Technology is changing the world at an unprecedented speed and scale. Existing technologies will continue to evolve to be smarter while new technologies will emerge to jolt the existing world order. Either way, technology gurus will be at the helm of groundbreaking tech revolution that will decide which way today’s civilization will head. If you happen to be a student with a zeal to learn the technologies that are currently captivating the homo sapiens’ interest, you are better placed to enjoy playing active role. World’s leading tech association CompTIA Emerging Technology Community listed Top 10 Emerging Technology that the Community feels is poised to have the greatest impact in 2020. You can read CompTIA‘s article here 2020 Emerging Technology Top 10 List. These technologies are/will be defining every aspects of our lives.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
“AI is the part of computer science concerned with designing intelligent computer systems, that is, systems that exhibit characteristics we associate with intelligence in human behaviour – understanding language, learning, reasoning, solving problems, and so on” – Barr & Feigenbaum, 1981. AI makes it possible for machines to learn from experience, adjust to new inputs and perform human like tasks. Today AI is omnipresent and its application ranges from mobile games to military equipment, from agriculture to health to aviation sector. It has diagnosed human diseases, played an important role in containing Covid19 pandemic, written poetry, defeated World Chess Champion, helped businesses in market research, and what not. But AI is still an evolving technology. Huge potentialities are yet to be unleashed. AI comprises several sub-fields – important ones are : Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, Speech Processing, Planning, Expert Systems, Robotics, Vision, Evolutionary Computation, Neural Networks, etc. Global market size of AI is estimated to touch USD 190 billion by 2025 and to grow at compound annual growth rate (CAGR) 36% until 2025.
5G
Most of you in India, who are using smartphone in 2020, are using 4G/4th Generation standard of mobile communication technology. 5G is the fifth generation wireless access technology. 5G has higher data capacity, 10 to 100 times (10,000 mbps) faster than 4G (100 – 150Mbps) and also has the capacity to connect billions of other devices, not just mobile phones. 5G is set to unleash a massive Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem, offers extremely low latency (time gap between sending and receiving signals). 5G is used across three main types of connected services – Enhanced mobile broadband, Mission critical communication (ability of delivering communications when no other can), and massive IoT. In short, 5G is going to transform our daily lives and the opportunity is massive. Global 5G services market size is estimated to hit USD 41.48 billion by 2027.
IoT (Internet of Things)
IoT is a collection of devices connected to the internet. But in this case, devices are not just smartphone, laptop or smart TVs or the devices that are traditionally known as having capability to connect to the internet. IoT also includes other devices that we have so far known cannot be connected to internet, i.e., refrigerator, ceiling fan, or any other machines. Today anything with on/off switches can potentially have capability to connect to the internet. With the advent of 5G technology, IoT is creating a lot of buzz in the corporate world. Global market size of IoT was USD 8,930 million in 2018 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 33% during 2019 – 2025.
Serverless Computing
In early days, anyone who wanted to build a web application had to own, run and maintain the physical hardware to run a server – a cumbersome and expensive undertaking. Then came the cloud computing where fixed numbers of servers or amounts of server space could be rented remotely. Developers and companies who rent these fixed units of server space generally over-purchase to ensure that a spike in the traffic would not break their website or application due to exceeding their monthly limits. Then comes the serverless computing which allows web app or mobile app developers or the companies/individuals running those apps purchase backend services on a flexible pay-as-you-go basis, that is, developers have to pay only for the services they use. The term serverless computing is somewhat misleading as there are still servers providing backend services to a web/mobile application but those servers are provided by vendors and the developers do not have to worry about servers – that is why serverless computing. Serverless architecture market is poised to reach USD 9 billion by 2023 at a CAGR of 26% during 2019 – 2023, according to Technavio report.
