world technology network (new york city)

Michell Zappa@mz

About a year ago I found myself questioning my professional outlook. I’m a designer by trade, but fascinated with technology and our relation to it. But I realized that my day job would never influence or even explain how technology would unravel in the future. So I decided to start making sense of all ingenious innovation taking place.

envisioningtechnology

My work is called Envisioning Technology, and today I’ll be telling you a little bit about my process and methodology.

The first step was ingesting and starting to organize all books, blogs and articles I’ve been reading over the years.

But it helps to speculate if you’re a Sci-Fi geek.

A crucial starting point was Wikipedia’s list of emerging technologies, which gives an excellent overview of research in dozens of areas.

But the list is too comprehensive and not very readable.

I’m a sucker for maps of all sorts.

So, what do you do with information and maps?

Metamaterials

3D printing

Synthetic lifeWetware

PGS

Personalizedmedicine

Energyharvesting

Biofuels

Smartgrids

Local powerproduction

Wirelessenergy

Spacetourism

Smarttoys

Smartvehicles

Smartwarfare

Exoskeletons

Biomarkers

Sensors

Ubicomp

NFC

Tabs/pads

Machinetranslation

Strong AI

NUIs

Biofeedback

Agents

AR

3D

The first step was to list the most interesting and relevant emerging technologies.

Metamaterials

3D printing

Synthetic life

Wetware

PGS


Energyharvesting

Biofuels Smartgrids

Local powerproduction

WirelessenergySpace

tourism

Smarttoys

Smartvehicles

Smartwarfare

Exoskeletons

Biomarkers

Trackers

Sensors

Ubicomp

NFC

Tabs/padsMachine

translation

Strong AI

NUIs

Biofeedback

AgentsAR

3D

Then, to group them around areas of similarity.

2011 – 20152015 – 20252025 + now

Inductivechargers

Solar

Nuclear

Kinetic

Travelingwave reactor

Thoriumreactors

Fuel cells

Multi-segmentedsmart grids

Biomechanicalharvesting

Smartmeters

Solarthermal

Superconductinginterties

Bio-enhancedfuels

Ultra-capacitors

Nanostructurebattery cathodes

Artificialphotosynthesis

Piezo-electricity

Photvoltaicglass

PV atgrid parity

Nano-generators

ENERGY

Privatespaceflight

Spacetourism

Sub-orbitalspaceflight

Spaceelevator

Lunaroutpost

VASIMR

Tethers

SPACEAll mediaon demand

Gamificationof media

MEDIA

Proceduralstorytelling

Location-awaremedia

Smarttoys

Appliancerobots

Self-drivingvehicles

Exoskeletons

Swarmrobotics

Utilityfog

Domesticrobots

UAVs

ROBOTICS

Speechrecognition

Haptics

Holography

AR

Gesturerecognition

Multitouch

Machinevision

Telepresence

NUI(SOFTWARE)

Immersive 3Dprojections

Fabric-embeddedscreens

Pico-projectors

Smart clothing

Skin-embeddedscreens

Electronicpaper

SPIMES

Tabs &Pads

Boards

Retinalscreens

3D

UBICOMP(HARDWARE)

Wetware(biofeedback) Reversal of

agingOptogenetics

Stem-cell treatments

Regenerativemedicine

Syntheticmeat

Verticalagriculture

PGS


Artificial limbs

Tele-medicine

BIOTECH

Bio-markers

High-frequencytrading Software

agents

Machinetranslation

Medicaldiagnostics

IntelligenceAmplification

ARTIFICIALINTELLIGENCE

Natural languageinterpretation

NFC

Socialgraph

Linkeddata

Semanticweb

4G

5G

Sensors

Smartinfrastructure

Smartcities

Cloudcomputing

Pervasivevideo

PAN

Interplanetaryinternet

Virtualcurrencies

Cyber-warfare

INTERNET(CONNECTIVITY)

HAPs

Virtualproperty

Programmable matter

Cermets

Memristor

Nanowires

Carbonnanotubes

Molecularassembler

Meta-materials

Print ondemand

3Dprinting

Bio-materialsMATERIALS

Self-healingmaterials

Then, I added a degree of prediction of when each individual tech is likely to become mainstream.

