Top 17 Tech Trends For 2017
Horizontal Realization
The digital revolution is breaking down silos. Cross-pollination between functional roles, products, and industries will hit its stride in 2017. We will see this phenomenon amplified in the automotive space with greater collaboration between tier-one auto manufacturers, automation software developers, and peer-to-peer providers, among a number of other industry players.
The Mainstreaming of Augmented Reality for B2B
2016 ushered in the mainstreaming of augmented reality, epitomized by the runaway success of Pokémon GO. This year, we expect to see that success translate into the mainstreaming of augmented reality for business-to-business applications. Businesses will increasingly take advantage of off-the-shelf products, improvements in industrial accuracy capabilities, and the learnings of early adopting industries. Expect to see the largest scale adoption in organizations with skilled workforces.
IoT Pivots to Sentient Tools
As IoT goes mainstream, companies will turn their focus to sentient tools. Sentient tools are aware of their context, environment, and social interactions. As technologies such as cloud-based AI, collaborative robots, and ever-more sophisticated machine-learning algorithms begin to converge, we will start to see the emergence of these capabilities in smart cars, homes, and manufacturing.
Cognitive is the New Smart
What was once “smart” is now “cognitive.” We are witnessing relatively simple smart devices such as meters, lighting, or machines evolve with artificial intelligence enhancements that provide more sensory, context-aware, and complex capabilities. Cognitive technology is driving this evolution with self-learning abilities modeled on the human brain. Savvy organizations will embed cognitive capabilities into their products and solutions in 2017.
China Becomes a Hyper-robotic Society
China has already positioned itself as the biggest robotic market on the globe, despite lagging far behind industrialized peers in robotic density. With significant gains expected in human-to-robot ratios next year, China may begin to exert its potential as “untouchable” in robotics.
See the full story here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/sarwantsingh/2016/12/05/top-17-trends-for-2017/#28f77bcf5656