IANS | 21 Sep, 2019
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cross-industry collaborations are
creating new avenues for data collection and offering personalised
services to users this year, according to a report.
Among other
technology trends that are picking up this year are the convergence of
the smart home and healthcare, autonomous vehicles coming for last-mile
delivery and data becoming a hot-button geopolitical issue, according to
the report titled "14 Trends Shaping Tech" from CB Insights.
"As
a more tech-savvy generation ages up, we'll see the smart home begin
acting as a kind of in-home health aide, monitoring senior citizens'
health and well being. We'll see logistics players experiment with
finally moving beyond a human driver," said the report.
"And
we'll see cross-industry collaborations, whether via ancestry-informed
Spotify playlists or limited edition Fortnite game skins," it added.
In September 2018, Spotify partnered with Ancestry.com to utilise DNA data to create unique playlists for individuals.
Playlists
reflect music linked to different ethnicities and regions. A person
with ancestral roots in Bengaluru, for example, might see Carnatic
violinists and Kannada film songs on their playlists.
DNA data is
also informing how we eat. GenoPalate, for example, collects DNA info
through saliva samples and analyses physiological components like an
individual's ability to absorb
certain vitamins or how fast they can metabolize nutrients.
From
there, it matches this information to nutrition analyses that it has
conducted on a wide range of food and suggests a personalised diet. It
also sells its own meal kits that use this information to map out menus.
"We'll also see technology brands expand beyond their core products and turn themselves into a lifestyle," said the report.
For
example, as electric vehicle users need to wait for their batteries to
charge for anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours, the makers of these
vehicles are trying to turn this idle time into an asset.
China's
NioHouse couples charging stations with a host of activities. At the
NioHouse, a user can visit the library, drop children off at daycare,
co-work, and even visit a nap pod to rest while charging.
Nio has also partnered with fashion designer Hussein Chalayan to launch and sell a fashion line, Nio Extreme.
Tech companies today are also attempting to bridge the gap between academia and the career market.
Companies
like the Lambda School and Flatiron School offer courses to train
students on exactly the skills they will need to get a job, said the
report.
These apprenticeships mostly focus on tech skills like
computer science and coding. Training comes with the explicit goal of
employment and students only need to pay their tuition once they have
landed a job that pays them above a certain range.
Investors are
also betting on the rise of digital goods. While these goods cannot be
owned in the physical world, they come with clout, and offer
personalisation and in-game experiences to otherwise one-size-fits-all
characters, the research showed.
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