2011 – 20152015 – 2025 now

Inductivechargers

Solar

Nuclear

Kinetic


Thoriumreactors

Fuel cells



Smartmeters

Solarthermal


Bio-enhancedfuels

Ultra-capacitors



Piezo-electricity

Photvoltaicglass

PV atgrid parity

Nano-generators

ENERGY

Privatespaceflight

Spacetourism


Spaceelevator

Lunaroutpost

VASIMR

Tethers



MEDIA


Location-awaremedia

Smarttoys

Appliancerobots


Exoskeletons

Swarmrobotics

Utilityfog

Domesticrobots

UAVs

ROBOTICS

Speechrecognition

Haptics

Holography

AR

Gesturerecognition

Multitouch

Machinevision

Telepresence

NUI(SOFTWARE)



Pico-projectors

Smart clothing


Electronicpaper

SPIMES

Tabs &Pads

Boards

Retinalscreens

3D

UBICOMP(HARDWARE)


agingOptogenetics



Syntheticmeat

Verticalagriculture

PGS


Artificial limbs

Tele-medicine

BIOTECH

Bio-markers

High-frequencytrading Software

agents

Machinetranslation

Medicaldiagnostics




NFC

Socialgraph

Linkeddata

Semanticweb

4G

5G

Sensors

Smartinfrastructure

Smartcities

Cloudcomputing

Pervasivevideo

PAN


Virtualcurrencies

Cyber-warfare


HAPs

Virtualproperty

Programmable matter

Cermets

Memristor

Nanowires

Carbonnanotubes

Molecularassembler

Meta-materials

Print ondemand

3Dprinting



The distance from the center indicates how far into the future the technology might take place.

now

Inductivechargers

Solar

Nuclear

Kinetic


Thoriumreactors

Fuel cells



Smartmeters

Solarthermal


Bio-enhancedfuelsUltra-

capacitors



Piezo-electricity

Photvoltaicglass

PV atgrid parity

Nano-generators

ENERGY

Privatespaceflight Space

tourismSub-orbitalspaceflight

Spaceelevator

Lunaroutpost

VASIMR

Tethers

SPACE

All mediaon demand


MEDIA


Location-awaremedia

Smarttoys

Appliancerobots


Exoskeletons

Swarmrobotics

Utilityfog

Domesticrobots

UAVs

ROBOTICS

Speechrecognition

Haptics

Holography

AR

Gesturerecognition

Multitouch

Machinevision

Telepresence

NUI(SOFTWARE)


Fabric-embedded

screens

Pico-projectors

Smart clothing


Electronicpaper

SPIMES

Tabs &Pads

Boards

Retinalscreens

3D

UBICOMP(HARDWARE)

Wetware(biofeedback)

Reversal ofaging

Optogenetics


Regenerativemedicine Synthetic

meat

Verticalagriculture

PGS


Artificial limbs

Tele-medicine

BIOTECH

Bio-markers

High-frequencytrading

Softwareagents

Machinetranslation

Medicaldiagnostics




NFC

Socialgraph

Linkeddata

Semanticweb

4G

5G

Sensors

Smartinfrastructure

Smartcities

Cloudcomputing

Pervasivevideo

PAN


Virtualcurrencies

Cyber-warfare


HAPs

Virtualproperty

Programmable matter

Cermets

Memristor

Nanowires

Carbonnanotubes

Molecularassembler

Meta-materials

Print ondemand

3Dprinting

Bio-materials

MATERIALS


The nodes are organized by area of research similarity.

now

Inductivechargers

Solar

Nuclear

Kinetic


Thoriumreactors

Fuel cells



Smartmeters

Solarthermal


Bio-enhancedfuels

Ultra-capacitors



Piezo-electricity

Photvoltaicglass

PV atgrid parity

Nano-generators

ENERGY

Privatespaceflight

Spacetourism


Spaceelevator

Lunaroutpost

VASIMR

Tethers



MEDIA


Location-awaremedia

Smarttoys

Appliancerobots


Exoskeletons

Swarmrobotics

Utilityfog

Domesticrobots

UAVs

ROBOTICS

Speechrecognition

Haptics

Holography

AR

Gesturerecognition

Multitouch

Machinevision

Telepresence

NUI(SOFTWARE)



Pico-projectors

Smart clothing


Electronicpaper

SPIMES

Tabs &Pads

Boards

Retinalscreens

3D

UBICOMP(HARDWARE)


