Combining social media, online gaming, AR, and crypto, the metaverse will be arriving in 2022 fully prepared to take over. The promises that have been made are huge and we suspect that the metaverse will live up to the hype. It could encompass social gatherings (safely, virtually, and much cooler than Zoom happy hours), productivity, and entertainment.
The metaverse will mean an increased need for AR/VR products such as glasses, gloves, and crypto. We also expect to see organizations that develop productivity and connection tools (Zoom, Slack), health, and education technology, and on-demand consumption such as Amazon, get in on the metaverse in a big way.
What do you think? Will your morning stand-up be more fun in the Metaverse?
2021 was a great year for biotech with a focus on mRNA vaccine technology. We saw what funding and focus can do for this sector. Looking forward though, we can expect their momentum to continue. We think 2022 will bring more AI tools to the biotech space, along with more applications for robotics as well. Cloud services could see a boost too, as using them may increase test result speed and make it easier to collect and store genetic information.
We also suspect that personalized medicine will keep growing through advancements in genetic technology.
In 2021, NFT’s were just beginning to make their way into most people’s daily vernacular. In 2022 though, expect to see them everywhere. NFT’s will fully become a part of our world this year, infiltrating movies, books, TV, and social media. NFT’s will move beyond art and into a more tangible space within gaming economies, metaverse, events, and even digital real estate.
NFT’s are still in their infancy, so the sky is the limit for what we will be able to do with them.
Blockchain has already made huge strides in recent years, disrupting gaming, governance, and finance. According to the International Data Corporation, companies spent roughly $6.6 billion on blockchain solutions last year. It is projected that this number will increase to $15 billion by 2024.
Between NFT’s and metaverse, blockchain technology will only continue to rise, and we can expect to see it infiltrate even more areas of our daily lives.
With your genetic information stored in the cloud and your money moving into crypto, it’s only natural that there would be an increased need for security and privacy. We believe that AI will be more commonly used in fostering cybersecurity in 2022. Using AI to spot risks and learn the behaviors of cybercriminals will not only be easier and cheaper but also more effective.
Expect to see the use of robotics increase across all fields in 2022. We expect that the most prevalent changes will come within healthcare, agriculture, automotive, warehousing, and supply-chain industries. We saw the need for more efficient supply chains in 2021, now is the time to use robotics and automation to fix it.
Would you like an encouraging statistic about climate change? In 2021, the International Energy Agency reported that 40% more green energy was generated and used than ever before. The agency expects to see this continued growth in 2022.
As the price of generating green energy continues to fall, mass adoption becomes more likely. Solar and wind technologies are set to see growth in production and use this year. Newer technology such as nuclear fusion, biofuel, and liquid hydrogen will take longer to be integrated into the mainstream. We look forward to some serious advancements this year.
Over the past few years, smart home products have aimed to make life easier. Now, almost anything can be scheduled and personalized using this technology. We use smart doorbells to ensure our safety, smart vacuums to keep our spaces clean, smart TVs to keep us entertained, and we use voice technology to ask our devices conversions while we cook or to find out what the weather is in the morning. This will only increase in 2022.
What we do expect to change is compatibility between devices of different brands. We expect to see more collaboration between the giants of home devices (Amazon, Google, Apple) as they figure out ways to create a more seamless smart home experience.