Biometrics
Biometrics is identity verification or recognition technology. Unique identifiable attributes of people such as finger prints, iris print, face, voice, walking patterns, signature, etc are used to identify a particular individual/user. Still confused what biometrics is? If you are using smartphone, you probably are using biometrics technology. You scan your finger print to gain access to your smartphone. That is biometrics. But biometrics is not limited to smartphone. The technology is deployed in various other fields for various other purposes – preventing unauthorized access, criminal investigation, verification of identity for other purposes, etc. As per MARKETSANDMARKETS, global market of biometric system is expected to reach USD 65.3 billion by 2024.
AR/VR (Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality)
AR adds digital objects to the real environment/live view often generated using camera. The world in AR is the surrounding you are currently in. For example you can take a live video of your bedroom but with the help of AR technology you can add extra CG/computer generated objects like virtual cat or dog lying in your bed when it is not in reality. Smartphone game Pokemon Go is the example. VR, on the other hand, is computer generated simulation of alternate world (virtual reality). VR is more immersive in that you are taken to a different reality (virtual environment) using headset gear. Recently a Korean mother burst into tears after meeting her dead daughter’s avatar (graphic representation of an individual) in virtual world. These technologies offer unlimited opportunities in almost all sectors – games, leisure, entertainment, e-commerce & retail, interior designing, landscaping & urban planning, real estate, tourism & travel, education & training, healthcare and lot other sectors. Global AR/VR technology market size was USD 11.35 billion in 2017 and is projected to grow at CAGR of 63% from 2018 to 2025.
Blockchain
Emmanuelle Ganne, in his book “Can Blockchain Revolutionize International Trade?”, published by World Trade Organization (WTO), defined Blockchain as a “decentralized, distributed record or ledger of transactions in which transactions are stored in a permanent and near inalterable way using cryptographic techniques”. Invented by anonymous programmer that goes by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, who had also created Bitcoin, blockchain originally was developed as accounting method for cryptocurrency – Bitcoin. But blockchain technology has evolved beyond cryptocurrency into a technology that has the potentiality to disrupt industries, governance, the way we perform transactions, do business, etc. As per MarketsAndMarkets, global blockchain market is estimated to be USD 3 billion in 2020 and projected to reach USD 39.7 billion by 2025.
Robotics
Robotics is intersection of electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and computer science for creating, designing and application of robots – machines that can perform various tasks. When combined with AI, the output is artificially intelligent robots, where AI acts as brain and robotics acts as the body to perform various tasks. Today robots are being used for from tasks as simple as house cleaning to complex medical surgery, outer space exploration, etc. Various intelligent robots helping us are – domestic robots, service robots, entertainment robots, hobby and competition robots, agriculture robots, educational robots, medical robots, industrial robots, military robots, space robots, and so on. That is, scope of robotics is ever growing and newer avenues are opening up. As per Allied Market Research global robotics market size is projected to reach USD 170.08 billion by 2027 from USD 62.75 billion in 2019.
Natural Language Processing/NLP
NLP is a field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) that gives the machines the ability to read, understand and derive meaning from human languages. It is the intersection where linguistics and AI meet. Most NLP techniques rely on Machine Learning/ML (a subset of AI that aims to teach machines to learn and act without being explicitly programmed). Google Translation, Alexa of Amazon, spam detection, predictive text, auto-correct, grammar and spell checks, auto-complete, better search results by search engines, seeing advertisements of the products which you searched for on search engines like Google or Bing – yes, it is NLP at work. Global NLP market size is estimated to reach USD 29.5 billion by 2025.
Quantum Computing
Computation performed using the principles of quantum mechanics (a theory that describes physical phenomena on atomic scale) is quantum computing. Quantum computers are different from and far more powerful than classical computers (mobile, laptops or even supercomputers). It has the potentialities to solve the problems and equations which are beyond the capacity of the most powerful supercomputers. With the progress of quantum computing, supercomputers will be a thing of past. Although, quantum computers will not replace the PCs we are currently using, they will change the world. It could transform medicine, break encryption, revolutionize research, communication, artificial intelligence or the way we compute. With its astounding computation power, quantum computing can break the strongest password encrypted using the current model of encryption. As per P&S Intelligence, quantum computing market share is projected to reach USD 64,988.3 million by 2030.