agingOptogenetics



Syntheticmeat

Verticalagriculture

PGS


Artificial limbs

Tele-medicine

BIOTECH

Bio-markers


Softwareagents

Machinetranslation

Medicaldiagnostics




NFC

Socialgraph

Linkeddata

Semanticweb

4G

5G

Sensors

Smartinfrastructure

Smartcities

Cloudcomputing

Pervasivevideo

PAN


Virtualcurrencies

Cyber-warfare


HAPs

Virtualproperty

Programmable matter

Cermets

Memristor

Nanowires

Carbonnanotubes

Molecularassembler

Meta-materials

Print ondemand3D

printing



now

Inductivechargers

Solar

Nuclear

Kinetic


Thoriumreactors

Fuel cells



Smartmeters

Solarthermal


Bio-enhancedfuelsUltra-

capacitors



Piezo-electricity

Photvoltaicglass

PV atgrid parity

Nano-generators

ENERGY

Privatespaceflight Space

tourismSub-orbitalspaceflight

Spaceelevator

Lunaroutpost

VASIMR

Tethers

SPACE

All mediaon demand


MEDIA


Location-awaremedia

Smarttoys

Appliancerobots


Exoskeletons

Swarmrobotics

Utilityfog

Domesticrobots

UAVs

ROBOTICS

Speechrecognition

Haptics

Holography

AR

Gesturerecognition

Multitouch

Machinevision

Telepresence

NUI(SOFTWARE)


Fabric-embedded

screens

Pico-projectors

Smart clothing


Electronicpaper

SPIMES

Tabs &Pads

Boards

Retinalscreens

3D

UBICOMP(HARDWARE)

Wetware(biofeedback)

Reversal ofaging

Optogenetics


Regenerativemedicine Synthetic

meat

Verticalagriculture

PGS


Artificial limbs

Tele-medicine

BIOTECH

Bio-markers


Softwareagents

Machinetranslation

Medicaldiagnostics




NFC

Socialgraph

Linkeddata

Semanticweb

4G

5G

Sensors

Smartinfrastructure

Smartcities

Cloudcomputing

Pervasivevideo

PAN


Virtualcurrencies

Cyber-warfare


HAPs

Virtualproperty

Programmable matter

Cermets

Memristor

Nanowires

Carbonnanotubes

Molecularassembler

Meta-materials

Print ondemand

3Dprinting

Bio-materials

MATERIALS


And you can start noticing the critical path necessary to develop the future ones.

Connecting the dotsGPS Ubiquitoussmartphones

Socialnetworks

As an example of critical paths, take the example of Foursquare. The service would have been impossible if GPS, Smartphones and Social networks weren’t already available.

Moore’s law Parallelcomputing Sensors

Same thing for 23andMe, which critically depends on Moore’s law, Parallel computing and ubiquitous sensors.

survive 2012prepare for 2021

So when Jim invited me to speak here at the WTN I asked myself how to bring the visualization up a notch.

Machine augmentedcognition

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2030

2040

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2019

2020

2030

2040

ENERGYROBOTICS BIOTECH MATERIALSARTIFICIALINTELLIGENCE

SENSORS GEOTECH QUANTITATIVE FORECASTSSPACEINTERFACES UBICOMPINTERNET

World population 8 billionSource: U.N. – http://bit.ly/7nqQkS

BRICs GDP overtakes the G7Source: Goldman Sachs – http://bit.ly/nc9Wqj

Petabyte storage standardSource: http://bit.ly/r9BYQc

Exabyte storage standardSource: http://bit.ly/kPMKMb

Terabit internet speed standardSource: http://bit.ly/kPMKMb

World population reaches 9 billionSource: U.N. – http://bit.ly/7nqQkS

Source: http://bit.ly/6MoQJc

Sources:Intel – http://intel.ly/pWbH04Ericsson – http://bit.ly/avvVok

Alan Conroy – http://bit.ly/pofHp5FutureTimeline – http://bit.ly/qz4ben

Sources:Intel – http://intel.ly/pWbH04

InternetWorldStats – http://bit.ly/AKbO5

Global online population: ± 2 billionConnected devices: ±10 billion

Global online population: 4-5 billionConnected devices: 30-50 billion

$150 Hard disk: ±200 TbStandard RAM: ±750Gb

Global online population: ± 2.5 billionConnected devices: ±15 billion

$ 1.000 computer reaches thecapacity of the human brain

(± 1015 calculations per second)

