Which emerging technologies have the greatest potential to change the world? The World Economic Forum, which annually brings together 18 experts to answer this question, listed 10 innovations that can change our lives, transform industries and protect the planet.
“In doing so, we seek to draw attention to these technologies and fill in the gaps investment, regulation and public understanding, which are often barriers to progress, “the forum
Next, learn what they are:.
1. Hydrogen cars
The Forum recognizes that these vehicles are a long-standing promise, but says that “only now the technology seems to have reached the point at which automakers plan to incorporate it into releases for consumers” .
Cars for hydrogen have some advantages over current models, powered by gasoline, ethanol, diesel or electricity.
In electric cars, you need to recharge your batteries from the a external power source. Have fuel cells generate electricity directly, using fuels such as hydrogen or natural gas. This energy is stored in batteries
This allows them to travel over long distances, such as vehicles powered by fuel -.. Which does not occur with electric models, which still have limited autonomy
Moreover, the refill compressed hydrogen gas cell takes only about three minutes. Finally, the use of hydrogen as fuel produces no carbon monoxide, as with ordinary cars, but water vapor, which helps to reduce pollution in the air
But there are still two obstacles.: produce cheap hydrogen on a large scale and create an infrastructure to distribute it to the population.
“The hydrogen transport over long distances, even compressed, is still not considered economically viable today,” says forum. “However, storage innovative techniques soon reduce this cost and risks associated with this practice.”
The Forum hopes that in a decade, millions of hydrogen-powered vehicles are in use.
2. Robotics
Another technology that has long is present in the collective imagination, robotics has experienced advances that are allowing finally is no longer confined to factories and other simple tasks.
“Sensors better and cheaper allow robots to be able to understand and respond to the environment around him. His ‘bodies’ are becoming more adaptable and flexible,” said the forum.
“And they are more connected, benefiting from cloud computing to access and process information remotely, rather than having to be fully programmed to autonomously perform a task. “
With this, the robots are taking a variety of tasks such as precise control of pests in crops and harvesting or caring for the elderly and patients, including your physical rehabilitation.
In addition, smaller and more skilled robots are not just performing repetitive tasks in factories in place people, but also collaborating with humans rather than replace them.
“The fear that robots connected to the web can get out of control will become more prominent, but as these machines perform household chores and people become familiar with them, this fear must be alleviated, “said the forum.
3. Plastic ‘thermoset’ recyclable
Unlike thermoplastics, which can be heated and reheated to acquire different shapes and recycling, plastic “thermoset” can only go through this process once.
This gives durability to this type of plastic, making it an important part of today’s world, with its use in mobile phones, computers and aircraft, but also makes it impossible to recycle them.
But in 2014, there have been significant advances in this area, with the discovery of a new category recyclable plastics “thermoset”, using acid to break the chain of polymers that form and re-use in the manufacture of new products, keeping its most useful features, such as stiffness and durability
. “Although no recycling process is 100% efficient, this innovation – is widely used for – can generate a large reduction in discarded waste,” said the forum.
“We hope this new type of plastic ‘thermoset’ replace the old in five years and become ubiquitous in manufactured goods by 2025″.
4. Genetic engineering
Genetic engineering generates a great controversy, but the forum argues that “new techniques allow ‘edit’ the genetic code of plants to make them more nutritious or resilient to climate change.”
Currently, the genetic engineering of crops depends on bacteria to transfer a piece of DNA genome to another, something that has been proven to be as risky (or insurance, according to the view) and perform this transfer by crossing species.
“However, more precise techniques of genetic edition have been developed in recent years,” the forum.
They give the plants a greater pest resistance and insects, reducing the need for pesticide use, and increase the sustainability of crops by reducing the need for water and fertilizer.
“Many of these innovations will be particularly beneficial for small farmers in developing countries. Thus, genetic engineering may become less controversial, as their benefit is recognized to increase income and improve the diet of millions of people. “
5. Additive Manufacturing (3D printing)
Today, the product manufacturing begins with a large piece of a specific material such as wood, metal or rock and requires the removal of layers to achieve the desired shape.
hand, the additive manufacturing – also known as 3D printing. – starts from scratch and apply the material layers until the final form using a digital model as a guide
“manufactured products can thus be highly customized to each user, as opposed to products made with mass manufacturing processes, “explains the forum.
