Vasupradha Ramachandran
We have come a long way from room-sized computers to ultrabooks, brick-shaped cellular phones to palm-held smartphones, game characters that are made of boxy pixels to real-life-like high definition game titles and the list goes on. Technology always had exponential growth throughout and has never failed to make an impact in our day-to-day life. As the aforementioned scenario depicts the growth and trends of the technical world, below is the list of the top 10 emerging technologies that the year 2021 has to offer.
Top 10 emerging technologies in 2021
1) Artificial Intelligence:
Artificial intelligence is the ability of the computer or a robot that is controlled by the computer to think and act in ways that are similar to that of human beings. Though AI has been playing its part in the field of technology for a while now, it continues to be considered as a new technology for its ability to pave way for new inventions. The very purpose of artificial intelligence (AI) is to enable the machine to make the necessary decisions that are needed to solve a problem.
Scope of AI:
Artificial intelligence, in recent years, has also widened its scope in the field of medicine as well. AI has been assisting doctors in identifying disease and cancer Parkinsons. AI-assisted robots have been performing crucial surgical procedures. When it comes to technology, AI has been adopted in various applications like image and speech recognition, navigation apps and digital personal assistants.
Being one of the most prominent fields in science and technology, AI has so much to offer in terms of research and data processing. Moreover, it offers so many career opportunities in the field of ML, data mining, data analysis and AI-based software development
It is predicted that the AI market will reach up to $190.61 billion by 2025 with a CAGR of 36.62% between 2018 and 2025.
Companies like Amazon web services, Google and IBM offer AI-based products and services for individuals and enterprises.
2) Machine learning:
Machine learning consists of a set of complex algorithms and code blocks that will enable the machine to interpret the data and make predictions accordingly. This, in turn, will enable the machine to learn and adapt to new data without the need for any human assistance.
Massive amounts of data are being collected from various fields and sources in our everyday life. These immense amounts of data are also known as big data. With machine learning, the collected data is then converted into information that is readily available to assist the machine with decision-making.
Scope of machine learning:
The scope of machine learning varies with different business verticals. For instance, machine learning is vastly being adopted in the trading sector to understand the market trends and to look for new investment opportunities.
The Machine Learning market is forecasted to reach around $8.81 billion in 2022 with a CAGR of 44.1% between 2016 and 2022.
AndPlus and Beyond Analysis are some of the companies that offer enterprise-level ML, AI and data analytics services to fortune 500 companies.
Emerging Technologies with their current stages
3) Virtual reality (VR) and Augmented reality (AR):
Virtual reality, as the name implies, it is a virtually simulated experience where users can interact with an artificial 3-dimensional environment using goggles with screens and gloves with attached sensors. These virtual environments are very similar to the actual three-dimensional environments. So that the users can have the feel of real-world experiences. Whilst, augmented reality replicates the real-world environment by overlaying digital visual elements, sounds and similar real-world factors using technology.
Scope of VR/AR:
Virtual reality plays a vital role in the field of entertainment. It has been widely adopted in gaming and movies. VR is also used for educational purposes and training tools.
Augmented reality can be used in campaigning for products and services or to virtually view/experience tourist locations.
According to Statista, the global VR, AR and MR (mixed reality) market are expected to generate a revenue of around $300 billion by 2024.
4Experience, Cemtrexlabs and Nomtek are some of the major players in the field of virtual and augmented reality.
4) Cloud computing:
The term cloud computing refers to the delivery of services such as storage, databases, servers and applications over the internet. This eliminates the monotonous traditional methods of accessing and storing data. Moreover, cloud computing eradicates the need to rely on a single device to store and access data and information.
Scope of cloud computing:
Lately, enterprises and organizations prefer cloud computing rather than primitive methods as they were very tedious and included a lot of manpower. Cloud computing is also very flexible, cost-effective, increases productivity, efficiency and performance and ensures security.
IDC’s forecast predicts that worldwide spending on cloud computing services and infrastructure will reach up to $500 billion by 2023.
Microsoft Azure, Oracle, Alibaba cloud, Amazon Web Services and Google cloud provide cloud services to individuals and enterprises as well.
5) Edge computing:
With cloud computing taking the mainstream, the quantity of data handled by organizations has exponentially increased. This created some latency in processing the data. Edge computing can act as mini data centers and so it can be used to process time-sensitive data in remote locations with limited or no internet connection.
