12 Disruptive Technology Trends: Actionable Discoveries Over Last 12 Months
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There is growing ah-ha moment and disruption now seen on new technology trends over past 12 months. Early stage and feature startups are disrupting technologies that bring more value to the industry. More to see on business disruption and controversy in the coming days. For the early stage investors and VCs, following are the current innovation; disruption and emerging tech to further look at them.
1) Human Augmentation
Innovative new technologies are restoring and enhancing human sensory and motor functions like never before.
Entrepreneurs and private investors are innovating with low cost materials, sensors, and computation, to quickly replace the clumsy solutions of the past.
What will the glasses, hearing aids, prosthetic, and wheelchairs of today look like in the near future? How will new ventures and entrepreneurs change the meaning of “disability”?
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2) Microbiome
Advances in DNA sequencing and big data allow us to analyze bacteria like never before. Companies that focus on the microbiome could transform multi-billion dollar concerns like weight loss ($60B), probiotics ($30B), cosmetics, dental health, and even chronic diseases like diabetes. Will microbiome analysis change modern medicine? How are entrepreneurs involved? Is the money in sequencing, analytics, or drug development?
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3) FinTech
Finance is no longer a game restricted to the professionals.
Today’s lean, data-driven startups are moving financial services from Wall Street to Main Street. Using artificial intelligence and scalable web platforms, they are leveraging operational efficiencies to drive new business models.
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Level Money, acquired by Capital One
4) Affective Computing
Affective Computing — technology that knows how you feel, can now read human emotion in real time. By combining sensor technology, big data and machine intelligence, Emotion Analytics engines will engage consumers more effectively, propelling a new Emotion Economy.
This controversial development will affect all areas of industry from advertising and market research to consumer products. Companies using Affective Computing will create a whole new level of brand and product experiences for users, disrupting the $32B Consumer Market Research industry.
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5) AgTech
With Precision Agriculture, farmers can collect timely data about their crops at the plant level to optimize how they cultivate each plant and possibly affect each fruit. Data-driven precision is replacing massive mechanization. Startups with advanced automation and control components, farm management software, remote sensing and monitoring, robots and drones, offer solutions that improve efficiency and increase yields, while making better use of land resources.
A $3 trillion industry, Agriculture was until recently largely ignored by venture capitalists. Now Khosla, Kleiner Perkins and others are aggressively targeting the agricultural value chain.
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6) Drone Swarms
Imagine ubiquitous, intelligent robots collectively performing complex tasks. By combining intricate algorithms, defined rules, and continuous sensor data, swarm behavior can emerge. Entrepreneurs are using this collaborative intelligence to develop applications for drone swarms in the air, on land, and
Startups are developing applications for shipping, security, search and rescue, environmental monitoring, and agriculture to name a few. Industry experts predict the creation of more than 100,000 new jobs in the U.S. alone. With the market potential estimated at over $82 billion for airborne drones, venture capitalists and corporations are flocking to invest.
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7) Cyber Security
Cyber security market is hot now especially threats have moved to cloud and Internet. Mobility has become crucial in running business.
Infrastructure, cloud and mobility security are the emerging opportunity now startups are trying solve the industry problems.
VCs money still flowing to startup coffers in 2016, expectations continue to grow for a blossoming crop of security startups
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8) Mobile Deep Linking
Many of us have experienced mobile deep linking, the ability to link to a specific page inside an app, without even realizing it. Google Maps, Uber, AirBnB, and Yelp redirect users to other apps that provide information like maps, reservations, and events that may be interesting. Deep linking provides the ability to deliver the exact information users need across apps with a single tap on the screen while marketers can gain valuable insights about the customer journey. Startups are innovating, using this technology for more effective mobile marketing and greater ROI.
While only 28 percent of the top 200 apps are currently using deep linking, the potential for growth is enormous. The app market’s worth is expected to reach $7.7 billion by 2017. Mobile deep linking will enable companies to be more effective by providing new marketplaces, contextual information, and valuable analytics to drive business.
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9) Smart Building/IoT
Silicon Valley is driving how corporations operate and manage their commercial real estate more effectively using automation to make buildings smarter. As companies like Google, Apple, Facebook, and LinkedIn expand their campuses, and small companies continue to grow, their need to accommodate employees increases. Smart Building technology using the Internet of Things and data analytics is allowing these companies to design and operate intelligent work environments that allow occupants as well as property managers to work more efficiently and minimize operation costs.
Innovators in corporate real estate and building automation are working alongside Silicon Valley’s entrepreneurs vying for a position in a market that is expected to grow by $200B by 2020.
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Daintree Networks | Luxul Technology Inc | Amp Technologies | Paqet Systems | Cold Machines | Telesense
10) BlockChain
Blockchain technology, extremely secure distributed ledgers, will soon displace legacy databases and their bloated infrastructure in dozens of industries from Wall Street to supply chain management. Secure, running records of verified transactions get chained together and replicated in nodes across blockchain networks. Blockchains will speed up the global economy by allowing companies to complete global transactions faster across borders while guaranteeing data integrity.
Physical, legal, and financial transactions are tied together in a Blockchain, a series of transactions recorded in a distributed ledger without the need for a centralized authority. The economic impact is enormous; Blockchains will account for trillions of dollars in transactions across key industries including healthcare, insurance, real estate, government, banking, and financial markets by 2020.
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Hedgy | Tendermint | Blockseer | ManifoldTechnology | Ledger | BitSE
11) Rewriting DNA
Imagine cutting and pasting genes in DNA, just like editing words in a document on a computer. CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology does just that, making it possible to replace genetic material with a simpler, cheaper, more precise method than ever before. Dubbed “the biggest biotech discovery of the century” supporters of CRISPR call out benefits such as potential cures for diseases like cancer, malaria, and cystic fibrosis; increased crop yields; and correcting genetic defects. Opponents raise ethical concerns citing the law of unintended consequences, designer babies, and interspecies organ transplants.
With the market for gene editing expected to reach $3.5 billion by 2019, the stakes for companies, scientists, and entrepreneurs are high with battles already being waged over patents.
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12) Human Longevity
Venture capitalists are betting on success; putting big money on the table to fund longevity startups. Google/Alphabet and drugmaker AbbVie have invested $1.5 billion on Calico, while Human Longevity Inc. recently raised $220 million from their Series B funding round. Complementing traditional venture investment, VCs like Peter Thiel and Joon Yun have established foundations and prizes to accelerate the end of aging.
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100 Plus: How the Coming Age of Longevity Will Change Everything…
Buck Institute for Research on Aging
Source: VLAB | Hira Dangol, Executive at VLAB ( MIT-Stanford Venture Lab)
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