• High-speed Internet and ubiquitous
connectivity of up to 300 Mbps
powered by 5G bring ultra-fast access
to information from across the world.
• Mobile phones that bring amazing
computing power at very low costs in
the hands of every human being.
• Social networking sites that provide
collaboration and communication
platforms
to
connect
people,
communicate and enable action.
• Robotics and drones that can completely
automate personal transport and
logistics.
• Nanotechnology, which among others,
can be used in water purification and
environmental clean-up applications.
• IoT and sensors which provide real-time
data, and hence a provision of control
to machines as diverse as airplanes,
electric utility meters, personal blood
sugar monitors, etc.
• 3D printing, especially 3D bioprinters,
that can print human organs,
• Augmented reality and virtual reality
that can revolutionize diverse fields like
education and field service,
• Blockchain that has the potential to
speed up back office settlement systems
in banks and improve efficiency, integrity
and trust many fold.
• Renewable energy that is environmentally
friendly and smart grids that help to
judicially use and conserve power by
matching supply and demand on a real
time basis.
• Biology and gene editing that can
potentially provide treatment and cure
to diseases like AIDS and cancer.
• Recently, there have been press reports
about us achieving a “quantum
supremacy”
breakthrough,
where
a quantum computer solves a
problem in seconds which a powerful
supercomputer will take 10,000 years
to solve.
• Last but not the least, AI (artificial
intelligence) is becoming one of the
most important technologies of all time.
The march of information technologies in
the past few decades have meant IT platform
companies like Microsoft, Amazon, Apple,
Alphabet (parent company of Google) and
Facebook are companies with the largest
market capitalization in the world today.
They were all start-ups in the not too distant
past; the oldest being Microsoft which was
founded in 1981. It is interesting to note that
none of the companies existed fifty years
back. Of these companies, only Microsoft
existed twenty-five years back. Facebook, the
youngest was founded in 2004.
All these companies have one common
thread.
They
leveraged
technology
innovations that were emerging when they
were founded and disrupted existing business
models. The classic example is Amazon that
leveraged e-commerce related technologies,
including the growth of Internet access, web
technologies and secure online payments to
disrupt the prevailing retail business model.
These companies have become so powerful
that different countries are considering
regulations to control their powers.
The next wave of start-ups is continuing to
disrupt traditional industries and is navigating
a new path. Uber is at the convergence of
mobile technology, including mobile payments
and the transportation sector. Airbnb is at the
convergence of internet technologies and
hospitality. Paytm is at the convergence of
mobile technology and payments/banking.
In fact, not so long ago, Indian start-ups
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