EDITOR’S COMMENT
passed the peak) are poised to create the
most transformative and dramatic impacts
in the next five to 10 years.
These megatrends illustrate that the
more organisations are able to make
technology an integral part of employees’,
partners’ and customers’ experiences,
the more they will be able to connect
their ecosystems to platforms in new and
dynamic ways.
and diagnostic deliverables that guide
investment decisions.
AI everywhere
Artificial intelligence technologies will be
the most disruptive class of technologies
over the next 10 years due to radical
computational power, near-endless
amounts of data and unprecedented
advances in deep neural networks;
these will enable organisations with
AI technologies to harness data in
order to adapt to new situations and
solve problems that no one has ever
encountered previously.
Enterprises that are seeking leverage in
this theme should consider the following
technologies: Deep Learning, Deep
Reinforcement Learning, Artificial General
Intelligence, Autonomous Vehicles,
Cognitive Computing, Commercial UAVs
(Drones), Conversational User Interfaces,
Enterprise Taxonomy and Ontology
Management, Machine Learning, Smart
Dust, Smart Robots and Smart Workspace.
Transparently immersive
experiences
Technology will continue to become more
human-centric to the point where it will
introduce transparency between people,
businesses and things. This relationship
will become much more entwined as the
evolution of technology becomes more
adaptive, contextual and fluid within the
workplace, at home, and in interacting
with businesses and other people.
Critical technologies to be considered
include: 4D Printing, Augmented
Reality (AR), Computer-Brain Interface,
Connected Home, Human Augmentation,
Nanotube Electronics, Virtual Reality (VR)
and Volumetric Displays.
Digital platforms
Emerging technologies require
revolutionising the enabling foundations
that provide the volume of data needed,
advanced compute power and ubiquity-
enabling ecosystems. The shift from
compartmentalised technical infrastructure
to ecosystem-enabling platforms is laying
the foundations for entirely new business
Mike J Walker, Research Director at Gartner.
models that are forming the bridge
between humans and technology.
Key platform-enabling technologies
to track include: 5G, Digital Twin, Edge
Computing, Blockchain, IoT Platform,
Neuromorphic Hardware, Quantum
Computing, Serverless PaaS and Software-
Defined Security.
When we view these themes together,
we can see how the human-centric
enabling technologies within transparently
immersive experiences — such as smart
workspace, connected homes, augmented
reality, virtual reality and the growing
brain-computer interface — are becoming
the edge technologies that are pulling the
other trends along the Hype Cycle.
‘AI Everywhere’ emerging technologies
are moving rapidly through the Hype
Cycle. Technologies such as deep learning,
autonomous learning and cognitive
computing are just crossing the peak,
which shows that they are key enablers of
technologies that create transparent and
immersive experiences.
Finally, digital platforms are rapidly
moving up the Hype Cycle, illustrating
the new IT realities that are possible by
providing the underlining platforms that
will fuel the future. Technologies such
as Quantum Computing (climbing the
Innovation Trigger) and Blockchain (having
Artificial
intelligence (AI)
everywhere,
transparently
immersive
experiences and
digital platforms
are the trends
that will provide
unrivalled
intelligence,
create
profoundly new
experiences and
offer platforms
that allow
organisations
to connect with
new business
ecosystems.
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