will need to do – but that is something we must adapt to and evolve generationally. Like any change this will not be an easy transformation. But we cannot and should not stop this, so our focus should be on how we participate and contribute to this – both as a consumer and driver of AI.

Mixed Reality

Last month the folks at Magic leap finally announced the availability of their first Mixed reality device. This has been long awaited. The promise of augmented or mixed reality and how it is transformational to the “screen driven” experience that pervades our digital and mobile ecosystem today. It is truly the immersive experience that we have been drumming up about – be it gaming, entertainment, manufacturing, training, conferencing, enterprise collaboration and productivity. I believe AR/MR holds the future of mobility in enterprise and elsewhere too! Today, we have been force fitting a number of use cases that in a 6” mobile screens that wasn’t designed for those – especially in enterprise collaboration and productivity space. Granted that AR/MR devices need to evolve before it becomes as personal and intimate as a mobile device – but I think that is the future and we will evolve into, soon!

Blockchain

Yes, my list won’t be completed without something about blockchain. If you look beyond the noise created by the dizzying growth of cryptocurrencies, the concept and technology of blockchain itself holds the key to a future where intelligent and self-driving systems and platforms becomes mainstream in every aspect of civic society functions – be it financial, economic, governance, commerce or any form of consumer or public service. The notion of a future where regulated decentralized networks replaces a central repository is progressive and takes humanity forward. It is really a zero to 1 shift that Peter Thiel talks about in his book. It’s too early to predict right which platform be it Ripple or Ethereum or Steem or the plethora of other coins will win or succeed. I do think the ones that are likely to succeed will be the ones that works the current socio-economic institutional framework. The utopian notion of a society run entirely by people with no institution is certainly not in that direction. The applications that are likely to see traction in the near future are remittance delivery, smart contracts, digital publishing and assets rights management, financial inclusion and peer to peer commerce.