Envisioning emerging technology for 2012 and beyond

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.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE INTERNET INTERFACES SENSORS UBICOMP ROBOTICS BIOTECH MATERIALS ENERGY SPACE GEOTECH

Research & visualization by Michell Zappa

mz@envisioningtech mz@envisioningtech.com mz@envisioningtech.com

QUANTITATIVE FORECASTS

2012 2013 2014 2015

High-frequency trading

Cloud computing

Multi touch

Depth imaging

Tablets

Personal gene sequencing

Additive manufacturing Inductive chargers

2012 2013 2014

Global online population: 2 billion Connected devices: 10 billion World population: 7 billion

Software agents

Cyberwarfare

Gesture recognition

Near-field communication Volumetric (3D) screens Appliance robots Self-healing materials Tidal turbines

4G

Speech recognition

Pervasive video capture

2015
Commercial spaceflight

Global online population: 2.5 billion Connected devices: 15 billion

Sources: Intel http://intel.ly/pWbH04 InternetWorldStats http://bit.ly/AKbO5 Source: U.N. http://bit.ly/7nqQkS

Flexible screens

Telematics

Organ printing

Fuel cells

2016
Natural language interpretation Mesh networking Boards Augmented reality Biometric sensors Smart toys Bio-enhanced fuels Graphene

2016

2017
Photonics

2017
Synthetic blood

4K

Modular computers Smart power meters

Robotic surgery

2018

Personal fabricators Machine translation Virtual currencies Haptics Biomarkers Picoprojectors Self-driving vehicles Smart drugs Sub-orbital spaceflight

Multi-segmented smart grids

2019
5G Procedural storytelling Machine vision Eyewear-embedded screens Powered exoskeleton Metamaterials Photovoltaic glass Space tourism

2019
Global online population: 4-5 billion Connected devices: 30-50 billion $150 Hard disk: 200 Tb Standard RAM: 750Gb
Sources: Intel http://intel.ly/pWbH04 Ericsson http://bit.ly/avvVok Alan Conroy http://bit.ly/pofHp5 FutureTimeline http://bit.ly/qz4ben

2020
Holography Context-aware computing Reputation economy Unmanned aerial vehicles Fabric-embedded screens VR-only lifeforms Telepresence Synthetic biology Carbon nanotubes Personalized medicine Optical invisibility cloaks In-vitro meat Piezoelectricity Weather engineering

2020

Computational photography

Petabyte storage standard

Source: http://bit.ly/r9BYQc

$ 1.000 computer reaches the capacity of the human brain ( 1015 calculations per second) Stem-cell treatments Vertical farming
Source: http://bit.ly/6MoQJc

Interplanetary internet

Reprogrammable chips

Domestic robots

Biomaterials

Biomechanical harvesting

World population: 8 billion

Source: U.N. http://bit.ly/7nqQkS

BRICs GDP overtakes the G7

Source: Goldman Sachs http://bit.ly/nc9Wqj

Optogenetics Gene therapy

Nanogenerators

Seasteading

2030
Skin-embedded screens Immersive virtual reality Swarm robotics Molecular assembler

Artificial photosynthesis

2030
Terabit internet speed standard
Source: http://bit.ly/kPMKMb

Desalination Hybrid assisted limbs Remote presence Retinal screens Nanowires Artificial retinas Neuroinformatics Embodied avatars Nanomedicine Exocortex Programmable matter Machineaugmented cognition Machine augmented cognition Space elevator Thorium reactor Mars mission Carbon sequestration Exabyte storage standard
Source: http://bit.ly/kPMKMb

Enernet

Lunar outpost

Climate engineering

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 BITS ATOMS

2040

RELATIVE IMPORTANCE The node size indicates the predicted importance of a technology.

CONSUMER IMPACT The outline of a node indicates a consumer impact larger than the technological novelty.

CLUSTER OF TECHNOLOGIES A jagged outline indicates a cluster of distinct technologies grouped together. Last updated: 2011-10-10
BY SA