In addition, using human cells as the basic material, this technique allows you to create organic fabrics that can be used in the test drug safety, and transplants.
“A next important stage of additive manufacturing would make this way electronic components such as circuit boards,” the forum.
“This still is a nascent technology, but should expand rapidly in the next decade with the opportunities and innovations that approach the mass market. “
6. Artificial Intelligence
In recent years, artificial intelligence has evolved considerably, with smartphones recognizing the voice of its owner, cars that drive themselves or drones.
Today, this technology is with a machine to recognize an environment around you and react to it.
“But we are taking a step forward with machines able to learn independently assimilate large volumes of information,” says the forum.
“As the new robots, this artificial intelligence source will lead to a significant increase in productivity. Machines with quick access to a huge source of data may respond to situations without making mistakes based on emotions, as in the case of diagnosis of diseases. “
The Forum recognizes that this technology has risks linked to it, as super-machines that might one day supplant humanity.
” Experts take this fear increasingly seriously, but on the other hand, it can become even more evident the importance of essentially human attributes, such as creativity and interpersonal relationships. “
7. Decentralized manufacturing
This type of product manufacturing completely changes the notion that we have today manufacture
Instead of gathering all the necessary materials to make a product in a single -. And huge – location and then distribute it to the public, decentralized manufacturing distributes manufacturing different parts of the product for several sites. And the final product turns out to be mounted very close to where consumers are.
“In practice, this replaces the chain of suppliers of materials for digital information. Instead of a chair in a central factory, smaller factories and locations receive instructions on how to do their parts, which can be assembled by the consumer or workshops own, “explains the forum.
” This lets you use resources more efficiently, with less waste, reducing the impact environmental. It also reduces the barrier to entry for new firms in a market by reducing the amount of money needed to create a prototype and manufacture products. “
The forum argues that this new manufacturing technique will change the labor market and the manufacturing economy, but also poses risks, because it is more difficult to regulate.
“Not everything can be done this way. Production lines will be needed for more important and complex consumer goods.”
8. Intelligent drones
Drones are widely used these days, agriculture, film and other applications that require a broad and cheap air surveillance.
“But so far, they have human pilots who control them from the ground, “explains the forum.
” The next step is to develop machines that fly on their own, allowing a number of new uses. “
For this, the drones need to be able to use sensors to react to the environment around, changing its trajectory and flight height to avoid collisions with other objects in its path.
This will allow these robots take dangerous tasks for humans, such as maintenance of electrical networks. Or perform deliveries of urgent medicines more quickly.
In agriculture, could assist in more accurate use of fertilizers and water to analyze crops from the air.
“With this technology, the drones can fly more closely the human and cities, “the forum.
” But to be widely used, they have to prove capable of flying among the most difficult situations, such as storms Sand and blizzards. When this occurs, they will make us immensely more productive. “
9. Neuromorphic technology
Even today, the most advanced computers can not overcome the sophistication of the human brain.
These machines work in a linear fashion, transferring information between chips and a CPU through a network. Have a brain works in a completely interconnected way, with a density of connections far exceeding that of a computer.
But scientists are already working on creating neumórficos chips that simulate the brain architecture and exponentially increase the capacity a computer to process information and react.
“A limitation of data transfer between a memory and a central processor is that it uses large amounts of energy and generate a lot of heat,” the forum.
“neumórficos Chips are more efficient in this aspect and more powerful, functioning as a network of neurons.”
The Forum believes that this technology, prototype stage at companies like IBM, is the next step in high-end computing and create a more agile and powerful data processing, paving the way for machines to learn on their own.
“Computers will be able to anticipate and learn, rather than just react according to the way they were programmed. “
10. Digital genome
The first sequencing of the human genome took many years and consumed tens of millions of dollars, but today it can be done in minutes for a few hundred dollars.
“This ability to unlock our individual genetic promises to lead to a revolution, with more personalized and effective health services,” argues the forum.
This is because many of the ills we face stem from a genetic component. With this DNA scan, a doctor could, for example, to treat a according to the genetic makeup of the tumor cancer.
The Forum points out, however, that, like all personal information will be protected the genome of a person for privacy reasons.
“But the benefits will probably exceed the risks.”
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