Among the 35 technologies represented on Gartner Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2018, the analyst firm has revealed top five emerging technology trends that will bridge the gap between humans and machines.
Gartner Hype Scale provides graphical representation of maturity and adoption of technologies and applications, and the way those technologies will solve business problems and exploit new opportunities. It also helps enterprises know how the technologies will develop over time, and insights about management of the technology deployment.
Business strategists, chief innovation officers, R&D leaders, entrepreneurs, global market developers and emerging technology teams must consider the Gartner Hype Scale report for a cross-industry perspective on technologies and trends.
“Business and technology leaders will continue to face rapidly accelerating technology innovation that will profoundly impact the way they engage with their workforce, collaborate with their partners, and create products and services for their customers,” said Mike J. Walker, research vice president at Gartner.
“CIOs and technology leaders should always be scanning the market along with assessing and piloting emerging technologies to identify new business opportunities with high impact potential and strategic relevance for their business.”
For the report, Gartner has gathered insights from over 2,000 technologies to brief the 35 emerging technologies and trends. These technologies are expected to play a vital role in enabling companies to be always available, abundant, and connected to business ecosystem over next five to ten years.
Top emerging technology trends
1. Democratized artificial intelligence (AI)
Artificial intelligence will become a mainstream technology in next ten years, driven by trends like cloud computing and open source. The AI technologies including machine learning, deep learning, will continue to solve business problems, and also become available to masses.
According to Gartner, the following technologies will enable the Democratized AI trend:
- AI Platform as a Service (PaaS)
- Artificial General Intelligence
- Autonomous Driving (Levels 4 and 5)
- Autonomous Mobile Robots
- Conversational AI Platform
- Deep Neural Nets
- Flying Autonomous Vehicles
- Smart Robots
- Virtual Assistants
“Technologies representing democratized AI populate three out of five sections on the Hype Cycle, and some of them, such as deep neural nets and virtual assistants, will reach mainstream adoption in the next two to five years,” said Mr. Walker.
“Other emerging technologies of that category, such as smart robots or AI PaaS, are also moving rapidly through the Hype Cycle approaching the peak and will soon have crossed it.”
2. Digitized ecosystems
To adopt the emerging technologies, the enterprises will need to transform their compartmentalized technical infrastructure into digitized ecosystems. It will form new business models that will blur the lines between human and technology.
Following technologies will enable the digitized ecosystems:
- Blockchain
- Blockchain for Data Security
- Digital Twin
- IoT Platform
- Knowledge Graphs.
“Digitalized ecosystem technologies are making their way to the Hype Cycle fast,” said Walker. “Blockchain and IoT platforms have crossed the peak by now, and we believe that they will reach maturity in the next five to 10 years, with digital twins and knowledge graphs on their heels.”
3. DIY biohacking
Gartner said that humanity will initiate a trans-human era over the next decade, which will enable biohacking. The do-it-yourself biohacking is the implementation of IT hacks to biological systems. It is categorized into technology augmentation, nutrigenomics, experimental biology and grinder biohacking.
This trend will be enabled by:
- Biochips
- Biotech — Cultured or Artificial Tissue
- Brain-Computer Interface
- Augmented Reality
- Mixed Reality
- Smart Fabrics
The analysts are not sure about how far the society is prepared for biohacking and the issues it will create.
4. Transparently immersive experiences
The technology will become so human-centric that there will be transparency between people, businesses and things. The transparently immersive experiences will enable smarter living, work, and other spaces.
These experiences will be enabled by following technologies:
- 4D Printing
- Connected Home
- Edge AI
- Self-Healing System Technology
- Silicon Anode Batteries
- Smart Dust
- Smart Workspace
- Volumetric Displays.
“Emerging technologies representing transparently immersive experiences are mostly on their way to the peak or — in the case of silicon anode batteries — just crossed it,” said Mr. Walker. “The smart workspace has moved along quite a bit and is about to peak in the near future.”
5. Ubiquitous infrastructure
With the advent of cloud computing and its variations, the organizational infrastructure has become always-on, available and limitless. Hence, the infrastructure is no longer a roadblock for organizations to achieve goals.
Following technologies will enable the ubiquitous infrastructure:
- 5G
- Carbon Nanotube
- Deep Neural Network ASICs
- Neuromorphic Hardware
- Quantum Computing.
Also read: Top 6 barriers to digital business transformation
Gartner’s this research will help CIOs and IT leaders to respond to the opportunities and threats that can affect their businesses and dominate the technology-enabled business innovations.
The full “Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2018” report is available here for Gartner clients.
Without talking about artificial intelligence not completing any technology trends. Artificial intelligence is used in every industry. Becuse it makes the process easier and faster. You wrote a nice article on this topic. My appreciation to you.