Introduction
From the COVID-19 vaccine to digital healthcare, supply chain bottlenecks, and labour shortages, businesses across all industries have turned to technology for solutions. Not only in 2022 but also in 2020 and 2021, did existing tech trends grow. As a result, amid the pandemic, many businesses are adopting new technologies that will continue to have an impact on society and the workplace in the coming years. This article discusses 12 such technological trends that we should all be aware of in the coming year of 2022.
From Lab-grown- meat alternatives to ultrafast deliveries, below are the top 12 tech trends to watch:
1.Lab-grown meat vs meat and plant-based alternatives:
Because of regulatory approvals, lab-grown meat companies that sell laboratory-grown meat using animal-derived cell cultures have been slow to market. According to some estimates, cultured meat could account for one-third of US meat consumption by 2040, outpacing plant-based alternatives. The main advantage is that no animals are killed. And reducing the significant greenhouse gas emissions associated with traditional meat production. Startups such as Eat Just from Singapore, which has been able to sell its “no-kill” chicken under the brand GOOD Meat, Aleph Farms in Israel, SuperMeat, and Future Meat are rising and bringing the culture of lab-grown meat products into the mainstream. As a result, this trend will be unique and will contribute to the growth of the tech industry in 2022.
2.Nuclear Fusion = Clean + Plentiful Energy:
Nuclear fusion, two words that are very popular in the scientific world and have eluded scientists for decades, but a lot of innovative startups are growing and aim to produce energy in the same way that the sun does. This energy they intend to produce will be clean, will combat climate change, and will also support renewables.
Fusion energy is created by joining the nuclei of two atoms to form a new single nucleus.
Fusion is currently a reality; however, the energy required to produce the reaction is greater than the energy generated. Once the reaction generates net positive energy, which is expected in 2022, it will be a game-changer for energy and climate.
3. Virtual Clinical Trials:
Because of the worldwide pandemic, all sectors, particularly healthcare, faced numerous challenges. As a result, to find solutions for those problems, the health sector turned to the digital platform to provide healthcare services to everyone from the comfort of their own homes. In silico techniques, for example, which use computational models to simulate how a drug, medical device, or intervention will affect a virtual population, have the potential to reduce the time and money required to develop a drug. These trials will eventually be combined with traditional in-vivo trials (trials or testing with living subjects such as animals, plants, etc.) to increase speed and success rates. As a result, virtual clinical trials will change the fate of science and technology and will be a tech trend to be aware of in 2022.
4. Metaverse, NFTs and Digital Identities:
Metaverse, Mark Zuckerberg’s first-of-its-kind initiative, created a buzz in the tech world. And it is undeniably the future of technology. The virtual world can also be personalised using Metaverse’s cutting-edge technology. Snapchat and Zepeto, for example, have begun to adopt the same concept of virtual avatars and are becoming increasingly popular among the younger generations.
NFTs, or Non-Fungible Tokens, are non-transferable units of data stored on a blockchain and are a key enabler for digital goods because they provide authenticity.
Famous fashion labels such as Adidas, Gucci, and Balenciaga are collaborating with virtual worlds such as Fortnite and Roblox. As a result, the digital world is unquestionably a 2022 trend.
5.Climate Tech for Climate Change:
For the past few years, climate change has been a top priority. Whether it is businesses or consumers, everyone is doing their part to help with the climate change issue. Companies have begun to set goals and make bold claims, while buyers are opting for more environmentally friendly products to address the issue of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Climate tech – a broad term that encompasses technologies that can aid in the fight against climate change – has investors lining up to invest. This will only get in 2022. Larry Fink, CEO of investment management behemoth BlackRock, certainly believes so. In October 2021, he predicted that climate technology would generate the next 1,000 unicorns. Bold. As a result, everyone should work to make sustainability more transparent and to do so, one should closely monitor the climate change trend.
6.Telehealth and Remote Patient Monitoring:
This lockdown increased the need to monitor one’s health digitally rather than physically visiting a doctor. As a result, there has been a surge in a telehealth or digital health. Big tech, retailers, and telecoms will compete with existing healthcare players for the US$30 billion+ remote patient monitoring (RPM) market – technology that monitors key vitals and metrics.