Verticalfarming

Weatherengineering

Sea-steading

Desalination

Carbonsequestration

Climateengineering

Arcologies

Commercialspaceflight


Lunaroutpost

Marsmission

Solarsail

Spaceelevator

Spacetourism

Inductivechargers

Thoriumreactor


Fuel cells



Bio-enhancedfuels


Space-basedsolar power

Piezo-electricity

Photvoltaicglass

Nano-generators

Enernet

Tidal turbines

Programmablematter

Personalfabricators

Molecularassembler

Meta-materials

Additivemanufacturing

Graphene

Opticalinvisibility cloaks

Biomaterials

Carbonnanotubes


Nanowires

Anti-agingdrugs


In-vitromeat

Nanomedicine

Artificialretinas

Personalgene sequencing

Syntheticbiology


Gene therapy

Hybridassisted limbs

Smart drugs

Syntheticblood

Organprinting

Smarttoys

Roboticsurgery

Appliancerobots


Domesticrobots

Powered exoskeleton

Embodiedavatars

Swarmrobotics

Utilityfog

Unmannedaerial

vehicles


Reprogrammablechips

Pico-projectors

Volumetric(3D) screens

Flexible screens


Tablets

Boards

Retinalscreens

Eyewear-embeddedscreens

Context-awarecomputing

Smartpower meters

Biometricsensors

Machinevision

Optogenetics

Depthimaging

Biomarkers

Neuro-informatics

Near-fieldcommunication

Pervasivevideo

capture

Computationalphotography

Speechrecognition

Haptics

4K

Augmentedreality

Gesturerecognition

Multitouch

Immersivevirtual reality

Holography

Telepresence

4G

5G

Cloudcomputing


Exocortex

Virtualcurrencies

Cyber-warfare

Meshnetworking

Reputationeconomy

Remotepresence

VR-onlylifeforms

Machine-augmentedcognition

Softwareagents




Machinetranslation

I call this a “roadmap to the singularity”

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2019

2020

ENERGYROBOTICS BIOTECH MATERIALSARTIFICIALINTELLIGENCE

SENSORS GEOTECH QUANTITATIVE FORECASTSSPACEINTERFACES UBICOMPINTERNET

Petabyte storage standardSource: http://bit.ly/r9BYQc

Sources:Intel – http://intel.ly/pWbH04Ericsson – http://bit.ly/avvVok

Alan Conroy – http://bit.ly/pofHp5FutureTimeline – http://bit.ly/qz4ben

Sources:Intel – http://intel.ly/pWbH04

InternetWorldStats – http://bit.ly/AKbO5

Global online population: ± 2 billionConnected devices: ±10 billion

Global online population: 4-5 billionConnected devices: 30-50 billion

$150 Hard disk: ±200 TbStandard RAM: ±750Gb

Global online population: ± 2.5 billionConnected devices: ±15 billion

$ 1.000 computer reaches thecapacity of the human brain

(± 1015 calculations per second)

Weatherengineering



Spacetourism

Inductivechargers

Fuel cells


Bio-enhancedfuels

Piezo-electricity

Photvoltaicglass

Tidal turbines

Personalfabricators

Meta-materials


Graphene

Opticalinvisibility cloaks

Carbonnanotubes


In-vitromeat


Syntheticbiology


Smart drugs

Syntheticblood

Organprinting

Smarttoys

Roboticsurgery

Appliancerobots


Powered exoskeleton

Unmannedaerial

vehicles


Pico-projectors


Flexible screens

Tablets

Boards

Eyewear-embeddedscreens

Context-awarecomputing

Smartpower meters

Biometricsensors

Machinevision

Depthimaging

Biomarkers


Pervasivevideo

capture

Computationalphotography

Speechrecognition

Haptics

4K

Augmentedreality

Gesturerecognition

Multitouch

Holography

Telepresence

4G

5G

Cloudcomputing

Virtualcurrencies

Cyber-warfare

Meshnetworking

Reputationeconomy

VR-onlylifeforms

Softwareagents




Machinetranslation

Machine augmentedcognition

2030

2040

Domesticrobots

Embodiedavatars

Swarmrobotics

Utilityfog

Reprogrammablechips


Retinalscreens

Optogenetics

Neuro-informatics

Immersivevirtual reality


Exocortex

Remotepresence

Machine-augmentedcognition

2012

2020

2030

2040

We’re looking at emerging technologies for the next ~30 years.

ENERGYROBOTICS BIOTECH MATERIALSSENSORS GEOTECHSPACEINTERFACES UBICOMPINTERNET


Inductivechargers

Fuel cells

Bio-enhancedfuels

Tidal turbines


Graphene



Organprinting

Smarttoys

Appliancerobots


Flexible screens

Tablets

Boards

Biometricsensors

Depthimaging


Pervasivevideo

capture

Speechrecognition

Augmentedreality

Gesturerecognition

Multitouch

4G

Cloudcomputing

Cyber-warfare

Meshnetworking

AI INTERNET INTERFACES SENSORS UBICOMP ROBOTICS BIOTECH MATERIALS ENERGY SPACE GEOTECH

Eleven categories, organized from “bits” to “atoms”.

OptogeneticsNFC

With a comparison of relative importance (larger is more important).

5GCyber-warfare

And the relative commercial appeal (indicated by the thickness of the outline).

Meta-materialsGraphene

A couple of these are tightly clustered and are shown as such.

I’ve written explanations and added links for every single technology mentioned on the map. Even the hypothetical ones.

envisioningtech.com

I want your input, sources, projects.

@envisioningtech [email protected]

envisioningtech.com

thank you.