Areas of It Innovations

Top 12 areas for innovation through 2025

(Nanowerk News) In the first-ever report of its kind, futurists and analysts at the DC-based research and consulting firm Social Technologies released a series of 12 briefs this month that shed light on the top areas for technology innovation through 2025.

“Technologies can advance so rapidly and so randomly that they are virtually impossible to predict,” says Denise Chiavetta, leader of Social Technologies’ Technology Foresight project. “Consumers may feel on occasion that they are the victims of runaway technology changes.”

On the other hand, new products created from new technologies often require as many as 10 years to reach consumers, even in the developed world—let alone the long periods of time required for global market penetration, she adds.

“Experience has shown that future products and services can be anticipated generally if not specifically by knowing the vectors of technology advances, government and corporate priorities, the major thrust areas of R&D, and long-term customer values.”

So earlier this year, Chiavetta and her team of researchers at Social Technologies conducted a virtual focus group of experts in technology, innovation, and business strategy located around the world. The group included experts from the Association of Professional Futurists, Tekes, Duke University, Hasbro, Worldwatch, General Motors, Shell, Johnson Controls, and Oxford University, among others.

Their judgments were then consolidated into a list of top 12 areas for innovation, which follow.

THE TOP 12 AREAS FOR TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION BY 2025

1. Personalized medicine—With the initial mapping of the human genome, scientists are moving rapidly toward the following likely breakthroughs for gene-based products and services:

creation of an individual’s genome map for a retail price of less than $1,000

correlation of specific genes and proteins with specific cancers, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, and diabetes, which will allow both...