This technology has the potential to lead to earlier diagnosis and, as a result, better treatments, lower healthcare costs, and decentralised clinical trials. Mayoclinic, a healthcare provider, is very excited about the prospect and has already begun collaborating with RPM startups. As a result, this is one of the most important technologies to keep an eye on in the coming years for better healthcare facilities.
7.The Time of Ultrafast deliveries:
Ecommerce is projected to grow by 15 per cent in 2017, and the speed of delivery is an important factor in consumer preference. In 2005, Amazon made its first big move by promising customers two-day delivery. Two years later, it introduced Amazon Prime and its next-day delivery promise. In the past year, startups promising deliveries in just 10 to 20 minutes have received more than $1 billion in funding from venture capitalists and angel investors. Other examples include the partnership of small convenience stores like 7-Eleven and Walgreens with companies like Uber, Instacart, Doordash, etc to launch quicker deliveries for the consumers.
8.Reducing the risk factor of Supply Chains:
The phrase “supply chain disruption,” which was virtually unheard of before the pandemic, has been largely supplanted by the phrase “global supply chain crisis.” The good news is that technological innovations can mitigate many of the problems organizations are facing with global supply. Key drivers in the evolution of supply chain innovation include digitization (for example, digital freight matching and blockchain-based asset tracking); visibility (for example, demand forecasting and visibility platforms); and automation (for example, robotic solutions used across the supply chain). Delivering a product in just. Days can boost sales to 40% whereas making it happen in one day can boost the sales to as high as 70%. Hence, the opportunity is massive.
9.Cryptocurrencies: The new target of Cyber Criminals:
As cryptocurrencies become more broadly adopted in society, the risk of cyberattacks against the networks will also increase. In August 2021, hackers stole more than US$600 million from the decentralized finance platform Poly Network; a month later, teenagers stole about US$36 million in cryptocurrency from the BitMart exchange. In October 2021, Chinese regulators banned cryptocurrency trading and mining to reduce risk in the market.
10. Boosting Energy and Batteries by Electrification:
Companies, investors, and governments will place big bets on vehicle electrification, leading to a cascade of other changes. Economies of scale resulting from mainstream electrification could drive down the cost and increase the efficiency of battery storage and generation. This would be good news for companies, like automakers Tesla, GM, Volvo, Honda, BMW, that are already pioneering battery technology.
11. Big Tech’s Consumer, Battle of Privacy:
There is a lot of data about all of us available on the Internet. As a result of 20 years of exposure to the Internet, Big Tech companies—like Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Apple—accumulated considerable data. This in turn has led to security issues and consumer privacy concerns, which have triggered waves of consumer privacy regulation (like the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR) over the last few years.
12.BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later): The Credit Card Killer:
As the Covid-19 pandemic drove unprecedented levels of e-commerce in 2021, businesses seeking to profit from the chaos were quick to enter the market. A prime example of this was bought now, pay later (BNPL) businesses. These businesses—which include Afterpay and Klarna—began to experience explosive growth as people desperate for necessities flocked to them for their credit services. By 2025, BNPL should rake in more than US$1tn annually in gross merchandise volume.
Conclusion:
Finally, I would like to conclude and say, Technology is constantly evolving as businesses and industries look for ways to improve existing technologies and invent new ones. We are no longer living in a world where we have to wait for a decade or two for technological change, but rather business organizations are rapidly adopting new technologies. The line between business and technology is blurring, with technology now becoming as much of an enabler as it is an end objective for many companies. So, to achieve the above said, everyone should watch the above discussed 12 tech trends of 2022. This will help businesses to get a leg up on their competitors and hence take advantage of all the benefits they have to offer.
References:
- https://www.cbinsights.com/research/report/top-tech-trends-2022/?utm_source=Healthcare+Insights&utm_campaign=9e60a0dc9a-newsletter_healthcare_02032022_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8f02c12568-9e60a0dc9a-96091542
- https://businesschief.asia/technology/12-tech-trends-to-watch-closely-in-2022-from-cb-insights
- https://www.cbinsights.com/research/report/top-tech-trends-2022/
- https://tittlepress.com/tech/1477182/
- https://certiprosolutions.com/top-12-tech-trends-in-2022-2/
- https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/focus/tech-trends.html
- https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/insights/articles/US164706_Tech-trends-2022/DI_Tech-trends-2022.pdf
