10 money-making new technologies you need to see
The future’s so bright, you’ve got to wear, well, wearables.
Google Glass and other computers attached to your body are just one of the 10 societal shocks highlighted in a new report from the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Emerging Technologies. The Council’s list for 2014 focuses on breakthroughs in science, medicine, energy, manufacturing, transportation and electronics, and outlines how these developments will shape — and reshape — our lives.
“For these gains to be realized, we need the right regulatory frameworks, strategic alliances among innovators and market leaders, investment capital, as well as greater public awareness,” U.S. venture capitalist Noubar Afeyan, the Council’s chairman, said in the report.
Any intrepid investors who are unafraid to get ahead of the curve — even when it throws you one — take note.
— By Jonathan Burton
1. Mind-controlled computers
I know what you are thinking — because our brains are linked to a communal computer.
Such “mind meld” technology isn’t the science-fiction it seems, the World Economic Forum report explains. So-called brain-computer interfaces allow computers to receive directions from thoughts alone via wearable sensors — a technology that could revolutionize health care and the medical device industry. Direct brain implants — another neuroscience advancement —have restored partial sight in people who have none. Before long, the report suggests, it will be common for disabled people to control a wheelchair or a robotic prosthetic with their brain waves alone.
2. Super-lightweight cars
Stricter federal emissions and gas-mileage standards, coupled with drivers’ desire to spend less on fuel, have spurred manufacturers to produce more environmentally friendly vehicles. Much of the focus is on more fuel-efficient engines, but manufacturers are also weight-conscious: lighter vehicles use less fuel.
Manufacturers are looking to carbon fiber as a solution. Light enough to boost fuel economy significantly and strong enough to protect passengers, carbon fiber is viewed by some observers, including the authors of the World Economic Forum report, as the future of global vehicle production.
The prime example at the moment is BMW’s DE:BMW +0.61% new i3 electric car (pictured at left), which is the first mass-produced automobile with mostly carbon-fiber content. The drawback to carbon fiber is cost — 10 times or more that of steel — but growing demand for carbon fiber will continue to bring down its price. BMW is making a big bet on the composite, and this could pave the road for other manufacturers.
3. Smarter drugs
Conventional drug therapies have limitations. To break through, the medical industry is devoting time and money to cellular biology and developing treatments that effectively shut down genes tied to life-threatening diseases and genetic disorders.
A key to unlocking this pathway involves ribonucleic acid, or RNA, a molecule that plays a crucial role in regulating cellular function. RNA-based drugs have the potential to prevent diseases from spreading through a body, or an entire population. Importantly, RNA therapies do not permanently alter a cell’s structure, unlike DNA-changing treatments, so they can be administered as necessary.
“We expect this field of health care to increasingly challenge conventional pharmaceuticals in forging new treatments for difficult diseases,” the World Economic Forum report authors conclude.
4. Clean-energy storage
Managing electric power grids is relatively straightforward. Power stations deliver electricity to match demand. But renewable energy and nuclear power is less predictable, spurring researchers to work on developing a “clean-energy” grid that can store surplus power and distribute it as needed.
The quest for this “holy grail” for clean energy, as the World Economic Forum report calls it, is encouraging new ideas and technologies for solar, wind and other power sources. Among them: storage batteries, underground storage and chemical processes using water.
“It is too early to pick a winner,” the report notes. “But it appears that the pace of technological development in this field is moving more rapidly than ever.”
5. Miniature wearable devices
If you haven’t seen Google Glass by now, you haven’t been looking. Google’s GOOG -0.17% controversial wearable computer has created excitement and resentment, depending on your view. But Google Glass isn’t the only lens for people to assess themselves and their world. Wearable monitors for exercise, sleep patterns, heart rate and other bodily actions are also gaining popularity.
Still, many people are concerned that camera-equipped devices like Google Glass are an invasion of privacy. The next generation of wearables aims to mollify critics by adapting to the body in unobtrusive ways, the World Economic Forum report authors note. For instance: earbuds that track your heart rate; sensors worn under clothes to correct posture, and even a temporary tattoo that monitors vital signs. The report cites projections for hundreds of millions of wearable devices in use within two years, if privacy issues can be managed.
6. Metals from the ocean
Water is abundant, but drinking water is not. Climate change that contributes to more frequent and severe drought conditions will only exacerbate the freshwater crisis as the world’s population grows.
Seawater has long been an answer to the freshwater scarcity problem, but desalination is expensive and energy-consuming, and so not widely used. Moreover, desalination produces a brine that contaminates marine life when this byproduct is pumped back into the ocean.
But the desalination brine is rich in rare-earth elements and natural materials including lithium, magnesium and uranium, which are integral to producing the powerful batteries and industrial metals that manufacturers increasingly demand. Accordingly, the World Economic Forum report sees companies pursuing ways to extract value from desalination brine. This would make desalination more competitive and cost-effective, and ease pressure on the planet’s freshwater supply.
7. Supercharged super-batteries
Lithium-ion batteries power mobile phones, laptop computers, electric cars and other modern fixtures. But as any user of these technologies can attest, battery life can be frustratingly short.
Researchers now are testing silicon to replace the graphite currently used in lithium-ion batteries. Silicon can transmit more power but doesn’t interact well with lithium. Experiments using a coating of silicon nanoparticles — a form of nanotechnology — rather than solid silicon appear to solve this problem, leading to more powerful, faster-charging, and longer-lasting batteries.
Expect silicon-based lithium batteries in smartphones within two years, the World Economic Forum report predicts. Silicon batteries will also move transportation forward: “This next generation of batteries could help transform the electric car market,” the report notes. Indeed, electric-car maker Tesla TSLA -0.38% plans to build a giant lithium-ion battery 'gigafactory' to address this challenge.
8. 3D screenless displays
Smaller is not necessarily better for everyday technological devices. For example, smartphones are convenient, pocket-sized computers, but their screens are Lilliputian as well.
In response, researchers are working on ways to project full-sized, 3D images onto surfaces that users can interact with, without regard to screen size. Developers are also experimenting with displays that are projected directly onto a person’s retina.
According to the World Economic Forum report, screenless display technology “appears set for imminent breakthroughs of scalable deployment,” with increasing use of virtual reality headsets, bionic contact lenses and hologram-like videos.
9. Self-healing bodies
Our bodies are not just ourselves, but are also a host for primitive, microscopic organisms called microbes that are essential for human life. In fact, the human body has more microbial cells than human cells.
Studies of the human microbiome, or ecosystem, highlight microbes’ impact on health and well-being. Without bacteria in the gut — gut flora — for example, humans couldn’t digest food or absorb nutrients. It’s thought that poor microbial balance factors in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, obesity, depression, infections and other health problems.
Researchers are applying this understanding of the body’s natural ecosystem to medicine. The gut microbiome especially is seen as a rich source of treatments to combat obesity and other metabolic diseases.
The World Economic Forum report notes: “Advances in human microbiome technologies clearly represent an unprecedented way to develop new treatments for serious diseases and to improve general health care.”
10. Computers that see the future
Your smartphone knows more about you than you do. As an appendage of your life, this mini-computer records your interests, patterns and preferences. Your car, too, registers your driving habits.
This data can be crunched, analyzed and examined to help you be more of who you want to be — or to keep you from becoming something you don’t want. In an optimal scenario, personal data can be fed into predictive computerized models designed to improve your health care or to reduce your commute time. In a less-altruistic vein, data-gathering raises concerns about privacy breaches and other manipulations.
But there’s no turning back, the World Economic Forum report contends:”With today’s Internet of Things, the movement has begun to come into its own and have a wider impact.”