Envisioning emerging technology for 2012 and beyond
Research & visualization by Michell Zappa
Understanding where technology is heading is more than guesswork. Looking at emerging trends and research, one can predict and draw conclusions about how the technological sphere is developing, and which technologies should become mainstream in the coming years. Envisioning technology is meant to facilitate these observations by taking a step back and seeing the wider context. By speculating about what lies beyond the horizon we can make better decisions of what to create today.
2012
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
INTERNET
INTERFACES
SENSORS
High-frequency trading
Cloud computing
Multi touch
Depth imaging
mz@envisioningtech mz@envisioningtech.com mz@envisioningtech.com UBICOMP
ROBOTICS
Tablets
BIOTECH
MATERIALS
Rapid personal gene sequencing
Additive manufacturing
SPACE
GEOENGINEERING
Software agents
Cyberwarfare
Gesture recognition
4G
Speech recognition
Pervasive video capture
Mesh networking
Flexible screens
Self-healing materials
Appliance robots
Telematics
2017 Photonics
4K
2018
Biometric sensors
Tidal turbines
Fuel cells
Organ printing
Boards Augmented reality
World population: 7 billion
2014
2016 Natural language interpretation
Global online population: ± 2 billion Connected devices: ±10 billion
2013
Near-field communication Volumetric (3D) screens
2015
QUANTITATIVE FORECASTS
2012 Inductive chargers
2013 2014
ENERGY
2015
Sources: Intel – http://intel.ly/pWbH04 InternetWorldStats – http://bit.ly/AKbO5 Source: U.N. – http://bit.ly/7nqQkS
Commercial spaceflight
2016
Graphene Smart toys
Modular computers Smart power meters
Global online population: ± 2.5 billion Connected devices: ±15 billion
Robotic surgery
2017 Bio-enhanced fuels
Synthetic blood
Personal fabricators Machine translation
Virtual currencies
Haptics
Biomarkers
Picoprojectors
Self-driving vehicles
Smart drugs
Multi-segmented smart grids
Sub-orbital spaceflight
2019
2019 Machine vision
5G Procedural storytelling
Metamaterials Eyewear-embedded screens
Powered exoskeleton
Global online population: 4-5 billion Connected devices: 30-50 billion $150 Hard disk: ±200 Tb Standard RAM: ±750Gb
Space tourism Photovoltaic glass
Sources: Intel – http://intel.ly/pWbH04 Ericsson – http://bit.ly/avvVok Alan Conroy – http://bit.ly/pofHp5 FutureTimeline – http://bit.ly/qz4ben
2020
2020 Personalized medicine
Holography
Optical invisibility cloaks
Context-aware computing Reputation economy
In-vitro meat
Piezoelectricity
Weather engineering
Commercial UAVs
Computational photography
Synthetic biology
Fabric-embedded screens
Petabyte storage standard
Carbon nanotubes
Source: http://bit.ly/r9BYQc
Telepresence
VR-only lifeforms
$ 1.000 computer reaches the capacity of the human brain (± 1015 calculations per second) Stem-cell treatments
Interplanetary internet
Reprogrammable chips
Domestic robots
Source: http://bit.ly/6MoQJc
Vertical farming
Biomaterials
World population: 8 billion
Biomechanical harvesting
Source: U.N. – http://bit.ly/7nqQkS
BRICs GDP overtakes the G7 Source: Goldman Sachs – http://bit.ly/nc9Wqj
Seasteading
Nanogenerators
Optogenetics Gene therapy
Artificial photosynthesis
2030 Skin-embedded screens
Immersive virtual reality
2030 Terabit internet speed standard
Molecular assembler
Swarm robotics
Source: http://bit.ly/kPMKMb
Desalination Hybrid assisted limbs
Enernet
Lunar outpost
Remote presence Retinal screens Exabyte storage standard
Nanowires
Source: http://bit.ly/kPMKMb
Mars mission
Artificial retinas
Carbon sequestration
Thorium reactor
Neuroinformatics Embodied avatars Nanomedicine
Climate engineering
Exocortex Space elevator
Programmable matter Machineaugmented cognition
Antiaging drugs
Traveling wave reactor
Utility fog Space-based solar power
Solar sail
Arcologies World population: 9 billion Source: U.N. – http://bit.ly/7nqQkS
2040
2040 BITS
ATOMS
RELATIVE IMPORTANCE
CONSUMER IMPACT
CLUSTER OF TECHNOLOGIES
The node size indicates the predicted importance of a technology.
The outline of a node indicates a consumer impact larger than the technological novelty.
A jagged outline indicates a cluster of similar technologies grouped together.
Last updated: 2012-02-25 BY
SA