The next trends in technology
In this article Juan Enriquez, leading authority on life sciences and future technology, explains the next trends in technology. Juan Enriquez will join the first edition of WOBI Management Week (June 28 – July 1, 2021), a 4-day digital event with world class business thought leaders that will address the latest trends and ideas in today’s most relevant management topics.
Juan introduced his topic with a brief history of languages, from cave paintings to coding, discussing how shifts in language have shaped human innovation for centuries. “It matters if you hear the right word,” Juan said, referring to how we change the planet, and how one word can destroy a vision and a life trajectory.
Transitioning into real-life and future technology trends, Juan reminded the audience that the earliest map of the digital revolution came from garages and turned into exponential companies like HP and Apple. Staying up-to-date with exponential advances in technology demands attention, because what starts with one wave can overwhelm an entire system.
For example, WhatsApp was “55 kids in a basement, equated to the kind of work an entire small ecosystem can power,” Juan said.
Juan delved into the emerging technologies that demonstrate how a business shift changes social infrastructure with the example of ridesharing.
Uber was built on the fact that it doesn’t make sense to own a car if you live in a city. Enormous amount of building and infrastructure goes to parking spaces – which won’t be needed if there are less cars in circulation. The necessity for street parking then also goes away. With less cars on the road, the average speed at which you move through the city goes up, to which urban infrastructure then needs to change.
When you don’t need as much infrastructure or engineering, Juan says this will significantly reduce the need for related industries. For example, 1/3 of the auto insurance industry goes away.
The example of Uber illustrates systemic changes in technology. Sometimes technology wipes out entire industries and builds an entirely new ecosystem.
Juan applied his studies in bioscience and how it will affect industries with the example of the healthcare industry. Information is going to increase, and we can understand medicine in different ways. Medicine and treatment will be approached in terms of probability based off of genetics, and maybe even comparison to your neighbor. This will require new technologies adapted to different patient education.
Medicine will become personalized, and as a result will require industry shifts to bend the cost curves. In order for medicine to become personalized, it will need to be faster, cheaper, and better to be effective. Medicine today is looked at as intervention vs. prevention. Currently, only 1% of health care dollars are spent to improve health and prevent sickness.
“We do sick-care vs. health care right now,” Juan explained.
Juan continued with his outlook on long-term trends in technology. The successful companies of the past 30 years are digital. In addition to remaining digital, successful companies of the future will focus on:
- Big data
- Personalized
- Life sciences
- Health cost control
- Cross sector integration
- Consumer empowerment
Long term trends also referenced included Juan’s studies in genetic code, and the idea that what is done with coding in hardware can be done with human genomes. Humans can redesign species, including our own, explore gene codes at their most fundamental level, and Juan concluded his discussion on taking science fiction to science fact with further exploration.
“It will tell us what’s happening here, and might tell us what’s happening on other planets, Juan said, “exploration might tell us there are other life codes. They matter.”
If you want to learn more, don’t miss Juan Enriquez in WOBI Management Week, who will explore the future of wealth generation and competitive advantage.