THEY REDEFINE YOUR LIFE: The phone, electricity, internal combustion engines and airplanes defined life in the 20th century. Now, the search is on for the next “disruptive”, game-changing innovations. Nations, institutions and corporations pour through areas such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI), biotech and high-end manufacturing to unlock potential breakthroughs, which will redefine our time in the 21st century. Disruption is more of a process — instead of a one-shot deal — i.e. the doubling of computing power every 18 months, a process at work over the last 50 years. Following are key technologies and innovations shaking up the world as we know it:
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SMARTPHONES: The smartphone you’re holding right now is 1 million times more powerful than the computer (4kb RAM) used in the Apollo 11 mission to send the first man on the Moon in 1969. The first commercial GPS receiver in 1981 weighed 24kg and cost $119,900. Today, a single chip, smaller-than-fingernail GPS receiver cost less than $5 each. It’s on most smartphones (which allows the food delivery guy to find you more easily). Computer chips continue to shrink, increase in power and become more ubiquitous, alongside the apps that support these functions. It doesn’t stop there. By 2030, it’s not hard to image that smartphones could have holographic display which could render 3D images, that can be hooked up to a 3D printer, or perhaps project visuals that could “float" above the device, viewable from any angle, no need for 3D glasses.
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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: When you use a digital map to get from point A to B, you use AI. Companies use machine-learning algorithms in retail and on social media. Other examples: ‘bots’ that help you attend to customers queries, work in assembly lines even on holidays, or send drones back to you with a “home” button push. AI helps marketers target customer with campaigns that drive their brand, and guides scientists to predict viral outbreaks.
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TELEHEALTH: Healthcare innovations also work as ECG watch, feeding a health database and allowing healthcare professionals to keep tabs of patients’ health. All these lead to higher quality, more convenient, and lower cost healthcare system. Tele-health has become more widespread as the pandemic weighed down hospitals. The latest health apps are changing the mode in which care can be delivered more effectively.
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GENOMIC SEQUENCING: The method used to determine the entire genetic makeup of a specific organism or cell type is changing medicine. The first genome sequence in 2003 cost $2.3 billion. In 2015, the cost went down to about $4,000. That figure had fallen below $1,500 in the late 2010s. It won’t be long before it goes down to $100-$300. The sequence of DNA reveals lots of genetic information, helping identify genes that code for proteins, regulatory instructions that can instruct genes to turn on or off, as well as mutations that can cause disease or lead to adverse drug outcomes.
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5G TECHNOLOGY: It’s something most of us are already familiar with. 5G is the future today. The fifth-generation mobile phone service is disrupting the world of gaming, by ushering video and audio in high definition. Today’s power unleashed by 5G include clearer voice calls, accessible video support and greater bandwidth — thereby enabling AI/automation/virtual reality like nothing ever did before.
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3D PRINTING: Besides moulds and tooling, which helps in mass production and mass customisation, 3D printing is a boon for education, prosthetics and art and jewellery. 3D printing has developed significantly and can now perform crucial roles in many applications, including construction, automotive and medicine, seen to a $21 billion industry by 2030.
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ARTIFICIAL REALITY | VIRTUAL REALITY: Virtual reality and augmented reality devices are becoming more powerful, miniaturised. Using a VR space to deal with customers or co-workers seems is now a reality, offering richer interaction. This AR | VR experience opens up a new industry, and revenue stream for innovators from people and industries that need them — from being a sales tool (that entices customers to experience it for real).
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HYPER-AUTOMATION | ROBOTICS: Robots take on repetitive and dull tasks, streamlining the assembly workflow. Combining AI, machine learning with manufacturing helps ramp up standardised production of durable products. As a result, production can be automated, including the ones with increasing complexity. Robots can also collaborate with humans to produce increasingly complex things. One future application: wall-crawling robots that could help solve infrastructure problems.
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UNSUPERVISED MACHINE LEARNING (UML): Unsupervised machine learning promises to disrupt how humans leverage data for predictions and intelligence. It therefore eliminates the limitations of pre-existing knowledge or human bias — deemed increasingly useful for developing self-driving vehicles or enabling insights never before possible. This could also help scientists track the spread of a virus, how it mutates, and how those changes may affect public health.
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REUSABLE ROCKETS | INTERPLANETARY TRAVEL: Man is ready for more than a “Moon shot”, thanks to reusable rockets. The convergence of reusable, powerful rockets (the Falcon 9 booster can be re-flown up to 100 times), and the use of AI for guidance are drastically cutting the costs of launch, in turn, lowering the barrier of access to space. As a result, launch costs to the International Stations have been reduced by a factor of 4 over the last 20 years, according to Nasa estimates. Reusable rockets have cut the cost of satellite launches, and in turn, terrestrial communications.
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