A tech consultant’s opinion on top tech trends to look out for in 2020

I am no professional market analyst but given my active engagements in the technology space and my ex-VC background, I’d love to share my take on top trends in 2020 that will continue transforming the world and enhancing the capabilities of humans and technologies across the multitude of industries:

1. Wearable technologies — 2020 is all about the future of biosensors!

Apple built a whole new future of what wearables can do when it first released its Apple Watch in 2015. In 2020, there are a few industries to watch out for in the promising developments of wearable technologies:

Exploration technologies — Astronauts are known to be physically and mentally fit in order to operate at peak functionality during their space missions. However, anxiety is inevitable. While anxious astronauts might be aware of their stress levels, knowing their responsibility to commit to demanding actions prevents them from acknowledging while they suffer in the wrath of a silent crisis. Biosensors are here to change the game — they could serve these anxious astronauts by detecting stress levels and sharing it with the medical staff on the mission, enabling these astronauts to take a break and self-evaluate.

Health is complex in space, with limited availability to logistics and medical infrastructure there is a challenge and yet opportunity for biosensors to transform the field in exploration technologies — from cheaper sensors through 3D printing to using it to grow vegetables in the international space centre. In addition, a stand-alone device does not reap economies of scale as such, there is great need to develop a system to integrate the biosensors as a whole. A startup to watch out for under NASA’s grant is Avania — transforming the future of biosensors.

AR and VR are transforming the travel industry — rapidly reducing the search costs associated with a fellow traveller like myself (spending lots of time on the search engine to validate my itinerary plans) and re-inventing the interactions and experiences via insights and gamification.

The Augmented Reality AR market across the globe is predicted to nurture from 5.91 billion to 198 billion U.S. dollars by the year 2025 — Statista Report

2. 5G

2020 grants the unlocking of technology capabilities through 5G. I was incredibly amazed at the proposition put forth by Samsung for their Galaxy 8aG positioned on functionalities enhanced with 5G:

• Uninterrupted gaming
• Enhancement of battery usage via temperature controls and game performance monitoring
• Reduced latency

And much more…

Why should we care about the development of 5G? It will eventually replace the 4G LTE connection and affect our way of life and how technology continues to be transformed.

3. Voice and AI technologies

Google’s voice assistant was a major push to pro-active AI assistance, removing friction from navigating content in today’s world. Today, Google voice is releasing 3 new voice capabilities — searching and sharing photos, searching podcasts and creating notes.

In gaming — Gosu.AI is transforming the gaming field with offerings of an AI programmed desktop voice agent to offer tactic feedback as gamers play league of legends.

31% of smartphone users worldwide use voice tech at least once a week — Statistica Report

Half of all online searches will be voice-based by 2020 — ComScore

Amazon is providing a new transcription service for the medical field — increasing accuracy in medical and health terms. With this technology, it can transcribe doctor-patient interactions and plug the text straight into the medical record, with information protected by HIPAA.

4. Sustainable technologies (new term: climate tech?)

2019 is the year where awareness of climate crisis has been advocated by so many heroes — political figures, environmental activists and ordinary people like you and I. There is still so much that we can do and we need large corporations to take steps to use their existing resources to re-innovate and cut down on emissions and carbon footprint. Here are some model companies to take note of:

Samsung has announced that it will stay committed in environmentally sustainable packaging and mission in giving tech devices new lives.

GM has announced that by 2030, most Cadillac’s will be electric. Microsoft has also pledged to cut carbon emissions by 75% by 2030.

From more accurate crop monitoring systems via block chain and AI to the spur in the agri-tech industry, we can look forward to observing the emergence of new innovations in the tackle towards climate crisis.

5. Blockchain

In 2020, we can expect blockchain technology to re-surface in other areas:

Sports betting — global sports betting market is expected to grow exponentially through 2020–2022. The accessibility of digital platforms along with internet penetration has made it easier for people to engage in sports betting. Asset-backed digital tokens enable fairer payouts and the process of receiving payments and earning profits more reliable and secure.

Supply chain management — blockchain can help to avoid knowledge gaps along the supply chain process and meet the increasing demands for consumer transparency through improvements in contracts, agreements and payments.

If you have enjoyed reading this article, give some claps! Are there any other trends that you think we should look out for in 2020? Comment beneath and happy holidays!