Scope of edge computing:
By processing the time-sensitive data closer to its source, the amount of data flowing across the network can be minimized. This increases the overall rate of data processing. In the future, edge computing along with AI can be used to provide beneficial insights for businesses.
The overall market of edge computing is expected to generate a revenue of about $10,971.54 million by 2026 with a CAGR of 29.4% between 2020 and 2026.
Mutable, Swim.ai, MobileEdgeX are some of the companies that edge-based applications to users.
6) Quantum computing:
The basic ability of computing systems is to store and manipulate data. These data are processed as 0s and 1s (binary format) by computer these days. Quantum computers rely on quantum bits which are also known as qubits that leverage quantum mechanical phenomena like superposition and quantum entanglement to manipulate the data.
Scope of quantum computing:
Quantum computing is used in applications related to banking and finance to manage credit risk, high-frequency trading and fraud detection.
The processing time of quantum computing is multiple times faster than that of regular computing and provides more computational power.
By the year 2026, the quantum computing market is expected to reach $1,765 million with a CAGR of 30.2% between 2021 and 2026.
Major companies in the field of technology such as Google, Amazon, Honeywell and Microsoft are taking steps towards making ground-breaking innovations in the field of quantum computing.
7) Robotic Process Automation (RPA):
Similar to AI and ML, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) comes under the category of automation. RPA is majorly used to automate day-to-day business processes such as interpreting applications, process transactions, data manipulation and automated email replies.
Scope of RPA:
RPA offers plenty of career opportunities such as a developer, product manager, solution architect, business analyst, etc…
The global RPA market is expected to reach $2,467 million by the year 2022 with a CAGR of 30.14% between 2017 and 2022.
Automation Anywhere, EdgeVerve and Blue Prism are some companies that provide robotic process automation solutions.
8) Internet of Things (IoT):
Internet of Things (IoT) refers to a collection of devices that are connected over the internet to transfer data with one another. These devices include physical hardware such as sensors and actuators. Each device within an IoT network has unique identifiers in the form of IP addresses.
Scope of IoT:
In the future, the number of connected devices is going to increase exponentially. It is found that by 2030 there will be 50 billion connected devices across the globe.
The scope of IoT ranges from tiny wearable devices to smart home appliances. IoT devices can perform highly crucial tasks such as predictive analytics, which can be very useful for businesses in understanding the prevailing market conditions.
The global internet of things (IoT) market is expected to generate revenue of about $1.6 trillion by 2025.
Oxagile, PTC, Cisco and ARM are a few of the top players in the field of IoT that provide IoT-based solutions and products.
9) Blockchain:
Blockchain offers immense security to the data. The distributed ledger technology (DLT) makes it impossible for hackers to penetrate through the network and alter the data. Any transaction that happens over the blockchain network stays over the internet and is traceable. Therefore, in simple terms, blockchain provides data transparency and this makes it highly reliable.
Scope of blockchain:
Blockchain technology can be used to keep track of the supply chain, securely transfer data and maintain sensitive information. Even before blockchain was adopted widely over the field of technology, the financial and banking sectors have been adopting this technology in the form of cryptocurrencies.
The global blockchain technology market is forecasted to reach $39.7 billion by 2025 with a CAGR of 67.3% between 2020 and 2025.
Altoros, Sparkbit and IMB are some of the companies that offer blockchain services to many organizations.
10) 5G:
The latest generation of mobile networks is the 5G network. The previous generations, namely, 3G and 4G enabled easy internet access. Whilst, 5G can potentially connect with all the devices and machines with high bandwidth to provide new user experiences and create new opportunities in the field of technology. Although this technology is still in its conceptual stage, the prototype is being tested across various countries.
Scope of 5G:
5G can enable high-speed data transmission with ultra-low latency. 5G can improve performance and increase network capacity.
According to Statista’s reports, by 2022 5G will become the globally adopted standard for mobile networks.
Companies such as Verizon, Ericsson and Nokia are working towards building 5G applications that can be globally distributed and adopted shortly.
Technology always keeps improvising in so many different ways. These above-mentioned technologies have a promising scope for careers in the future and will have greater positive impacts on our day-to-day life.
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