Every year, innovation unlocked through technology seems to be getting faster and faster, but in 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the development of technology is accelerated in an unprecedented way.
Unlike the Internet boom, Covid-19 forces companies to adjust not according to their own choices, but according to market needs. If you are a local restaurant and you are not on Postmates, GrubHub or UberEats, then you need to reconsider now; if you are a business that has never considered telecommuting, then you now most likely need to be completely remote (or at least you can It is an option for some employees and offices).
Moreover, if you are an organization with thousands or even tens of thousands of employees, and you have been considering more investment in your own internal technology, then Covid-19 is likely to make this decision for you faster.
Major destruction (whether it is a pandemic, an unstable economy or the transfer of major industries) always shows an opportunity for technology to advance society. For example, in this year alone, video conferencing has changed from a “joking” thing in work communication to our daily standard.
Of course, as the end of the year comes, it is more important to look to the future and look for signals that technology will push the world forward. Here are 5 technological trends worth paying attention to in 2021.
Gaming
According to Deloitte’s 2020 Digital Media Trends Survey, “During the crisis, one-third of consumers subscribed to video game services for the first time, used cloud game services or watched e-sports or virtual sports events.” In addition, In the past few years, Deloitte has found that “a quarter of consumers rank playing video games as one of their three favorite entertainment activities.” For millennials and Gen Z consumers, playing video games is theirs Three favorite activities.
For an industry that has only begun to mature in the past ten years, Covid-19 is just the firepower for the rapid development of this market, which will exceed $1.5 billion by 2023. As trends such as streaming, virtual reality and augmented reality, and in-game entertainment (such as the Travis Scott show in Fortnite) continue to grow, we have explored to find that e-sports and games can play more roles in our future society.
Wearable technology
Wearable devices have been growing for the past five years or so.
But the whole story changed in March, when people suddenly couldn’t go to the gym. Companies such as Peloton define our “new normal”, and home sports have become synonymous with smart fitness equipment, wearable devices, and remote competitions and leaderboards, and everyone enters from the living room.
According to a Gartner report, by 2021, consumer spending on wearable technology will double. If you have been paying close attention to Apple’s innovation, you already know that the company will launch its first augmented reality headset in 2022, with the goal of turning wearing glasses into a mobile phone in your pocket.
Blockchain technology and cryptocurrency
Although the hype about blockchain technology and cryptocurrency in 2017 has disappeared in mainstream media, the past few years have produced incredible productivity changes for these industries.
For example, the Commissioner of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently issued a statement saying that innovation is welcome and that publicly traded stocks are likely to become tokens in the future. This in itself was a leap forward 3 years ago, when the blockchain startups on the left and right were litigated. Traditional investors such as Warren Buffet called Bitcoin an “illusion.”
In addition, in a survey conducted by State Street Corporation in 2019, “94% of the 101 large asset managers and owners who responded indicated that they are managing digital assets or planning to Increase digital assets every year.”
We predict that by 2030, digital assets will become our “new normal”.
Artificial intelligence creativity
In the past few years, the discussion around the future of artificial intelligence has expanded beyond the realm of machines capable of processing information and programs, including the possibility of creative output. In 2018, the first AI-generated painting was sold for $432,500.
I am particularly interested in this field, because as the co-founder and CEO of the AI photo editing software company Skylum, we firmly believe that artificial intelligence has the potential to release more social creativity, but it cannot be replaced in any way. As these tools become more sophisticated, the barriers to entry will decrease. More people will be able to unlock their ideas faster. What may be considered fundamentally different today may become the new standard, and may even appear tomorrow.
However, how people choose to use these new tools and technologies will eventually create and redefine our most artistic industries, such as photography, music, film, art, graphic design, branding, marketing, etc.
Digital health
The healthcare industry is known for being a slow-growing industry, but in the past year, due to the promotion of Covid-19, the healthcare industry has developed so fast, so innovation here is no longer an option, but a necessity .
A report from the World Health Organization explains what digital health innovation will look like in the next five years, and what the industry’s strategy for using these new technologies should be: “The vision of the global strategy is to improve the health of all people by accelerating development and adoption Appropriate, affordable, scalable and sustainable digital healthcare solutions.” This includes smart connected devices, advanced computing, big data analysis, artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotics.
If one thing about the Covid-19 pandemic reminds society as a whole, it is that we can quickly adapt to the actual situation and innovate and create. As technology continues to integrate into all aspects of our daily lives, our “new normal” will continue to develop faster and faster.
